The Hanseatic League (1159–1669)

Timeline

Layers

Wendish towns (Lübeck) · Saxon & Brandenburg towns · Westphalian & Rhenish towns (Cologne) · Dutch towns (IJssel & Zuiderzee) · Prussian towns (Danzig) · Livonian towns & Gotland · Kontors & trading posts

Events

• 1143, Adolf II of Holstein founds Lübeck: Count Adolf II of Schauenburg-Holstein founds a German merchant settlement on the Buku peninsula between Trave and Wakenitz (year only). A fire in 1157 and the duke's pressure ended this first town.
• 1159, Henry the Lion refounds Lübeck: Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony acquires and re-establishes Lübeck (1158/59; year only), which becomes the base of German Baltic trade.
• 18 Oct 1161, Artlenburg Privilege: Henry the Lion settles German–Gotlander dispute: At the Ertheneburg Elbe crossing Henry the Lion grants Gotland merchants protection and toll freedom in his lands in return for reciprocity and visits to Lübeck (18 Oct 1161).
• 1189, Hamburg's port privilege (Barbarossa charter): Traditional date of Frederick Barbarossa's charter granting Hamburg toll-free navigation on the lower Elbe; the surviving document is a later forgery (year only).
• 1225, German St Mary's church at Visby opened to all German merchants: St Mary's, built by the Gotland-visiting Germans, is consecrated/opened to all Germans in Visby in 1225; the German merchant community ('Staven') later ran the Novgorod Kontor from here (year only).
• 1 Jun 1226, Lübeck becomes a Free Imperial City: Emperor Frederick II's Reichsfreiheitsbrief, issued at Borgo San Donnino (Fidenza) in June 1226, places Lübeck directly under the emperor (day not fixed; 14–21 June).
• 1229, Treaty of Smolensk signed at Riga: Prince Mstislav of Smolensk concludes a trade treaty with merchants of Gotland, Riga and Westphalian towns, guaranteeing free passage on the Daugava (year only).
• 1241, Lübeck–Hamburg treaties: Lübeck and Hamburg formalise their cooperation: mutual outlawry and joint protection of the road between the Trave and Elbe estuaries (year only). Often called the germ of the Hanse.
• 1252, Flemish privileges for German merchants at Bruges: Countess Margaret II of Flanders grants privileges to merchants of the Empire (1252–53), the basis of the Bruges Kontor (year only).
• 6 Sep 1259, Lübeck, Rostock and Wismar ally against pirates: The three Wendish towns agree that sea and road robbers are outlawed in all of them (6 Sep 1259; meeting place unknown, marker at Wismar). A Wendish town recess followed at Wismar c. 1260–64.
• 1266, Henry III licenses the Hamburg and Lübeck hansas in England: The English king allows the merchants of Hamburg (1266) and Lübeck (1267) to form their own hansas in England (year only).
• 1280, Bruges Kontor withdrawn to Aardenburg: Over weighing and toll grievances the German merchants move from Bruges to Aardenburg, returning in 1282 (years only).
• 1282, German Hansa of London united: The Cologne and 'Easterling' hansas merge; the first English record of the Hansa Almaniae (year only). Base of the later Steelyard Kontor.
• 1284, Wendish towns' grain embargo on Norway: Towns meeting at Wismar in 1284 ban grain, flour, malt and beer shipments to Norway after attacks on German shipping; famine forces Norway to terms mediated by Sweden in 1285 (years only).
• 14 Dec 1287, St Lucia's flood widens the Zuiderzee: The storm surge of 13–14 Dec 1287 kills tens of thousands and opens the former Lake Almere into a wide sea arm, the Zuiderzee.
• 14 Oct 1293, Rostock assembly: Wendish alliance; Novgorod appeals to Lübeck: Lübeck, Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund and Greifswald conclude a mutual-aid alliance; appeals from the Novgorod Kontor are to go to Lübeck instead of Visby (14 Oct 1293).
• 2 Feb 1356, First general Hansetag at Lübeck: An assembly at Lübeck (2 Feb 1356) sends town envoys to Bruges, who subordinate the Kontor to the towns; traditionally counted as the first general Hanseatic Diet.
