Hansa Middle Ages. Hanseatic League. The first trade and economic association in the history of Europe. Cities that traded with the Hansa
trade and political union of North German cities in the XIV-XVII centuries. led by Lübeck. Carried out intermediary trade between Western, Northern and Eastern Europe. G. belonged to the commercial hegemony in northern Europe. G.'s decline began at the end of the 15th century. Formally existed until 1669.
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HANSA
from mid-lower. Hansa - union, partnership) - bargaining. Northern German union cities in the with Lübeck, which existed in the 14th-16th centuries. (formally until 1669). G. acted as a successor to him. merchants of the 11th-13th centuries, ch. the center of activity to-rogo in V. Europe was about. Gotland (on this basis, modern bourgeois historiography distinguishes a special stage in the development of city - "merchant city" of the 11th-13th centuries, as opposed to the "city of cities" of the 14th-17th centuries). Economical G.'s role consisted in monopoly mediation between the producing districts of Sev., Zap., Vost. and partly Center. Europe: Flanders, England and North. Germany supplied cloth, Center. Europe, England and Scandinavia - metals, North. Germany and zap. coast of France - salt, East. Europe - Ch. arr. furs and wax. In addition, salted herring, wines, beer, and so on were exported to V. German. merchants took over the bargaining. mediation in conditions refers. weaknesses of the merchants of the North. and Vost. Europe, using the success of it. colonization in the Slavic countries of the East. Europe and relying on the military. German strength. knightly orders(Subsequently, one of them - the Teutonic - was even accepted as a member of G.). The foundation of Riga and Revel - the most important points on the way to Smolensk, Polotsk and Novgorod, the appearance of German offices. merchants in Norway and their receipt of privileges for trade in Flanders during the 1st half. 13th century, the growth of Lübeck based on the Slavic territory - ch. the center of the German trade in V. Europe - prepared the formation of an alliance: in the 2nd half. 13th c. agreements were signed between Lübeck, Hamburg, Stralsund, Lüneburg, and others to protect the route along the straits between the North. and the Baltic Sea, on the joint minting of coins, etc. Finished. registration of the union, which first appeared under the name. "German Hansa" in 1356, happened in 1367-70, during his victorious war against Denmark, which dominated the trade. way between Sev. and Balt. The Treaty of Stralsund in 1370 with Denmark, having secured the right of G. to unhindered passage through the Sound and Skagerrak straits, opened the period of G.'s greatest prosperity in the 2nd half. 14 - 1st floor. 15th century At that time, it included up to 100 cities (according to other sources - up to 160, the boundaries of the city were never strictly outlined). The whole trading system relations of the Hanseatic cities relied on several. offices in the main producing districts of Europe - to offices in Bruges (Flanders), Novgorod, London, Bergen (Norway), etc. Hanseatic merchants also penetrated into Spain and Portugal. Trade center with ext. regions of Europe (especially with the German cities of Frankfurt, Augsburg) and the main transit point on the land and (since 1398) river route between the Baltic. and Sev. the seas were Lübeck. He also acted as a politician. heads of the union. Here from the 2nd floor. 14th c. general congresses of the Hanseatic cities met (albeit irregularly). Their decisions (the so-called Recesse), sealed with the seal of Lübeck, were binding on members. G. However, ext. G.'s organization was vague. The union had neither its own fleet, nor troops, nor permanent finances (its military forces consisted of the fleet and troops of individual cities). Between department cities and groups of cities that were part of Georgia, there was discord, bargaining. rivalry, their interests often did not coincide (Livonian and Vendian cities). In the Hanseatic cities, the economy of which was based Ch. arr. in trade, power was in the hands of merchants. patriciate. In con. 14 - early 15th century a wave of guild uprisings against the patriciate swept through, but everywhere he soon restored his power by combined efforts. The Great Hanseatic Statute of 1418 provided for decides. measures to combat social movements inside the cities of G. The value of G. for economic. development of Europe was contradictory. Stimulating the development of the text., Mining. production in the west and in the center of Europe, G. somewhat slowed down the development of these same industries in the east of Europe; on the other hand, thanks to trade east. districts of Europe received raw materials for the development of metalworking. and jewelry craft. Imports of precious metals were especially important. Concentrating trade in the hands of him. merchants, Georgia stubbornly fought against possible competitors - non-member cities of Georgia (for example, Narva) and local merchants, who tried to tie up directly. bargain. relations with external world, sought to seize the industry of the counterparty countries (this was especially successful in Sweden). From the 2nd floor. 