The Companion to the Hanseatic League discusses the importance of the Hanseatic League for the social and economic history of pre-modern northern Europe. Established already as early as the twelfth century, the towns that formed the Hanseatic League created an important network of commerce throughout the Baltic and North Sea area. From Russia in the east, to England and France in the west, the cities of the Hanseatic League created a vast northern maritime trade network. The aim of this volume is to present a “state” of the field English-language volume by some of the most respected Hanse scholars. Contributors are Mike Burkhardt, Ulf Christian Ewert, Rolf Hammel-Kiesow, Donald J. Harreld, Carsten Jahnke, Michael North, Jürgen Sarnowsky and Stephan Selzer.

There is scarcely a more remarkable chapter in history than that which deals with the trading alliance or association known as the Hanseatic League. The League has long since passed away, having served its time and fulfilled its purpose. The needs and circumstances of mankind have changed, and new methods and new instruments have been devised for carrying on the commerce of the world. Yet, if the League has disappeared, the beneficial results of its action survive to Europe, though they have become so completely a part of our daily life that we accept them as matters of course, and do not stop to inquire into their origin. To us moderns it seems but natural that there should be security of intercourse between civilized nations, that highways should be free from robbers, and the ocean from pirates. The mere notion of a different state of things appears strange to us, and yet things were very different not so many hundred years ago.

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 125. Chapters: Action of 26 July 1566, Adler von Lubeck, All-Hallows-the-Great, Armistice of Copenhagen, Bay Fleet, Bishopsgate, Brick Gothic, Carta Mercatoria, Cog (ship), Company of Merchant Adventurers of London, Confederation of Cologne, Elbe-Lubeck Canal, European Route of Brick Gothic, Hamm, Hanseaten (class), Hanseatic Days of New Time, Hanseatic flags, Hanseatic Legion, Hanseatic Museum and Schotstuene, Hattem, Kampen, Overijssel, Kaunas, Kiel, Koknese, List of Brick Gothic buildings, List of diplomats of the United Kingdom to the Hanseatic League, List of ships of the Hanseatic League, Lubeck law, Magdeburg, Merchants of the Staple, Merchants of the Steelyard, Middle Low German, Notow, Oldenzaal, Old Salt Route, Ommen, Paul Beneke, Peter von Danzig (ship), Quedlinburg, Rostock, Rostock Peace Treaty, Schiffskinder, Siege of Deventer (1456), Stade, Staple right, Statute of the Staple, Straupe, Treaty of Malmo, Treaty of Utrecht (1474), Veliky Novgorod, Victual Brothers, Visby, Vreden, Warburg, Wesel, Zutphen, Zwolle. Excerpt: The Hanseatic League (also known as the Hanse or Hansa; Low German: , Latin: or ) was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe. It stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period (c. 13th to 17th centuries). The League was created to protect economic interests and diplomatic privileges in the cities and countries and along the trade routes the merchants visited. The Hanseatic cities had their own legal system and furnished their own armies for mutual protection and aid. Despite this, the organization was not a city-state, nor can it be called a confederation of city-states; only a very small number of the cities within the league enjoyed..."