• 1 May 1358, Bruges Kontor moved to Dordrecht; blockade of Flanders: The towns withdraw the Kontor to Dordrecht in May 1358 and embargo Flanders until new privileges are granted in 1360 (years/month only).
• 27 Jul 1361, Valdemar IV of Denmark takes Visby: After landing on Gotland (22 July) Valdemar IV defeats the Gotlanders outside Visby on 27 July 1361; the town capitulates on 29 July and pays a levy.
• 7 Sep 1361, Greifswald assembly: towns go to war with Denmark: Wendish and other towns meeting at Greifswald (7 Sep 1361) resolve on war against Valdemar IV after the fall of Visby.
• 16 Jan 1362, Grote Mandrenke (St Marcellus flood): The storm surge around 16 Jan 1362 drowns at least 25,000 people along the North Sea, destroying Rungholt in North Frisia (marker approximate).
• 8 Jul 1362, Hanseatic fleet defeated at Helsingborg: Valdemar IV surprises Johann Wittenborg's besieging fleet and captures twelve ships (8 July 1362); Wittenborg is later executed in Lübeck.
• 19 Nov 1367, Confederation of Cologne against Denmark: Hanseatic, Prussian, Livonian and Dutch/Zuiderzee towns, meeting at Cologne from 11 Nov, conclude a war alliance against Valdemar IV on 19 Nov 1367; it lasted until 1385.
• 24 May 1370, Peace of Stralsund: Denmark confirms Hanseatic trade privileges and cedes the Scanian castles to the towns for 15 years (24 May 1370) – the high point of Hanseatic power.
• 22 Apr 1393, Victual Brothers sack Bergen: Privateers in Mecklenburg service raid and plunder Bergen (22 Apr 1393).
• 21 Mar 1398, Teutonic Order expels the Victual Brothers from Gotland: An Order fleet of 84 ships lands on Gotland on 21 Mar 1398; Visby is handed over to the Order on 5 Apr 1398.
• 22 Jul 1398, Stecknitz Canal opens between Lübeck and Lauenburg: Europe's first summit-level canal (begun 1391) links the Trave and the Elbe; the first 30 barges arrive on 22 July 1398 (marker at Mölln).
• 20 Oct 1401, Klaus Störtebeker executed on the Grasbrook, Hamburg: Traditionally dated 20 Oct 1401; Hamburg treasury accounts suggest the executions of Störtebeker and his crew actually took place in 1400. Much of the story is legend.
• 1408, Lübeck's 'new council' crisis: The patrician council leaves Lübeck in 1408 after a guild-backed revolt; imperial and Hanseatic pressure restores the old council in 1416 (years only).
• 1418, Hansetag at Lübeck adopts statute against urban revolts: The 1418 Diet enacts statutes threatening towns that overthrow their councils with exclusion and entrusts Lübeck with business between diets (year only).
• 18 Nov 1421, St Elizabeth's flood drowns the Grote Waard: The storm surge of 18–19 Nov 1421 inundates the Grote Waard south-east of Dordrecht, creating the Biesbosch and isolating Dordrecht on an island.
• 1429, Sound Dues introduced by Eric of Pomerania: Eric of Pomerania begins levying a toll on ships passing the Øresund at Helsingør (1429, year only) during the Dano-Hanseatic War of 1426–1435.
• 17 Jul 1435, Peace of Vordingborg ends the Dano-Hanseatic War: Eric of Pomerania confirms Hanseatic privileges and exempts the Wendish towns from the Sound Dues (15/17 July 1435).
• 14 Apr 1438, Dutch–Hanseatic War; Treaty of Copenhagen: Holland's privateering war against the Wendish towns (formal declaration April 1438) ends with a ten-year settlement at Copenhagen in August 1441 that opens the Baltic to Dutch shipping.
• 1 Sep 1455, Hanseatic merchants kill Norway's governor at Bergen: On 1 Sep 1455 Kontor merchants storm Munkeliv Abbey, killing governor Olav Nilsson, Bishop Torleiv and about 60 others (marker approximate, Nordnes).
• 19 Oct 1466, Second Peace of Thorn: Ends the Thirteen Years' War (19 Oct 1466): Royal Prussia with Danzig, Elbing and Thorn passes under the Polish crown, boosting Danzig.
• 1468, Anglo-Hanseatic War: Edward IV arrests the Hanseatic merchants in London and seizes their goods (1468); the towns declare war in 1469/70 and Danzig privateers raid English shipping until the Treaty of Utrecht.
