the name given to an association, formed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, of the principal cities in the N. of Germany, Prussia, Poland, &c., for the better carrying on of commerce, and for their mutual safety and defence; and which contributed, in no ordinary degree, to introduce civilization and good government into the north.

Hamburg, founded by Charlemagne in the ninth century, and Lübeck, founded about the middle of the twelfth (1140), were the earliest members of the League. They early formed an intimate political union, partly with the view of maintaining a safe intercourse by land with each other, and partly for the protection of navigation from the pirates, with which every sea was at that time infested. There is no very distinct evidence as to the period when this alliance was consummated; some ascribe its origin to the year 1169, others to 1200, and others say 1241. But the most probable opinion seems to be, that it grew up by slow degrees, and was perfected according as the advantages derivable from it became more obvious. Such was the origin of the Hanseatic League, so called from the old Teutonic word *hansa*, signifying an association or confederacy.

From the beginning of the twelfth century, the progress of commerce and navigation in the north was exceedingly rapid. The countries which stretch along the Baltic from Holstein to Russia, and which had been occupied by barbarous tribes of Slavonic origin, were then subjugated by the kings of Denmark, the dukes of Saxony, and other princes. The greater part of the inhabitants being exterminated, their place was filled by German colonists, who founded the towns of Stralsund, Rostock, Wismar, &c. Prussia and Poland were afterwards subjugated by the Christian princes and the knights of the Teutonic order. So that, in a comparatively short period, the foundations of civilization and the arts were laid in countries whose barbarism had ever remained impervious to the Roman power.

The cities that were established along the coast of the Baltic, and even in the interior of the countries bordering upon it, eagerly joined the Hanseatic confederation; and previously to the end of the thirteenth century it embraced every considerable city in all those vast countries extending from Livonia to Holland, and was a match for the most powerful monarchs.

The Hanseatic confederacy was at its highest degree of power and splendour during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It then comprised from 60 to 80 cities, which were distributed into four classes or circles. Lübeck was at the head of the first circle, Cologne of the second, Brunswick of the third, and Danzig at the head of the fourth. The supreme authority of the League was vested in the deputies of the different towns assembled in congress. In it they discussed all their measures; decided upon the sum that each city should contribute to the common fund; and determined all questions relative to their common interests. The meeting of congress was most frequently held at Lübeck, which was considered as the capital of the League; but sometimes congresses were held at Hamburg, Cologne, and other towns. They met once every three years, or oftener if occasion required. Any one might be chosen for a deputy; and besides merchants, the congress comprised clergymen, lawyers, artists, &c. When the deliberations were concluded, the decrees were formally communicated to the magistrates of the cities at the head of each circle, by whom they were communicated to those below them; and the most vigorous measures were adopted for carrying them into effect. One of the burgomasters of Lübeck presided at the meetings of congress; and during the recess the magistrates of that city had the sole, or at all events the principal, direction of the affairs of the League.

Besides the towns already mentioned, there were others that were denominated confederated cities or allies. The latter neither contributed to the common fund of the League, nor sent deputies to congress. Even its members were not all on the same footing in respect to privileges—an arrangement that was a fruitful source of internal commotions.

As the power of the confederated cities increased, they began to aspire to the monopoly of the trade of the north, and to exercise the same dominion over the Baltic that the Venetians exercised over the Adriatic. For this purpose they succeeded in obtaining, partly in return for loans of money, and partly by force, various privileges and immunities from the northern sovereigns, which secured to them almost the whole foreign commerce of Scandinavia, Denmark, Prussia, Poland, Russia, &c. They repressed piracy by sea and robbery by land; introduced among the inhabitants conveniences and enjoyments unknown to their ancestors, and inspired them with a taste for literature and science; they did for the people round the Baltic what the Phoenicians had done in remoter ages for those around the Mediterranean, and deserve, equally with them, to be placed in the first rank among the benefactors of mankind.

The kings of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, were frequently engaged in hostilities with the Hanse towns; but their efforts to abolish the privileges the League had acquired in these countries served, for more than two centuries, only to augment and extend its influence.