15th c. there has been a decline G. The development of nat. economy, expansion of external and ext. trade, strengthening the position of local merchants in England, the Scandinavian countries, in Russia to the end. 15 - beg. 16th centuries aggravated G.'s contradictions with counterparty countries. A significant role in the decline of Georgia was also played by the change in world trade. ways. In an effort to maintain his position and privileges in the new conditions, G. resorts to any means: interferes in the internal. affairs dept. state-in, especially Scandinavian, supporting the rulers favorable to her, wages wars of privateer with the Dutch. However, in con. 15th-16th centuries she lost her positions one by one. In 1494 it was closed. courtyard in Novgorod; the office in Bruges gradually lost its importance, and in 1553 was transferred to Antwerp; in 1598 the Hanseatic people were deprived of all privileges in England. K ser. 16th century G. gave way to Dutch, Eng. and French merchants; formally, it lasted until 1669. The study of Georgia in the 18th and 19th centuries. was a monopoly. noble and bourgeois. historiography. G. F. Sartorius (1765-1828) and his followers (K. Kopman, D. Schaefer) were interested in preim. political the history of G. 14-15 centuries. At the same time, in the history of G. they looked for evidence of the Germans' ability to "world domination", arguments to justify the colonial aspirations of Germany, G. was portrayed as unities. stimulus political, economic. and cultural development of the counterparty countries. E. Denel later wrote in the same traditions. In 1870, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Treaty of Stralsund, the Hanseatic Historical Society was organized. about-in (Hansische Geschichtsverein; still exists today; its annual organ is "Hansische Geschichtsbl?tter", since 1871). The Society took up the publication of sources on the history of Germany, but mainly legal sources - the decisions of the Hanseatic congresses and charters. At the end of 19 - early. 20th century V. Shtida and others began to publish clerical sources - bargaining. and customs books, etc. In the 1st floor. 20th century, especially during the years of fascist. dictatorship, n. historians continued to preach the old nationalist. views, appealing not only to political, but also economic. history D. After the war, part of the Hanseatic historians abandoned these views. Among them were F. Rochrig, who studied economics. structure of the Hanseatic cities. His theory of creativity the role of trade, supposedly ch. incentive pro-va, the main city-forming. strength, especially on the East of Europe, has big number supporters and in modern. bourgeois historiography, it is followed by the head of the Hanseatic historiography in Germany P. Johansen and his school. The focus of modern bourgeois historians G. - the time preceding its formation, economical. the role of the German merchants, their struggle for privileges in other countries (especially Scandinavian). Marxist historians (in particular, in the GDR), as opposed to the bourgeois. historiography, pay special attention to the study of the social structure of the Hanseatic cities, the role of crafts. elements, popular, especially plebeian movements (on the studies of historians of the GDR, see the review by K. Fritze et al. in the book: Historische Forschungen in der DDR. Analysen und Berichte. Zum XI. Internationalen Historikerkongress in Stockholm August 1960, B., 1960) . Historians of the countries democracy for the first time raised the question of the role of G. for the socio-economic. development of Poland and others. Baltic. countries (M. Malovist). From owls. M. P. Lesnikov, who paid attention not to the political, but to the socio-economic. the history of G. and proved that G.'s trade in the East of Europe was not of an unequal, "colonial" nature (in particular, for Novgorod). Source: Hanserezesse 1256-1530, hrsg. v. K. Koppmann, G. v. Ropp, D. Schöfer u. F. Techen, Bd 1-24, Lpz., 1870-1913; Hanserezesse 1531-1560, Bd 1, hrsg. v. G. Wentz, Weimar 1937-41; Hansisches Urkundenbuch, Bd 1-11, Halle-Lpz., 1876-1938; Quellen und Darstellungen zur Hansischen Geschichte (Hansische Geschichtsquellen, Bd 1-7; new series Bd 1-12, Halle - B.. 1875-1956); Inventare hansischer Archive des 16. Jh., Bd 1-3, Lpz.-Mönch., 1896-1913; Abhandlungen zur Handels-und Sozialgeschichte, hrsg. im Auftrag des hansischen Geschichtsvereins, Bd 1-3, Weimar, 1958-60. Lit .: Lesnikov M.P., Hanseatic fur trade at the beginning of the 15th century, "Uch. Zap. Moscow City Pedagogical Institute named after V.P. Potemkin". 1948, v. 8; his, Trade relations of Veliky Novgorod with the Teutonic Order at the end of the XIV century. and early XV century., "IZ", 1952, v. 39; Khoroshkevich A.L., Trade of Veliky Novgorod with the Baltic and Western. Europe in the 14th-15th centuries, M., 1963; Lesnikov M., L?beck als Handelsplatz f?r osteurop?ische Waren im 15. Jh., "Hansische Geschichtsblätter", 1960, Jg. 78; Daenell E., Die Bl?tezeit der deutschen Hanse, Bd 1-2, V., 1905-1906; Schäfer D., Die Hansestädte und Känig Waldemar von Dänemark, Jena, 1879; his, Die deutsche Hanse, 3 Aufl., Lpz., 1943; Goetz L. K., Deutsche-Russische Handelsgeschichte des Mittelalters, L?beck, 1922; Jesse W., Der wendische Mönzverein, Löbeck, 1928; R?rig F. , Wirtschaftskräfte im Mittelalter, Weimar, 1959; Johansen P., Die Bedeutung der Hanse f?r Livland, "Hansische Geschichtsblötter", 1941, Jg. 65-66; Arbusow L., Die Frage nach der Bedeutung der Hanse f?r Livland, "Deutsches Archiv f?r Geschichte des Mittelalters", 1944, H. 1. Jg. 7; Schildhauer J., Soziale, politische und religi?se Auseinandersetzungen in den Hansest?dten Stralsund, Rostock und Wismar..., Bd 1-2, Weimar, 1959; his own, Grundz?ge der Geschichte der deutschen Hanse, ZfG, 1963, H. 4; Fritze K., Die Hansestadt Stralsund, Schwerin, 1961; Hansische Studien. Heinrich Sproemberg zum 70. Geburtstag, V., 1961. A. L. Khoroshkevich. Moscow. -***-***-***- Hansa in the XIV - XV centuries.
HANSEA UNION
“With agreement, small things grow into big ones;
when there is a disagreement, even the big ones fall apart"(Sallust.)
Dmitry VOINOV
In world history, there are not many examples of voluntary and mutually beneficial alliances concluded between states or any corporations. In addition, the vast majority of them were based on self-interest and greed. And, as a result, they all turned out to be very short-lived. Any violation of the balance of interests in such an alliance invariably led to its collapse. All the more attractive for reflection, as well as for drawing instructive lessons today, are such rare examples of long-term and strong coalitions, where all the actions of the parties were subordinated to the ideas of cooperation and development.
