The Hanse has one
distinct important historical marker: the Salt Road. The members (countries)
that were a part of the Hanseatic League led a different life from that of the
citizens under noble sovereignty. They possessed their own parliament with laws
such as the "Law of Lübeck"
that protected the league, merchants, and citizens. These laws were followed
even though these countries were not one single uniform government. Many of
these nations also lacked a government other than that of the league. The
participating cities took precautions to protect the merchants by building
lighthouses for the seas, trained pilots, and made sure that merchants always
traveled in pairs for better protection from pirates and robbers. The most
famous trade route was the "Salt Road" which went from Lübeck to Hamburg.
There were several others though as the league covered 170 different cities,
and countries. A major part of the trades were done overseas, and because of
this they had to build efficient ships that could withstand the threat of
pirates, and transport a lot of goods at a time. These ships, Baltic Cog, had
flat bottoms which made it possible for them to sail in shallow waters, and
center mounted rudders (which was an advanced technology), had a fitted
removable keel which allowed for repairs to be made easier, it could also hold
lots of cargo (50-200 lasts) - this was more than the Vikings ships could hold
which ranged from about 20 lasts. Each city, under Hanse laws, had their own
aid, protection, and army. The merchants never signed or made contracts,
therefore they only went off of verbal agreements, they kept to their word
earning terms like "truth" and "trust". The fall of the Hanseatic
League began in 1361, by the King of Denmark. He had decided to control the
areas he had once given the Hanse cities privileges to fish in. The Hanse
became upset and headed to the Scania coastline. The Hanse fleet was caught by
the Danish fleet at sea and were forced to surrender. The Hanse had to give the
revenue from the fishers to the King. The King eventually ran out of support,
and had no other way but to sign a treaty that gave the Hanseatic League
merchants full rights.
Group Members:
Group Members:
Katherine Bingen, Jeff Foster, Slade Simpson, Brandi Vistad,
Brian Madsen, & Parker Nicastri
