Concerning the characteristic methods of conducting trade it may be well here to add that during the distant period here under consideration a so-called commission business could scarcely be said to exist; and this is true also of speculation in the narrower sense. While buying and selling on time were not infrequent, especially in the grain market, the transactions were upon an infinitely smaller scale than as conducted at present, when, as the saying goes, "goods is sold a dozen times before it is actually available." The unsound methods at present in vogue, based as they are upon fluctuations in price, were then scarcely known. "Goods in exchange for goods or its equivalent in money" was the motto of the Hanseatic merchant, who, however, was by no means always entirely guiltless of fraudulent operations. Often enough the lowermost layers of herring in the keg consisted of spoiled goods, and not infrequently a bale of linen had to be returned from station to station to the place whence it was sent in order that it might be reëxamined as to quantity and quality. In these transactions the crafty dealer usually preferred to take advantage of the proverbial simplicity of the Norwegian.
The scope of the Hansa trade was greater than one would imagine. It was greater, for example, than that of the maritime towns of Germany for the period immediately preceding the era of steam navigation, i.e., about 1830. The fish trade was at that early period far more brisk, partly because the herring then visited the shores of the Baltic, and partly because the church laws relative to abstinence from meat during the fasts were rigidly observed by all the states of Christian Europe. A few figures will serve vividly to illustrate this change: In 1855, 3,700 kegs of herring were imported by way of Lubeck, as against 33,000 kegs for the period 500 years previous; and in the year of war, 1369, despite the embargo with Denmark, a great consumer, the exports of herring from thirty Hanseatic ports yielded a sum of 130,000,000 marks, 40,000,000 of which fell to the share of Hamburg, then a much smaller city than Lubeck.
It is natural, in the light of these commercial conditions, that industry, and handicraft also, must have greatly flourished. In those days there were twice as many bakers in Lubeck as at present. The coopers, also, in view of the great demand for herring kegs, were in high repute, and scarcely less so the brewers, who at that time greatly excelled their South German competitors. The beer of Hamburg or Rostock was never absent from a northern feast. Nearly all the cities from Livonia to the mouth of the Weser were surrounded by gardens of hops, and Hamburg especially owed its rapid rise during the fourteenth century chiefly to its brewers, at times five hundred or more in number, one hundred and twenty-six of whom supplied the market of Amsterdam alone. Not only representatives of the higher industrial arts, such as goldsmiths, metal workers, picture carvers, paternoster makers, and altar makers, but shoemakers and other handicraftsmen were to be found in the Far North, which, at that time, was still somewhat deficient in these matters. There is report of a worthy shoemaker, who, after sojourning in Russia, repaired to Stockholm, where he entered the service of a knight, and thence to Santiago di Compostela, where he wrought for pilgrims.
All these trades were divided into guilds and sequestered in certain streets or localities; and it was long before they were permitted to participate in the city government, which rested solely in the hands of the great landlords and merchant princes. In the fourteenth century, however, following the example of the South German communities, the "Rebellious Guilds" arose also in the Hanse towns and inaugurated that far-reaching democratic movement akin to the War of the Classes in ancient Rome. The guilds demanded a seat and a voice in the municipal councils, and made the payment of their quota dependent upon this concession. Most of the Northern cities experienced bloody insurrections at this time, and the hangman was very busy. Now the victory was with the patricians, and anon with the plebeians; and the contest was continually renewed with changing fortune. After holding aloof for some time the Hanseatic League finally took part in this purely internal affair of the several cities, and always in favor of the patrician party; in this way assuming a function originally foreign to its purpose.
The movement was a perfectly natural and justifiable one. Though originally subject to service and tribute on the part of bishop, cloister, or prince, the condition of the tradesman changed with the establishment of the principle that long unchallenged residence in a city insured personal freedom to the individual—a privilege which in those days of marked class discrimination was shared only by the burgher and the monk. Among the two last-mentioned classes even the low-born individual could rise by his own efforts: here neither prejudice nor privilege interfered with the free exercise of native talent. Many a poor apprentice in the bureau of Bergen eventually became the progenitor of a long race of distinguished merchants; and some of these families are flourishing in Europe to-day. It is but natural that the handicraftsman, once released from his bonds, should have desired to share these privileges, more particularly as the old aristocratic régime constantly became more assertive and presumptuous. It is necessary also to consider that the former social position of the artisan should not be measured by present standards; for the difference in the educational status of the classes was not nearly so pronounced then as now, and the workman, moreover, was characterized by a spirit often as chivalrous as that of the commercial magnate. There is a well-authenticated case of a shoemaker challenging another member of his craft to a duel—which, by the way, had a fatal termination—without exciting either serious comment or ridicule.