In the history of Europe, the Hanseatic League, which successfully existed for about four centuries, can fully become such a model. States collapsed, numerous wars began and ended, the political borders of the states of the continent were redrawn, but the trade and economic union of the cities of northeastern Europe lived and developed.
How did the name come about Hansa' is not exactly known. Among historians, there are at least two versions. Some believe that Hansa is a Gothic name and means “crowd or group of comrades”, others believe that it is based on a Middle Low German word translated as “union or partnership”. In any case, the idea of the name implied some kind of "unity" for the sake of common goals.
The history of the Hansa can be counted from the foundation in 1158 (or, according to other sources, in 1143) of the Baltic city Lübeck. Subsequently, it is he who will become the capital of the union and a symbol of the power of German merchants. Before the founding of the city, these lands were for three centuries the zone of influence of the Norman pirates, who controlled the entire coast of this part of Europe. For a long time, their former strength was reminiscent of light, deckless Scandinavian boats, the designs of which the German merchants adopted and adapted for the transport of goods. Their capacity was small, but maneuverability and speed were quite suitable for seafaring merchants until the 14th century, when they were replaced by heavier multi-deck ships capable of carrying much more goods.
The union of Hanseatic merchants did not take shape immediately. This was preceded by many decades of understanding the need to unite their efforts for the common good. The Hanseatic League was the first trade and economic association in the history of Europe. By the time of its formation, there were over three thousand shopping centers on the coast of the northern seas. The weak merchant guilds of each of the cities could not alone create the conditions for safe trade. in a torn apart internecine wars fragmented Germany, where the princes, to replenish their treasury, did not disdain to trade with the usual robbery and robbery, the position of the merchant was unenviable. In the city itself, he was free and respected. His interests were protected by the local merchant guild, here he could always find support in the person of his countrymen. But, having gone beyond the city's defensive moat, the merchant was left alone with many difficulties that he met on the way.
Even when he arrived at his destination, the merchant was still taking a big risk. Each medieval city had its own laws and strictly regulated rules of trade. Violation sometimes of one, even insignificant, point could threaten with serious losses. The scrupulousness of local legislators reached the point of absurdity. They set the width of the cloth or the depth of the clay pots, from what time you can start trading and when it must end. Merchant guilds were jealous of competitors and even set up ambushes on the outskirts of the fair, destroying their goods.
With the development of cities, the growth of their independence and power, the development of handicrafts and the introduction of industrial methods of production, the problem of marketing became more and more urgent. Therefore, merchants increasingly resorted to concluding personal agreements among themselves on mutual support in a foreign land. However, in most cases they were temporary. Cities often quarreled, ruined each other, burned, but the spirit of enterprise and freedom never left their inhabitants.
External factors also played an important role in the unification of cities into the Hansa. On the one hand, the seas were full of pirates, and it was almost impossible to resist them alone. On the other hand, Lübeck, as the emerging center of "partnership", had major competitors in the face of Cologne, Munster and other German cities. Thus, the English market was practically occupied by Cologne merchants. With the permission of Henry III, they founded their own office in London in 1226. Lübeck merchants did not remain in debt. The following year, Lübeck seeks from the German emperor the privilege of being called imperial, which means that he becomes the owner of the status of a free city, which allowed him to independently conduct his trade affairs. Gradually, it became the main transshipment port in the Baltic. Not a single ship sailing from the Baltic Sea to the North could pass its harbor. The influence of Lübeck is further enhanced after local merchants took control of the Lüneburg salt mines located near the city. Salt in those days was considered almost a strategic commodity, the monopoly possession of which allowed entire principalities to dictate their will.
On the side of Lübeck in the confrontation with Cologne, he spoke Hamburg, but it took many years before in 1241 these cities concluded an agreement among themselves on the protection of their trade. The first article of the agreement signed in the town hall of Lübeck read: “If robbers and other evil people rise up against our or their citizens, ... then we, on the same basis, must participate in the costs and expenses for the destruction and eradication of these robbers.” The main thing is trade, without obstacles and restrictions. Each city was obliged to protect the sea from pirates "to the best of its ability, so as to manage its trade." 15 years later they were joined Lüneburg And Rostock.
By 1267, Lübeck had already accumulated enough strength and means to openly declare his claims to part of the English market. In the same year, using all his influence at the royal court, the Hansa opened a trade office in London. Since then, merchants from Scandinavia in the vastness of the North Sea began to resist a powerful force. Over the years, it will grow stronger and increase a thousandfold. The Hanseatic League will not only determine the rules of trade, but often actively influence the alignment of political forces in the border countries from the North to the Baltic Seas. He collected power bit by bit - sometimes amicably, concluding trade agreements with the monarchs of neighboring states, but sometimes with the help of violent actions. Even such a large city by the standards of the Middle Ages as Cologne, which was a monopolist in German-English trade, was forced to surrender and sign an agreement on joining the Hansa. In 1293, 24 cities registered official membership in the "partnership".
UNION OF HANSEA MERCHANTS
Lübeck merchants could celebrate a complete victory. A striking confirmation of their strength was the agreement signed in 1299, in which representatives Rostock, Hamburg, Wismar, Lüneburg And Stralsund decided that "from now on they will not serve the sailboat of that merchant who is not part of the Hansa." It was a kind of ultimatum to those who have not yet joined the union, but at the same time a call for cooperation. From the beginning of the 14th century, the Hansa became a collective monopoly of trade in northern Europe. One mention by any merchant of his involvement in it served as the best recommendation for new partners. By 1367, the number of cities participating in the Hanseatic League had increased to eighty. Apart from London its sales offices were in Bergen And Bruges, Pskov And Venice, Novgorod And Stockholm. German merchants were the only foreign merchants who had their own trading compound in Venice and for whom the northern Italian cities recognized the right of free navigation in the Mediterranean.