"The astonishing prosperity of the confederated cities was not wholly the effect of commerce. To the undisciplined armies of the princes of the north, the cities opposed, besides the inferior nobles, whose services they liberally rewarded, citizens accustomed to danger, and resolved to defend their liberties and property. It was chiefly, however, on their marine forces that the cities depended. They employed their ships indifferently in war or commerce, so that their naval armaments were fitted out at comparatively small expense."

The extirpation of piracy was one of the objects which had originally led to the formation of the League. Owing, however, to the barbarism then so universally prevalent, and the countenance openly given by many princes and nobles to those engaged in this infamous profession, it was not possible wholly to root it out. But the vigorous efforts of the League to abate the nuisance served to render the navigation of the North Sea and the Baltic comparatively secure, and were of signal advantage to commerce. Their exertions also to protect shipwrecked mariners from the atrocities to which they had been subject, and to procure the restitution of shipwrecked property to its legitimate owners, were in no ordinary degree meritorious; and contributed not less to the advancement of civilization than to the security of navigation.

To facilitate and extend their commercial transactions, the League established various factories in foreign countries; the principal of which were at Novogorod, London, Bruges, and Bergen.

Novogorod, situated at the confluence of the Volkof with the Imler Lake, was for a long period the most renowned emporium in the north-eastern parts of Europe. During the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, it formed the entrepot between the countries to the east of Poland and the Hanseatic cities. Its fairs were frequented by people from all the surrounding countries, as well as by numbers of merchants from the Hanse towns, who engrossed the greater part of its foreign trade, and furnished its markets with the products of distant countries.

But in the latter part of the fifteenth century, Ivan Vasiliévitch, czar of Russia, asserted his right to the principality of Novogorod, and supported his pretensions by a formidable army. Having entered the city at the head of his troops, Ivan received from the citizens the charter of their liberties, which they either wanted courage or inclination to defend. But notwithstanding the despotism to which Novogorod was subject during the reigns of Ivan and his successors, it continued for a considerable period to be the largest, as well as most commercial, city in the Russian empire.

But the scourge of the destroyer soon after fell on this celebrated city. Ivan IV., having discovered, in 1570, a correspondence between some of the principal citizens and the king of Poland relative to a surrender of the city into his hands, took the most inhuman revenge. The crime of a few citizens was made a pretext for the massacre of 25,000 or 30,000. Though it never recovered from this blow, Novogorod continued to be a place of considerable trade until the foundation of Petersburg, which immediately became the seat of the commerce of which it had previously been the centre.

The merchants of the Hanse towns, or Hansards, as they Hanseatic League.

were then commonly termed, were established in London at a very early period, and their factory was of considerable magnitude and importance. They enjoyed various privileges and immunities; they were permitted to govern themselves by their own laws and regulations; the custody of one of the gates of the city (Bishopsgate) was committed to their care; and the duties on various sorts of imported commodities were considerably reduced in their favour. These privileges naturally excited the ill-will and animosity of the English merchants; and the Hansards were every now and then accused of acting with bad faith, and obstructing the commerce of the English in the Baltic. The Hansards were in consequence exposed to many indignities; and their factory, which was situated in Thames Street, was not unfrequently attacked. The League exerted themselves vigorously in defence of their privileges; and having declared war against England, they succeeded in excluding our vessels from the Baltic, and acted with such energy, that Edward IV. was glad to come to an accommodation with them. In the treaty for this purpose, negotiated in 1474, the privileges of the merchants of the Hanse towns were renewed, and the king assigned to them, in absolute property, a large space of ground, with the buildings upon it, in Thames Street, denominated the Steel Yard, whence the Hanse merchants have been commonly denominated the Association of the Steel Yard. The property of their establishments at Boston and Lynn was also secured to them; and the king engaged to allow no stranger to participate in their privileges. One of the articles bore that the Hanse merchants should be no longer subject to the judges of the English Admiralty Court, but that a particular tribunal should be formed for the easy and speedy settlement of all disputes that might arise between them and the English. And it was further agreed that the particular privileges awarded to the Hanse merchants should be published as often as the latter judged proper, in all the seaport towns of England, and that such Englishmen as infringed upon them should be punished. In return for these concessions, the English acquired the liberty of freely trading in the Baltic, and especially in the port of Dantzig and in Prussia. In 1498, all direct commerce with the Netherlands being suspended, the trade fell into the hands of the Hanse merchants, whose commerce was in consequence very greatly extended. But, according as the spirit of commercial enterprise awakened in the nation, and as the benefits resulting from the prosecution of foreign trade came to be better known, the privileges of the Hanse merchants became more and more obnoxious. They were, in consequence, considerably modified in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII., and were at length wholly abolished in 1597.