History teaches that where commerce and industry flourish, art also secures its triumphs. The glorious Gothic cathedrals of the Hanseatic cities bear eloquent testimony to this truth. "The Northlander who entered the Trave or the Vistula and beheld the multitude of soaring church spires must have felt as did once the German pilgrim to Rome," says a modern investigator. The principal representative and patron of this art culture, here as elsewhere during the Middle Ages, was the Church. But the splendid town halls as well as the few private mansions preserved, with their step-like aggregation of gables, afford convincing evidence alike of the solid appreciation of art as of the love of splendor which characterized that distant generation. Certain it is that they greatly surpassed us in the domain of Gothic architecture. Owing to the strict adherence to the Catholic dogma a scientific development in the modern sense was, of course, impossible in those days; and, although most of the parish churches had their schools also, these were commonly designed chiefly for the sons of patricians, whose schooling usually embraced a little Latin and some reading, writing, and singing. Not infrequently the only scholar in the place was the town clerk, the forerunner of our present recorder.
The robust, healthy German of that day, yielding to a tendency which has characterized our people from immemorial times, preferred the more to surrender himself to a life of solid comfort and good cheer. The Middle Age was one which inclined to favor the enjoyment of life. It is but necessary to consider the variegated costumes, rich in color, whose ultimate extravagances necessitated special dress regulations, as well as the tournaments, the numerous archer festivals, and the frequent masquerades, to realize that the people of that day appreciated the good things of life. On the occasion of baptisms, weddings, and other domestic events, great feasts were frequently arranged in the house of the guilds or even in the town hall; and many princely visitors were here also entertained at the expense of the municipal budget. The administration of the cellarage of the municipal council was also then considered a far more respectable post than now. All these facts attest the prosperity of the Hanseatic towns. Fortunes of one hundred thousand marks were by no means exceptional, and were often invested in neighboring knightly estates (feofs), thereby sometimes securing to the owner an eventual admission to the ranks of the nobility. At one time—i.e., after the great Hanseatic war—the city of Lubeck owned the entire dukedom of Lauenburg.
The constitution of these municipalities provided for a council consisting of from twelve to twenty-four members who, though elected for life, alternated in terms of office ranging from two to three years. These members had the privilege of appointing their successors from among the eligible families of the Hanse town. The heads of the council consisted of from two to four burgomasters, who presided at the meetings. The position of member of the council was a purely honorary one. The duties comprised the administration of municipal affairs; of military and judicial affairs; of the archives; the exercise of police supervision over the market, the marine service, and the guilds; and, most important of all, the administration of the finances. They fixed the taxes, for which frequently no receipt was given or demanded; the money on such occasions being deposited unnoticed in a box set apart for the purpose—a proof that the payment of taxes at that time was regarded as a point of honor by the burgher and without suspicion by the magistrate.
The general character of the municipal life of the Hanse towns in those days has been well compared by a modern writer to a family household. The workman regarded himself within his circle as an official of the city—a fact shown by the use of the word Aemter ("offices") to designate the guilds. Hence the strong municipal patriotism which animated these burghers and which compensates in some degree for the absence of that great political enthusiasm which is derived from the consciousness of a united country. A quaint genre picture of the time, preserved at Bremen, represents a native of the latter city and another from Lubeck sitting together in a tavern and disputing as to the comparative merits of their respective towns. The controversy reaches its climax by one of the disputants declaring stolidly that he too might "master such words" and taking a long and mighty draught.
The separate towns, usually upon a request of the Lubeck council, would send their deputies to confer jointly upon matters affecting the league, these conferences or diets usually being held in some Wendish city. On no occasion, however, were all the towns of the league represented at these conferences. Their constitution was absolutely free from all theoretical or rigid forms or ordinances. Whoever found that his interests were especially affected by the subject under discussion sent representatives to the diet of the league, and these usually discharged their duties faithfully, without shirking the long and arduous trip even during the winter season. The conferences held in this way were probably wider in their scope than those of any other power of the time. Usually, however, not political, but commercial, matters were discussed. There was no common treasury. Whenever money was required an export duty was levied, with which absolute compliance was demanded. An infraction of the laws of the league was punishable by a fine, and in extreme cases by exclusion from the Hansa—a sentence necessarily involving the commercial isolation and eventual bankruptcy of the delinquent city. Bremen, it is true, once withstood the consequences of the Hanseatic ban for more than fifty years, but this was before the extraordinary extension of Hanseatic power consequent upon the Danish war. From all this it appears that the constitution of the Hansa was a very slack but elastic one, which easily adapted itself to the exigencies of the moment. A charter of a Hanseatic constitution has never existed—proof in itself of the desire to afford as much latitude as possible in the construction of the laws. Theory is regarded as valueless; immediate facts and interests are all in all. The supremacy of Lubeck, for example, was never formally recognized by the other cities of the league.