The offices that the Hansa maintained were fortified points common to all Hanseatic merchants. In a foreign land, they were protected by privileges from local princes or municipalities. As guests of such trading posts, all Germans were subject to strict discipline. The Hansa very seriously, zealously guarded their possessions. In almost every city where merchants of the union traded, and even more so in border administrative centers that were not part of it, a system of espionage was developed. Any action of competitors directed against them became known almost immediately.
Sometimes these trading posts dictated their will to entire states. As soon as the rights of the union were infringed in Bergen, Norway, restrictions on the supply of wheat to this country immediately came into force, and the authorities had no choice but to back down. Even in the west, where the Hansa dealt with stronger partners, it managed to carve out considerable privileges for itself. For example, in London, the "German Court" owned its own berths and warehouses and was exempt from most of the taxes and fees. They even had their own judges, and the fact that the Hanseatics were assigned to guard one of the gates of the city already speaks not only of their influence on the English crown, but also of the undoubted respect they enjoyed in the British Isles.
It was at this time that the Hanseatic merchants began to organize their famous fairs. They were held in Dublin and Oslo, Frankfurt and Poznan, Plymouth and Prague, Amsterdam and Narva, Warsaw and Vitebsk. Dozens of European cities were looking forward to their opening. Sometimes it was the only opportunity for local residents to buy whatever their heart desires. Here they bought something for which the families, denying themselves the necessary, saved up money for many months. The malls were bursting with an abundance of oriental luxury, sophisticated and exotic household items. There, Flemish linen met with English wool, Aquitanian leather with Russian honey, Cypriot copper with Lithuanian amber, Icelandic herring with French cheese, and Venetian glass with Baghdad blades.
The merchants were well aware that the timber, wax, furs, rye, timber products of Eastern and Northern Europe were of value only when they were re-exported to the west and south of the continent. In the opposite direction were salt, cloth, wine. This system, simple and strong, however, ran into many difficulties. It was these difficulties that had to be overcome that fused together the totality of the cities of the Hansa.
The Union has been tested for strength many times. After all, there was a certain fragility in him. Cities - and their number reached 170 in their heyday - were far from each other, and rare meetings of their delegates to general ganzatags (seims) could not resolve all the contradictions that periodically arose between them. Neither the state nor the church stood behind the Hansa, only the population of the cities, jealous of their prerogatives and proud of them.
The stability stemmed from a community of interests, from the need to play the same economic game, from belonging to a common “civilization” involved in trade in one of the most populous maritime spaces in Europe. An important element of unity was mutual language, which was based on Low German, enriched with Latin, Polish, Italian and even Ukrainian words. Merchant families, turning into clans, could be found in Reval, and in Gdansk, and in Bruges. All these ties gave rise to cohesion, solidarity, common habits and common pride, common limitations for all.
In the rich cities of the Mediterranean, each could play his own game and fight furiously with his fellows for influence on the sea routes and exclusive privileges in trade with other countries. In the Baltic and the North Sea, this was much more difficult to do. The revenues from heavy and high-volume, low-priced cargo remained modest, while the costs and risks were uncommonly high. Unlike the large trading centers of southern Europe, such as Venice or Genoa, northern merchants have a profit margin of best case was 5%. In these regions, more than anywhere else, everything was required to be clearly calculated, to make savings, to foresee.
BEGINNING OF SUNSET
The apogee of Lübeck and the cities associated with it came at a rather late time - between 1370 and 1388. In 1370, the Hanse prevailed over the king of Denmark and occupied the fortresses on the Danish straits, and in 1388, as a result of a dispute with Bruges, after an effective blockade, she forced this rich city and the government of the Netherlands to capitulate. However, even then there were the first signs of a decline in the economic and political power of the union. In a few decades, they will become more obvious. In the second half of the 14th century, a severe economic crisis erupted in Europe after a plague epidemic swept across the continent. It entered the annals of history as the Black Sea. True, despite the demographic decline, the demand for goods from the Baltic Sea basin in Europe did not decrease, and in the Netherlands, which was not badly affected by the pestilence, it even increased. But it was the price movement that played a cruel joke on the Hansa. After 1370, grain prices began to fall gradually, and then, starting from 1400, the demand for furs also went down sharply. At the same time, the need for industrial products, in which the Hanseatic people practically did not specialize, increased significantly. talking modern language, the basis of the business were raw materials and semi-finished products. To this we can add the beginning of the decline of the distant, but so necessary for the economy of the Hanseatic gold and silver mines in the Czech Republic and Hungary. And, finally, the main reason for the beginning of the decline of the Hansa was the changed state and political conditions in Europe. In the zone of trade and economic interests of the Hansa, territorial nation-states begin to revive: Denmark, England, the Netherlands, Poland, Moscow State. With the strong support of those in power, the merchants of these countries began to push the Hansa throughout the North and Baltic Seas.
True, the attacks did not go unpunished. Some cities of the Hanseatic League stubbornly defended themselves, as did Lübeck, who in 1470-1474 took over England. But these were rather isolated cases, most of the other cities of the union preferred to negotiate with new merchants, re-divide spheres of influence and develop new rules for interaction. The Union had to adapt.
Hansa received its first defeat from the Muscovite state, which was gaining strength. Her ties with Novgorod merchants spanned more than three centuries: the first trade agreements between them date back to the 12th century. For such a long period of time, Veliky Novgorod became a kind of outpost of the Hansa not only in the north-east of Europe, but also in the lands of the Slavic peoples. The policy of Ivan III, who sought to unite the fragmented Russian principalities, sooner or later had to come into conflict with the independent position of Novgorod. In this confrontation, the Hanseatic merchants took an outwardly wait-and-see position, but secretly actively helped the Novgorod opposition in the fight against Moscow. Here, the Hansa put its own, primarily trade, interests at the forefront. It was much easier to get privileges from the Novgorod boyars than from the powerful Muscovite state, which no longer wanted to have resellers and lose profits when exporting goods to the West.