• 28 Feb 1474, Treaty of Utrecht between England and the Hanse: Concluded 28 Feb 1474: privileges restored, £10,000 compensation, and the Steelyard plus depots at Boston and Lynn granted to the Hanse.
• 6 Nov 1494, Ivan III closes the Novgorod Peterhof: On 6 Nov 1494 Ivan III's men seize the Peterhof, arrest 49 merchants and confiscate their goods; most prisoners are released in 1497 and the Kontor reopens only in 1514.
• 26 Sep 1509, Cosmas and Damian flood: Dollart at its greatest extent: The storm surges of 1509–1511 (26 Sep 1509, All Saints' 1510, St Anthony 1511) push the Dollart to its maximum and enlarge the Jade Bight.
• 10 Jun 1523, Strängnäs privilege: Gustav Vasa rewards Lübeck: Four days after his election on 6 June 1523, Gustav Vasa grants Lübeck toll freedom and trade privileges for financing the Swedish war of liberation (10 June 1523); Stockholm falls on 17 June.
• 1 May 1534, Count's Feud: Lübeck's war for the Danish crown: Under mayor Jürgen Wullenwever, Lübeck intervenes in Denmark's succession (from spring 1534); its fleet is beaten in 1535 and besieged Copenhagen surrenders on 29 July 1536. Peace with Lübeck at Hamburg, Feb 1536.
• 24 Sep 1537, Jürgen Wullenwever executed at Wolfenbüttel: Lübeck's former mayor, forced to resign on 26 Aug 1535 and seized in Nov 1535, is beheaded after a show trial (24 Sep 1537).
• 1556, Heinrich Sudermann becomes the first Hanseatic syndic: The Hansetag appoints the Cologne jurist Heinrich Sudermann as the League's first and only common official (1556, year only); he served until his death in 1591.
• 22 Jan 1558, Livonian War begins: Ivan IV invades Livonia on 22 Jan 1558; Narva and Dorpat fall that year, ending the remnant Novgorod Kontor and upending Livonian Hanseatic trade.
• 1 Feb 1559, Valkendorf subjects Bergen's German craftsmen to royal authority: Governor Christoffer Valkendorf forces the German artisan guilds attached to the Kontor to swear allegiance or leave; settled in February 1559, the start of the Kontor's long decline.
• 1564, Oostershuis built in Antwerp: Syndic Sudermann has the huge new Hanseatic house built 1564–1568 for the Kontor transferred from Bruges (years only). It burned in 1893.
• 1593, End of the Antwerp Kontor: After the Spanish Fury and the siege of 1584–85 the Kontor collapses; the last alderman resigns in 1591 and the archive is moved to Cologne in 1593 (year only).
• 13 Jan 1598, Elizabeth I closes the Steelyard: On 13 Jan 1598 the queen orders the Hanseatic merchants expelled and the Steelyard seized, in retaliation for the Empire's expulsion of the Merchant Adventurers; the property is returned in 1606.
• 13 May 1628, Wallenstein's siege of Stralsund fails: Imperial forces besiege the Hanseatic port from 13 May to 4 Aug 1628; Danish and Swedish relief saves the city.
• 1630, Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen alliance: Mandated by the 1629 Hansetag to act for the League, the three cities conclude a ten-year defensive alliance in 1630, later renewed (year only).
• 20 May 1631, Sack of Magdeburg: Imperial-League troops storm the Protestant Hanseatic city on 20 May 1631 (N.S.); about 20,000 of 25,000 inhabitants die.
• 11 Oct 1634, Burchardi flood breaks up the island of Strand: The storm surge of 11–12 Oct 1634 shatters Strand in North Frisia into Pellworm, Nordstrand and small halligen, killing thousands.
• 24 Oct 1648, Peace of Westphalia names the Hanseatic towns: The treaties signed on 24 Oct 1648 include the Hanseatic towns (IPO Art. XVII), their first recognition in public law.
• 2 Sep 1666, Great Fire of London destroys the Steelyard: The fire of 2–6 Sep 1666 burns most of the Steelyard; Lübeck, Bremen and Hamburg rebuild it as rental warehouses.
• 29 May 1669, Last Hansetag at Lübeck: Envoys of nine towns meet in 19 sessions from 29 May to 11 June 1669 (dates as recorded in Lübeck, Old Style); no further general diet was ever held.