While reading Mark Kurlansky’s excellent and informative book
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, I first learned about the Hanseatic League - a sort of Teutonic trading guild comprised of seafaring merchants based along the coast of the Baltic and North Seas. While many trace its roots as far back as the mid-12th Century, the Hansa – as it was often referred to – was founded in the German city of Lübeck in 1358. It eventually grew to include well over a hundred cities – dominating the sea trade in northern Europe and Scandinavia for nearly two hundred years. The Hanseatic League employed its own navy and militias, battling pirates and even waging war against Denmark in the 14th Century. League members enjoyed privileges ranging from exclusive trade routes to the waiving of tariffs.
By the late 16th Century, political and economic changes began to erode the Hansa’s strength. Sweden seized control of much of the Baltic, resulting in the Nordic Seven Years War against several of the Hanseatic powers. The humongous
Adler von Lübeck, at the time the largest ship in the world, was constructed in an attempt to re-establish Lübeck’s maritime supremacy but it never saw battle as the warring parties had reached an accord by the time it was completed. As some cities grew more independent and German royalty consolidated their influence and authority, the Hansa continued to slowly disintegrate until only three of its primary cities (Bremen, Hamburg, and Lübeck) remained by the time of its demise in 1862.
Lübeck, known as “Queen of the Hansa” during the League’s reign, was later noted for refusing Adolf Hitler permission to speak there in 1932, forcing him to instead to make his campaign speech in the nearby village of Bad Schwartau. From that day forward, Hitler referred to Lübeck as “that small city close to Bad Schwartau”.