With the loss of independence by the Novgorod Republic in 1478, Ivan III also liquidated the Hanseatic settlement. After that, along with Novgorod, a significant part of the Karelian lands, which were in the possession of the Novgorod boyars, became part of the Russian state. Since that time, the Hanseatic League has practically lost control over exports from Russia. However, the Russians themselves failed to take advantage of all the advantages of independent trade with the countries of northeastern Europe. In terms of the number and quality of ships, the Novgorod merchants could not compete with the Hansa. Therefore, export volumes declined, and Veliky Novgorod itself lost a significant part of its income. But the Hansa could not compensate for the loss of the Russian market and, above all, access to strategic raw materials - timber, wax and honey.
She received the next strong blow from England. Strengthening her sole power and helping English merchants to free themselves from competitors, Queen Elizabeth I ordered the liquidation of the Hanseatic trading yard "Steelyard". Along with this, all the privileges that German merchants had in this country were destroyed.
Historians attribute the decline of the Hansa to the political infantilism of Germany. The fragmented country at first played a positive role in the fate of the Hanseatic cities - simply no one prevented them from uniting. The cities that initially rejoiced in their freedom remained left to themselves, but in completely different conditions, when their rivals in other countries enlisted the support of their states. An important reason for the decline was the obvious economic lag of northeastern Europe from the western one by the 15th century. Unlike the economic experiments of Venice and Bruges, the Hansa still wavered between barter and money. Cities rarely resorted to loans, focusing mainly on their own funds and forces, had little confidence in bill of exchange systems and sincerely believed only in the power of the silver coin.
The conservatism of the German merchants, in the end, played a cruel joke on them. Unable to adapt to the new realities, the medieval "common market" gave way to associations of merchants solely on a national basis. Since 1648, the Hansa finally lost its influence on the balance of power in the field of maritime trade. The last gunsentag was hardly assembled until 1669. After a stormy discussion, without having settled the accumulated contradictions, the majority of the delegates leave Lübeck with the firm conviction that they will never meet again. From now on, each city wanted to conduct its trade affairs independently. The name of the Hanseatic cities was preserved only for Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen as a reminder of the former glory of the union.
The disintegration of the Hansa objectively matured in the bowels of Germany itself. By the 15th century, it became obvious that the political fragmentation of the German lands, the arbitrariness of the princes, their strife and betrayal became a brake on the way economic development. Separate cities and regions of the country gradually lost established ties for centuries. Between the eastern and western lands, the exchange of goods was practically not carried out. The northern regions of Germany, where sheep breeding was mainly developed, also had little contact with the industrial southern regions, which were increasingly oriented towards the markets of the cities of Italy and Spain. The further growth of world trade relations of the Hansa was hampered by the absence of a single internal national market. Gradually it became apparent that the power of the union was based more on the needs of foreign rather than domestic trade. This tilt finally “drowned” it after the neighboring countries began to develop capitalist relations more and more actively and actively protect domestic markets from competitors.
HB, HH, HL, HGW, HRO, HST, HWI - Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck... Why do the license plates of these and three other German cities begin with an "extra" Latin letter H?
Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck, Greifswald, Rostock, Stralsund, Wismar. License plates in these cities begin with an "additional" Latin letter H. In the Middle Ages, all of them were part of the Hanseatic League - Hanse, played a key role in it, for which they were awarded special signs of historical distinction. Their car numbers: HB, HH, HL, HGW, HRO, HST, HWI, i.e. Hansestadt - "Hanseatic City" - Bremen, Hansestadt Hamburg...
Merchant Hansa - the predecessor of the city Hansa
In the period of its greatest prosperity in the XIV-XV centuries, the Hanseatic League united more than two hundred cities. According to some reports - up to three hundred. From the middle of the 12th century, the city Hansa was preceded by the merchant Hansa - a community of German merchants who went to the city of Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland, and then to London, Bruges, Bergen, Veliky Novgorod. They traded in England, Flanders, Norway, Russia... And the geography was constantly expanding.
Traveling in a joint caravan was safer, not to mention the fact that merchant associations could finance the purchase and maintenance of their own inns - the so-called "offices", as well as seek common trade privileges abroad. To finance the communities, each merchant deducted a certain percentage of the profits.
At home, that is, in the territory of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, German merchants enjoyed the protection of the emperor. During the years of the struggle for power in the empire, and, in fact, anarchy, free German cities began to take care of the safety of their merchants themselves. In the middle of the 13th century, the first regional unions arose, the development of the urban Hansa was initiated. The process was long and gradual. When later it became necessary to find an agreement on the creation of the Hansa, such a document, to everyone's surprise, was not found in any of the archives.
The second reason for the emergence of the urban Hansa was the need to more effectively protect their merchants and their privileges from growing competition, primarily from Dutch and South German merchants, in particular from Nuremberg.
Free cities and medieval feudal lords
The number of cities that were part of the Hansa was constantly changing, but historians attribute about seventy of them to the core of this community. Most were on northern territories The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, that is, by the Baltic and North Seas. Bremen and Hamburg were among the largest members of the Hansa. Moreover, both have still retained their traditional independence: in modern Germany, they have the status of independent federal states. In addition to these cities, only Berlin now has such a status, but for other reasons. Its heyday and transformation into the German capital falls on a later period, when the Hansa had already ceased to exist.
