If I put the word Hanseatic into Google Search I get as result number 4 “Hanseatic King’s Lynn -Visit West Norfolk”. I can say with absolute confidence that there is not a single German individual, place or organisation that a small town in England would choose to not just associate with but incorporate itself into its history, safe for the Hanseatic League. They may play Zedoch the Priest at the coronation but that is because both Handel and Price Charles are considered English with German roots. Kings Lynn calling itself a Hanseatic city is a different thing. And it happens in many other places, Bergen is proud of its Hanseatic past as is Visby in Gotland or the Dutch former members of the League.
The love of all things Hanseatic goes so far that it even overrides the German fascination with all things car related. As you may know, the German system of numberplates is strictly hierarchical. The first 1, 2 or 3 letters indicate the place where the vehicle is registered at the time. The more letters, the smaller the town or county of registration. For instance, WES stands for Wesel and STD for Stade, two of the smaller members of the Hanseatic League. The two-letter cities are plentiful and some, like LG stands for Lüneburg and BS for Brunswick. Only the largest cities get to proudly display just one single letter – for instance K for Cologne, B for Berlin and F for Frankfurt.
But what about Germany’s second largest city, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg? Does your honourable Hamburg merchant drive round in a car ostentatiously displaying a proud single H? No, of course he doesn’t. His numberplate is HH, standing for Hansestadt Hamburg, leaving the single H to the inland Hanoverians. Other Hanseatic cities like Bremen, Lübeck, Wismar, Rostock, Greifswald and Stralsund also proudly carry an additional H on their numberplate, a subtle reminder to everyone that their hometowns are different and dare one say, superior to other cities.
How can an organisation that had hardly any permanent institutions traded rather pedestrian commodities like grain, Hering, furs and beeswax and ceased to exist in 1669 still stir so many peoples’ hearts with pride, that is what we will try to figure out in this podcast series.
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
As always:
Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com
If you wish to support the show go to: Support • History of the Germans Podcast
For do it yourself merchandise go to: Merchandise • History of the Germans Podcast
Facebook: @HOTGPod
Threads: @history_of_the_germans_podcast
Bluesky: @hotgpod.bsky.social
Instagram: history_of_the_germans
Twitter: @germanshistory
To make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season.
So far I have:
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356
The Reformation before the Reformation
The Empire in the 15th century
The Fall and Rise of the Habsburgs
Bibliography:
Philippe Dillinger: Die Hanse
Die Hanse, Lebenswirklichkeit und Mythos, curated by Jürgen Bracker, Volker Henn and Rainer Postel
Rolf Hammel-Kieslow: Die Hanse
And special thanks for the translation of the Artlenburg Privileg to Dr. Jenny Benham.
And special thanks to Dr. justyna Wubs-Montzewicz whose research I found eye-opening
Click here to listen to the playlist on Spotify
Click here to listen to it as a seperate Podcast on Apple Podcasts
Click here to listen to the playlist on YouTube
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
Overview
The Hanse of the Merchants of the Holy Roman Empire described itself as neither a corporation, nor an organisation nor any definable entity at all.
But still it existed and it dominated the Baltic Sea for centuries, not only economically but also militarily and politically. They chose kings and made rulers disappear. They opened trade routes and forced cities and rulers to grant them privileges.
But underneath ran a network of medium sized merchants who helped each other out with information, trading and storing each other’s goods and handling their finances. The Hanse is unique in not one but every conceivable way….
Transcripts and Episode Descriptions
#109 Gotlandfahrer
The Beginnings of the Hanseatic League
All beginning is hard, but the intrepid traders from Lübeck had to find their way to Gotland and from there to Novgorod the hard way.
#110 The Livonian Cities
Riga, Reval/Tallinn, Dorpat/Taru, Narva
Riga, Reval (=Tallin) and Dorpat (=Tartu) were the members of the Hanseatic League who ended up controlling the trade in fur and beeswax
#111 Hewing & Herring
The Copper Mines of Falun and the Fisheries of Skane
The humble herring turned out to be the most significant trade in the Hanseatic League
#112 Grain & Beer
The Hanse’s Trade in Beer and Cereals
A rundown of the history of the Hanseatic cities along the Baltic coast and the first large scale transport of grain in Europe since Roman times
#113 Bergen & Bruges
The Kontors of the Hanseatic League
Today we will talk about the Bryggen, the famous Hanseatic Kontor or trading post in Bergen in western Norway.
#114 The London Steelyard
The Merchants of Cologne bring Wine and a lot more to England
We look at the great Hanseatic Kontor in London that goes back to 1176.
#115 War with Denmark (Part 1)
Waldemar Atterdag’s attack on Gotland
A story of plague and recovery first of the cities of the Hanseatic league and then of the broken kingdom of Denmark
#116 War with Denmark (Part 2)
The Peace of Stralsund 1370
A story of plague and recovery first of the cities of the Hanseatic league and then of the broken kingdom of Denmark
#117 Embargoes
or how the Hanse forced Norway, Novgorod and even Bruges to grant privileges
A story of plague and recovery first of the cities of the Hanseatic league and then of the broken kingdom of Denmark
#118 Pirates
Did Klaus Störtebecker even exist, and if so, did he matter?
Klaus Stortebecker may have been a legend, but there were pirates in the Baltic in the 14th century and they were a danger to the Hansa
#119 What was the Hansa
A crocodile whose main body is concealed below the water?
Historians have re-interpreted the Hanse for 200 years. The latest notion is that it was a network like eBay or Amazon. Does that make sense?
#120 Money, Money, Money
…how it worked in the Hanseatic League
How did the Hanse operate the other side of the equation – the money? Find out how the 15th century was already almost cashless…
#121 A Constitutional Crisis
The lower classes in the Hanse cities are rising up
By 1400 the Hanse is at the height of its powers, but just 10 years later the association faces a mortal crisis
#122 Calamitous Victories
Calamitous Victories open the Baltic to English merchants
Wars with Denmark and England dominate the 15th century. Built into these conflicts are internal tensions between the Hanse Cities
#123 Decline & Fall (Part 1)
Emperors, kings and princes are closing in on Hanse cities
Wars with Denmark and England dominate the 15th century. Built into these conflicts are internal tensions between the Hanse Cities
#124 Decline & Fall (Part 2)
Jürgen Wullenwever’s and Lübeck’s last stand
The fall of Lübeck from queen of the Baltic in 3 Acts, most of which committed by Jürgen Wullenwever, the populist Burgomaster
#125 The Rise of Hamburg
Wars with Denmark and England dominate the 15th century. Built into these conflicts are internal tensions between the Hanse Cities
#126 A Brief History of Bremen
Different from the rest with its gutsy antics – sheltering pirates and irritating fellow Hansards. Bremen’s relationship with the Hanseatic League was as stormy as an Atlantic squall
#127 Art and Culture of the Hanse
Art and culture of the Hanse is defined by the splendour of its town halls and the soaring spires of its parish churches, but there is more…
An Interview with Carsten Jahnke
Professor Carsten Jahnke, one of the leading historians on the Hanse has kindly granted us an interview where we discuss how the Hanse network functioned and how the perception of the Hanse has changed dramatically over the last 200 years, a story that almost as interesting as the history of the Hanse itself.
Stumbled across your podcast on Spotify – I have to say it really is excellent!