The different individuals belonging to the factory in London, as well as those belonging to the other factories of the League, lived together at a common table, and were enjoined to observe the strictest celibacy. The direction of the factory in London was intrusted to an alderman, two assessors, and nine councillors. The latter were sent by the cities forming the different classes into which the League was divided. The League endeavoured at all times to promote as much as possible the employment of their own ships. In pursuance of this object, they went so far, in 1447, as to forbid the importation of English merchandise into the confederated cities, except by their own vessels. But a regulation of this sort could not be carried into full effect; and the irritation produced by the occasional attempts to act upon it, contributed materially to the subversion of the privileges which the Hanseatic merchants had acquired amongst us.

The principal factory of the League was at Bruges, which became, at a very early period, one of the first commercial cities of Europe, and the centre of the most extensive trade carried on to the north of Italy. The art of navigation in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was so imperfect, that a voyage from Italy to the Baltic and back again could not be performed in a single season; and hence, for the sake of their mutual convenience, the Italian and Hanseatic merchants determined on establishing a depot or storehouse of their respective products in some intermediate situation. Bruges was fixed upon for this purpose, and, in consequence, speedily rose to the very highest rank among commercial cities. It was at once a staple for English wool; for the woollen and linen manufactures of the Netherlands; for the timber, hemp and flax, pitch and tar, tallow, corn, fish, ashes, &c., of the North; and for the spices and Indian commodities, as well as their domestic manufactures imported by the Italian merchants. The vivifying effects of this commerce were everywhere felt; the regular intercourse opened between the nations in the north and south of Europe made them sensible of their mutual wants, and gave a wonderful stimulus to the spirit of industry. This was particularly the case with regard to the Netherlands.

From the middle of the fifteenth century, the power of the confederacy, though still very formidable, began to decline. This was not owing to any misconduct on the part of its leaders, but to the progress of civilization, the general diffusion of the arts, and the establishment of the authority of government. In addition to these circumstances, the interests of the different cities of the League became daily more and more opposed to each other. Lübeck, Hamburg, Bremen, and the towns in their vicinity, were latterly the only ones that had any interest in its maintenance. When the Zealanders and Hollanders became sufficiently powerful at sea to be able to vindicate their right to the free navigation of the Baltic by force of arms, they immediately seceded from the League; and no sooner had the ships of the Dutch, the English, &c., begun to trade directly with the Polish and Prussian Hanse towns, than these also embraced the first opportunity of withdrawing from it. The fall of this great confederacy was really, therefore, a consequence of the improved state of society, and of the development of the commercial spirit in the different nations of Europe. It was most serviceable so long as those for whom its merchants acted as factors and carriers were too barbarous, too much occupied with other matters, or too destitute of the necessary capital and skill, to act in these capacities for themselves. When they were in a situation to do this, the functions of the Hanseatic merchants ceased as a matter of course; and at the middle of the seventeenth century the cities of Lübeck, Hamburg, and Bremen, were all that continued to acknowledge the authority of the League. They still, indeed, preserve the shadow of its power; being acknowledged in the act for the establishment of the Germanic confederation, done at Vienna in 1815, as free Hanseatic cities. (M'Culloch's Treatises on Economical Policy, Svo. Edin. 1853.)