Berlin was part of the Hansa, but was forced to leave this union in 1452 under pressure from the Margrave of Brandenburg. In addition to Berlin, several other cities in the territories of the margrave tried by joint efforts to strengthen their independence from their landed feudal lord, but were defeated. Among them were Frankfurt an der Oder and Stendal.
An example is indicative. The German feudal lords, on the one hand, were interested in the economic benefits from the development of the Hanseatic cities in their territories, especially since these cities did not receive free status and corresponding privileges. They often acted as creditors, that is, they gave loans to their specific princes. From abroad, they were also approached for financial assistance. Cologne merchants once even lent English king, for which they received his crown as a pledge!
Conflicts of interest
On the other hand, when the cities became "too" powerful, the German secular and ecclesiastical lords became restless. They were afraid of undermining their own power. Or they simply really wanted to get access to additional financial and other economic resources ... Berlin was weak and lost to its Margrave of Brandenburg in this conflict of interests, but many other free cities successfully repelled such encroachments with the help of economic pressure or during armed conflicts, such as , Koln.
To combat the specific princes, the Hanseatic cities often created regional unions, the financing of which was carried out with the help of a special temporary tax levied on trade operations (Pfundzoll). The same alliances were created during the conflicts of the Hansa with foreign states. This community did not have permanent sources of funding, as well as state sovereignty, officials, its own army and navy, permanent government, official seal. Against this background, the commercial and political successes of the Hansa look even more impressive. By its power and influence, Hansa could be called a superpower, which for some reason was forgotten to be put on the political map of Europe.
Lübeck - the mother of Hanseatic cities
The free imperial city of Lübeck was a kind of capital of the Hansa. Here, in particular, the Hanseatic Court of Appeal was located. Where there is trade, there are disputes. They arose constantly both between individual merchants and between entire cities. If abroad the Hanseatic cities and merchants (with rare exceptions) acted together to achieve their goals, then on the territory of the empire they were competitors, acting on the principle: friendship is friendship, and money apart.
Lübeck often assumed the lion's share of the costs of wars and other conflicts. The city council members and burgomasters of Lübeck often carried out delicate diplomatic missions, defending the interests of the community in negotiations with the German princes and neighboring states. The patience and perseverance of the Hanseatic diplomats became legendary...
Lübeck city law (Lübisches Recht) became widespread in the Hanseatic League. It operated, for example, in Veliky Novgorod, the most important trading partner of the Hansa in the Russian lands. At the same time, Lübeck law itself was once developed on the basis of the law of the German city of Soest. Now it is a small district center in North Rhine-Westphalia with a population of only 50 thousand inhabitants, and once Soest was one of the most important members of the Hansa. This is a fairly typical fate of many Hanseatic cities, the development of which actually stopped with the collapse of this union.
Red and White
Apart from Lübeck, among the most influential and oldest members of the Hansa are Cologne and Hamburg. In their coats of arms, as in the heraldic signs of many other Hanseatic cities, there is white and red - the traditional colors of the Hansa.
Hamburg is now perhaps the most Hanseatic of all the Hanseatic cities and in every possible way supports this image. However, in terms of tourism, smaller cities, in the form of which the Hanseatic past is read more clearly, can be of no less, if not more, interest. Among them are Stralsund, Wismar and Lüneburg. These cities will be the subject of separate reports in our Hanseatic series.
Unlike Hamburg, in Cologne the Hanseatic past is now relatively rarely remembered. Cologne is a special case. One of the oldest German cities has its chronicles since the time of the ancient Romans. It was not a purely Hanseatic city. Its merchants successfully traded throughout Europe long before the birth of this union. In a number of cases, the trade of the Hansa developed precisely along the paths blazed by the merchants of Cologne. Most case in point- connections with London.
Gdansk and Riga became the outposts of the Hansa in the east of the continent… The so-called Teutonic Order (Deutscher Orden), which owned lands in East Prussia, deserves special mention. His interests at the general meetings of the Hansa were directly represented by the Grand Master, and Königsberg was one of the most important centers of the Order's trading activities. No other principalities or duchies were included in the Hansa.
Trade
Trade relations and interests of this community spread from Scandinavia to Italy, from Portugal to Russia. On the most important trade route were London, Bruges, Hamburg, Lübeck, Tallinn (in the Hanseatic chronicles - Reval), Novgorod.
Cloth and salt made up the bulk of goods in one direction, furs and wax in the other. This Hanseatic route brought Russian sables to Venice, where they were in great demand. Wheat, rye and barley, herring and dried fish, resin, salted butter, beer, metals and ores, wood, amber jewelry, Rhine wine - everything and everywhere the Hanseatic merchants did not trade in medieval Europe...
A source
Hanseatic League- a strategic trading partner of medieval Novgorod, uniting in the period from the 14th to the 16th centuries (formally until 1669) the North German cities headed by Lübeck.
The Hansa was created with the aim of carrying out safe trade on more favorable terms and acted as an intermediary between the producing regions of Eastern, Northern, Western and partly Central Europe, receiving enormous benefits from this. There are two periods in the history of the Hansa:
- XI-XIII centuries - the so-called period of the "merchant Hansa", when the first merchant associations were created with a center in the city of Visby (Gotland Island).
- XIV to XVI centuries - the period when on the basis of the "merchant Hanse" arose the "Hanse of cities" (Lübeck, Bremen, Hamburg, Stralsund, etc.), which in 1356 was called the "German Hanse".
In 1356, the union of cities was finally formalized, calling itself the "German Hanse". The purpose of the union is to protect the interests of the North German merchant class. The congress was the highest body of the Hansa. His decisions (adopted by the majority) were obligatory for general implementation (including those Hanseatic cities that for some reason did not send their representatives to the next congress). In its heyday, the Hansa included up to 100 cities, and the scope of the union was never strictly limited.
