Section 194 The Hanse. I.1
About the end of the twelfth century commerce began to extend towards the north of Europe. Along the German shores of the Baltic (S. 36, N. 7, A) sprang up2 thriving towns, which sent out ships to (S. 72, N. 4) Russia, Norway, England, and other parts, and exchanged the raw materials which they thus acquired (S. 48, N. 6) for the merchandise of Southern Europe and the Levant, which reached them both by land and sea3. Before4 the middle of the thirteenth century, this trade had become so valuable as to excite5 the rapacity, not only of numerous pirates who infested6 the seas, but7 of princes (S. 3, N. 2) and nobles, who exacted arbitrary and excessive tolls.
To defend their interests against these assailants, the chief8 ports entered into a league, binding themselves9 to [zu] afford mutual aid and protection. Lübeck and Hamburg stood at the head of this association; Bremen ranked next10; and one after another the principal towns gave in their adhesion, the movement spreading from east to west11. The numbers of the league12 fluctuated, but at one time it is known (S. 4, N. 4, man) to have comprised more than ninety different towns. In the fourteenth century its authority13 extended greatly, for14 it rallied around it the chief commercial towns of the interior, such as Cologne, Dortmund, Münster, Brunswick, Magdeburg, etc. The Hanse had for its object the protection and development of commerce, the maintenance of existing and the acquisition of new privileges15. The association was governed by a Diet16, to which each town sent representatives, and which met once in three years17 in Lübeck. As the confederation expanded, it became necessary to divide it into several provinces18, of which the capitals were Lübeck, Cologne, Brunswick, and Dantzic.
Notes
1 Die Hansa.
2 entstehen, insep. comp. irreg. v.
3 welche sie sowohl auf dem Land-als auch auf dem Seewege bezogen.
4 = Already before.
5 = that it excited; place ‘not only’ before ‘rapacity’.
6 unsicher machen.
7 = but also that (to agree with ‘rapacity’).
8 = most important; to enter into a league, ein Bündnis mit einander schließen.
9 = whereby they bound themselves (sich verpflichten). Aid and protection, Schutz und Trutz.
10 = hereupon came Bremen.
11 and — west = and afterwards one great town after the other joined the league, which expanded (sich aus´breiten) from east to west.
12 Liter. = The number of the towns in the league.
13 = power.
14 for — it, denn es traten ihm... bei.
15 The — privileges = The protection and the development of commerce, the maintenance of existing and the acquisition of new privileges were the object (Zweck, m.) of the Hanse.
16 = The business (Angelegenheiten, pl.) of the league was conducted by (durch) a Diet (here den Hansetag).
17 alle drei Jahre einmal.
18 here Bezirke (or Quartiere).