Hey, /his/ I'm interested in the Hanseatic League as of late. I've been listening to a podcast about the Hanseatic league (The Hanseatic League, by Dirk Hoffman-Becking) and wanted to find a good comprehensive history book to learn more about the topic. It shouldn't be overly complex or academic, but neither a piece of propaganda. I've started "The Hansa Towns" by Helen Zimmern, but I'm not enjoying reading it and perhaps there are better alternatives. Any recommendations?Also, feel free to discuss about it here.Sorry for not posting bait, btw
>>16882638https://historyofthegermans.com/books/He has book recommendations on his website but I don't know if those are available in English
Volume of trade surpassed Rome in the middle ages and the Hanseatic league played a role in connecting the Baltic to the Mediterranean. With such a huge area connected by trade it is no surprise that Europe began the "great divergence". Ocean going vessels developed to sail across the north sea and Atlantic would influence Portuguese designs and their own exploration and long distance trade. The Hanseatic league also enabled a greater economy of scale and specialization, low impurity iron ore from Sweden and timber from Russia could now be imported to produce charcoal and fuel various forges to both smelt and further process the metal. Around this time Europe began producing hardened steel plates and produce iconic plate armor. The Hanseatic league were by no means the only merchants, but they lived in a time of feudal decentralization away from large Kingdoms like France and England and could form something resembling a state of their own which straddled the late middle ages and renaissance, an era of big change. People look to 1492, but rarely ask how Europe got there, and the Hanseatic league is an ideal case study.
>>16882761Pretty interesting take on this.>>16882695Thanks!
>>16882638No books but for primary and secondary sources I would reccomend the german wikisource page - which has a few links to the internet archive as well. But most primary documents are locked behind either non-digitized archives or behind pay/membership walls. https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/HanseThere is also the following page which has many of the hanseatic recesses (the written down decisions from the respective Hanseatic Diets) from the 13th up to the early 16th century in a digitized but not translated form: https://www.hansischergeschichtsverein.de/hanserecesse>>16882761>and could form something resembling a state of their own I wouldn't go that far in my expression. There was no hanseatic citizenship, memberships fluctuated greatly and the focus lay on mercantile endeavours and the defense of them.The aforementioned hanseatic recess for example only came into effect when the respective city councils confirmed them with their seals - as the Hanseatic Leage itself had no legislative, judicative and executive power and thus no seal of its own. The Hanseatic Diets themselves (as the highest "organ" of the League) only had at best ten to twenty representatives of its members present - out of a very fluctuating number of member cities. Even their defensive/martial treaties were not binding for all members but only for those who signed the respetive treaties. The most coherent and comprehensive agreements were the Wendish League of Cities, which can be understood as the core of the Hanse, which itself created the Wendish Coinage Treaty - a common currency which was existed only between five (seven at its maximum extend) cities.>tl;drThere is a reason why it is called the Hanseatic League and not the Hanseatic Confederation/Union.
>>16883632>No books but for primary and secondary sources I would reccomend the german wikisource page - which has a few links to the internet archive as well.>But most primary documents are locked behind either non-digitized archives or behind pay/membership walls.>https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Hanse>There is also the following page which has many of the hanseatic recesses (the written down decisions from the respective Hanseatic Diets) from the 13th up to the early 16th century in a digitized but not translated formA pity I don't speak German, but thanks anyway!
Bump
>>16882761the hanseatic league filled the north sea gap left by the fall of the norwegian fleet, which up until the black death was the leading timber and trade fleet of the north sea.it could also be argued that the combined fall of norway and the eastern presence of the hanseatic league allowed britain to experiment and build up their own shipbuilding capabilities, which up until then was limited to the norse/norman elites and their crusade efforts.the babysteps of the native british fleet was in the wars with france, which gradually became global.
>>16886742More info on said norwegian fleet? I couldn't find anything.