The heyday of the Hansa is not least associated with its victory in the war with Denmark (1367-1370) for freedom of navigation in the Sound. This strait connected the Baltic to the North Sea and was vital to the Hanseatic trade. The Hansa did not have permanent finances, an army and a fleet, and its armed forces consisted of the troops and fleets of individual cities. Nevertheless, the unification of cities - the Hansa - won this war with the strongest enemy at that time - Denmark, and on May 24, 1370, the Stralsund Peace was concluded between the parties, according to which the Hanseatic cities received many trade privileges. In particular, 4 fortresses on the eastern bank of the Sound and 2/3 of the duties from them were transferred to the cities of the Hansa. Denmark even agreed to such humiliating conditions - she pledged not to elect a new king without the consent of the Hansa. The resulting treaty resulted in the Hanseatic trade monopoly in the Baltic.
Novgorod is the largest trading partner of the medieval Hansa in Eastern Europe throughout the entire period of its existence. Goods were exported through Novgorod, including those brought from other Russian lands. It was in Novgorod, as well as in London, Bruges (Flanders) and Bergen (Norway), that one of the largest Hanseatic offices was located.
... At the turn of the 11th-12th centuries, there was already a trading post of Gotland merchants in Novgorod - the so-called Goth yard with the church of St. Olaf, which was called by the Novgorodians the "Varangian goddess". It was damaged in a fire in 1152, when the Novgorod market burned down. On Gotland, in Visby, there also existed a farmstead of Novgorod merchants, also with a church, the remains of which have been preserved in this city.
Somewhat later, in the second half of the 12th century, German merchants arrived in Novgorod from North German cities, primarily from Lübeck. They founded the German court in Novgorod - the court of St. Peter (after the church of St. Peter built in 1192).
Now, on the site of the Gothic Court in Novgorod, there is the Rossiya Hotel, and the German Court, located between the ancient Slavnaya and Ilyina streets, could be seen opposite the c. Assumption at the Market (modern Bolshaya Moskovskaya Street), but time did not spare him either.
With the formation of the "Hanse of cities", which included both Lübeck and Visby, the Gothic and German courts in Novgorod were united under common control. The courtyards were connected by a road that passed through the princely courtyard.
The Hanseatic courts did not have a permanent population. The Germans came to Novgorod twice a year - in summer and winter. The courtyards looked like fortresses. They were surrounded by a tyn of thick logs.
Inside the courtyards were
- the church, where the steven (general meeting) gathered and the pressing issues of the life of merchants were resolved, as well as the most valuable goods were stored,
- two-story houses (doris), in which merchants lived with their clerks and students,
- premises for trade and storage of goods (cages),
- as well as a large chamber, a clerk's room, a mill, a brewery, a bathhouse and a hospital.
In the evening, the gates of the yards were tightly locked, and inside the dogs went down from the chain, guards were put up.
The Novgorod authorities had no right to interfere in the internal affairs of the Hanseatic courts. Of all the Hanseatic offices, and they still existed in London, Bruges, Bergen and other cities, the Novgorod one was the most isolated from the city in which it was located.
Trade between Novgorod and the Hansa.Export and import
The trade of Russia with the Hansa was carried out through Novgorod. The most important items of Novgorod medieval exports were furs and wax, highly valued throughout Europe. Many Western European monarchs and nobles wore fur coats and hats made of precious furs (ermine, sable, marten) brought from Novgorod; candles made of Russian wax illuminated huge Gothic churches.
Of the furs, squirrel skins of various varieties were the most popular commodity, which were exported in colossal quantities to Western Europe. The most valuable furs were considered pieces, sometimes "magpies" (40 pieces), and squirrels - hundreds, thousands, barrels (up to 12 thousand skins were included in a barrel). It is known that only the German merchant Wittenborg sold in the 50s of the XIV century 65 thousand skins (mostly squirrels) purchased by him in Novgorod in three years. In another case, despite the ban on trading with Novgorod (disagreements between partners sometimes happened!), the merchant Feckinghusen bought 29 thousand skins in 1418-1419.
According to A.L. Khoroshkevich, a researcher of the ancient Novgorod trade, in the 14th-15th centuries more than half a million skins were exported from Novgorod to the West every year.
The beekeeping trade, widespread in Russia (collecting honey and wax from wild bees), made it possible to export wax in large quantities abroad. The Volga region, Smolensk, Polotsk, Murom, Ryazan lands and, of course, the Novgorod pyatins supplied wax to the Novgorod market. From here it was exported to the West by Hanseatic and Russian merchants. Wax was sold in "circles". Each "circle" that went on sale had to have a strictly established weight (in the 15th century - about 160 kg) and be of a certain quality, which was certified by a special official seal, with which the words "God's goods" were imprinted on wax, that is, not fake, made "according to God's truth."
In addition to furs and wax, in the last decades of independence and later, Novgorodians traded with the West in dressed leather, leather goods, in particular shoes. Sometimes the export items were some types of agricultural products and hunting birds (falcons).
A lot of necessary goods were imported from the West to Novgorod, a significant part of which then went to the markets of other Russian cities. First of all, these are various expensive fabrics, especially cloth, as well as non-ferrous metals used in many crafts.
The products of local weavers fully satisfied the needs of residents in everyday clothes, but noble Novgorodians often preferred foreign fabrics for festive clothes. Especially popular were cloths made in the cities of Flanders - Ypres, Ghent, Bruges. Ypres cloth, as well as scarlat (red cloth) are mentioned many times in Russian written sources as an expensive gift to important and powerful people.
Hanseatic merchants brought to Novgorod copper, lead, tin and other materials necessary for handicrafts, such as alum used for tanning leather and parchment production. From imported Baltic amber, skillful Novgorod jewelers made a variety of jewelry; imported mercury, arsenic, and vitriol were also used.
From food products, Baltic herring, salt, and in lean years - bread were imported. In 1231, the chronicler noted that the Germans brought bread and thus saved Novgorodians, who had gone to extremes, from starvation.
Hanseatic merchants also brought drinks to Novgorod - French, Spanish, Rhine and Greek wines. In addition, the Germans in their Novgorod yards brewed beer, mainly for themselves, and some of it was put on sale.
Despite the prohibitions of the western neighbors, who were often at war with Novgorod, Hanseatic merchants sometimes brought weapons and horses here.
Novgorod merchant unions
Trade in the Middle Ages, especially international trade, was an extremely dangerous business: the elements (storms and storms) lay in wait for the merchant, while the main threat was the robbers. Therefore, for long trips, merchants united in large armed caravans, which were not easy for professional warriors to cope with. To protect their interests, merchants formed special corporations, guilds.
As in Western European countries, there were similar associations in Novgorod, where they were called merchant hundreds. The largest association of Novgorod merchants is the so-called "Ivan hundred". They owned the Church of Ivan on the Opokah at the Market, which has survived to this day. The charter of the Ivansky Hundred has been preserved. The corporation united merchants who traded in wax, had the exclusive right to weigh all the wax that entered the Novgorod market and collect duties from it.
IN early XIII centuries, at the auction, “overseas merchants” (an association of Novgorod merchants who traded “overseas”) built the stone church of Paraskeva-Pyatnitsa (a saint who was considered the patroness of trade). In favor of the church was a special duty from visiting foreign merchants.
Corporate culture of Medieval Russia
One of the attributes of all kinds of medieval associations were common holidays, feasts. In Russia, they were widespread and were called brothers. There was also a holiday at the Ivansky Hundred, which lasted three days, - feast of the saintJohn.
For a large fee, the richest of the Novgorod merchant associations invited three of the most prominent church leaders of Novgorod to perform a church service in its temple. On the first day - the archbishop, on the second - the Yuriev archimandrite, on the third - the hegumen of the Anthony monastery.
Relations between Novgorodians and Hanseatics
Trade relations between German merchants and Novgorod were regulated by special agreements (the oldest that has come down to us dates back to the end of the 12th century), as well as by a special charter of the Hanseatic court (skre).
The most significant were the articles of the treaties on providing a "clean path" for the Germans to the Novgorod land, and Novgorodians - across the Baltic, that is, guarantees of the security of trade.
Other articles spoke about the conditions for the passage of merchants through foreign territory, as well as punishments for harming merchants and resolving lawsuits that arose between Russians and Germans.
Corporativeness inherent in the Middle Ages, led to the fact that the insult inflicted in a foreign land on a group of merchants or even one of them often became the reason for the rupture of trade relations between Novgorod and the Hansa for several years.
Enmity was usually accompanied by repressions against all merchants of the opposite side (arrest, confiscation of goods). Thus, the enmity that arose as a result of the robbery of Novgorod merchants in Narva lasted seven years. In response, the Novgorodians confiscated the goods of the Hanseatic merchants in Novgorod, although they had nothing to do with the Narva crime. In 1392, a peace treaty was concluded (Niebuhr Peace), as a result of which the parties came to an agreement and trade resumed.
But even the most acute conflicts between trading partners sooner or later ended in a peace treaty: trade with Western Europe was important to Novgorod and German merchants.
The main features characterizing Russian-Hanseatic trade in Novgorod were the following:
- firstly, trade was wholesale, they traded not at retail, but in fairly large consignments of goods;
- secondly, it was exchangeable, without the use of cash as a means of payment, that is, what in recent times was called the then fashionable word "barter" (money, of course, played a role in trade, but only as a measure of the value of goods) ;
- thirdly, the process of trade took place not at the Market, but at the Hanseatic yards and the yards of Novgorodians, where Russian and German merchants examined the goods they needed and made deals.
According to the charter (skre) of the German court, Hanseatic merchants are categorically forbidden under pain of a large fine and “deprivation of the rights of the court” (i.e., the merchant was deprived of the opportunity to come to Novgorod with trading purposes in the future)
- trade with Russians on credit,
- and also to take their goods on their ships.
The last ban was connected with the desire of the Hansa to strengthen their monopoly on intermediary trade in the Baltic. There were also limits set by the Hansa on the number of goods brought by one Hanseatic merchant in one visit to Novgorod. In the XIV century, their value, according to estimates, should not have exceeded a thousand marks (about 200 kilograms of silver), later - one and a half thousand marks.
A large amount of written information about the trading activities of the Novgorodians has survived to this day. They led many historians of the 19th and early 20th centuries to believe that trade was the basis of Novgorod's economy. However, it is not. From distant countries, mainly luxury goods and raw materials for handicraft production were brought to Novgorod. Export from Novgorod provided opportunities for acquiring imported goods. Modern historians, without denying the importance of trade, have clearly shown that basis of the economy Novgorod land there was agricultural production along with a developed handicraft.
The Germans sold all their goods in Novgorod; to other Russian lands, Western European goods were transported to their own benefit by Russian merchants.
After the annexation of Novgorod to Moscow, Novgorod retained its position as the leading partner of the Hansa and did not lose its leading trading position in Russia. But from the middle of the 15th century, the Hansa gradually began to decline. This was due to competition in trade from English and Dutch merchants. The Hansa finally lost its dominance in the second half of the 16th century, when new sea routes opened, linking Europe with America and India.
According to the materials of the historian Vasily Fedorovich Andreev
Acquisition of land ownership outside the city, etc.
