The Rhineland and Westphalian Cities

The Rhineland and Westphalian cities — Cologne, Aachen, Dortmund, Soest, Münster, Osnabrück, and a number of smaller cities — were the principal members of the Hanseatic League in the West, and they were the channel through which the goods of the Mediterranean reached the markets of the Baltic. The cities of the Rhine and Westphalia were older than the Wendish towns of the Baltic, and they had their own distinctive traditions, their own political institutions, and their own commercial networks. The cities’ relations with the League were often tense, because the cities’ interests were not always the same as the interests of the Wendish towns, and the cities sometimes felt that the League was dominated by the Baltic cities to the exclusion of the West.

This article describes the principal cities of the Rhine and Westphalia, beginning with Cologne, the largest and most important of them, and continuing with the Westphalian cities to the north.

Cologne

Cologne (Köln) was, in the late Middle Ages, one of the largest and most important cities in northern Europe. The city had been a Roman colony, an archbishopric, and a major commercial centre since the early Middle Ages, and it was the principal city of the Rhineland. Cologne’s merchants had obtained trading privileges in England as early as the reign of Ethelred II, and they were the founders of the Steelyard in London, which was the principal channel through which the League’s relations with the English crown were managed.

Cologne was, in many ways, the leader of the Rhineland and Westphalian cities within the League. The city’s merchants were among the wealthiest in Europe, and the city’s moneylenders were famous throughout the continent. The city was also the seat of an archbishopric, and the archbishop of Cologne was one of the most powerful ecclesiastical princes in the Holy Roman Empire. The archbishop had a role in the government of the city, but the archbishop’s political power was gradually reduced in the course of the Middle Ages, and by the fifteenth century the archbishop had only a ceremonial role.

Cologne’s principal trade was in cloth, wine, and metal goods, and the city’s merchants were the principal channel through which these goods reached the markets of the Baltic. The city was also the principal centre of the money trade of the League, and the city’s moneylenders were the principal source of credit for the League’s long-distance commerce.

A useful comparative: Cologne was, by population, the largest German city in the 14th and 15th centuries (40,000+), larger even than Lübeck. Its commercial role in the League was, however, complementary rather than primary — Cologne provided the credit, the cloth, and the wine, and the Wendish cities provided the salt, the herring, and the furs.

The Westphalian cities

The Westphalian cities — Dortmund, Soest, Münster, Osnabrück, Minden, Herford, Lemgo, and a number of smaller cities — were the principal members of the League in the inland west. The cities were founded in the early Middle Ages, and they were the principal centres of the Westphalian trade. The cities’ principal exports were cloth, metal goods, and agricultural products, and the cities’ principal imports were the goods of the Baltic and the North Sea.

Dortmund was, in the late Middle Ages, the principal city of Westphalia, and it was an important member of the League. The city’s principal trade was in beer, and the city’s breweries were famous throughout northern Europe. The city’s merchants were also active in the cloth trade, and the city was an important centre of the Westphalian cloth industry. The city’s architecture was characterised by the brick Gothic style, and the city’s Reinoldikirche, the parish church of the city, is one of the most important Gothic churches in Westphalia.

Soest was, in the late Middle Ages, the principal city of the Westphalian plain, and it was an important member of the League. The city’s principal trade was in cloth and metal goods, and the city’s merchants were the principal channel through which the goods of Westphalia reached the markets of the West. The city was also the seat of the Soester Stadtrecht, the Soest town law, which was adopted by a number of other Westphalian cities.

Münster was, in the late Middle Ages, the principal city of the Münsterland, and it was an important member of the League. The city’s principal trade was in cloth and metal goods, and the city’s merchants were the principal channel through which the goods of the Münsterland reached the markets of the North. The city was also the seat of a bishopric, and the bishop of Münster was one of the most powerful ecclesiastical princes in northwestern Germany.

A specific note on Dortmund: the Reinoldikirche is the city’s principal church, and it contains the famous Golden Wonder (Goldenes Wunder) — a medieval reliquary that is one of the finest examples of late-Gothic goldsmithing in Westphalia. The church was badly damaged in World War II and has been carefully restored.

The trade of the Rhineland and Westphalian cities

The principal trade of the Rhineland and Westphalian cities was with Flanders, England, and the Baltic. The cities’ principal exports were cloth, wine, and metal goods, and the cities’ principal imports were the grain, timber, and furs of the Baltic, and the wool of England. The cities’ merchants were the principal channel through which the goods of the Mediterranean and the Rhineland reached the markets of the Baltic, and the cities’ merchants were also the principal channel through which the goods of the Baltic reached the markets of the West.

The trade of the Rhineland and Westphalian cities was closely linked to the trade of the Baltic cities. Goods that arrived in Lübeck from the East were carried by sea to Hamburg, and from Hamburg by river to the markets of the West. Goods that arrived in Cologne from the Mediterranean were carried by river to the markets of the North, and from the North to the markets of the Baltic.

The politics of the Rhineland and Westphalian cities

The politics of the Rhineland and Westphalian cities were often turbulent, and the cities were frequently at odds with the territorial princes who surrounded them. The cities’ principal conflicts were with the archbishops of Cologne, the bishops of Münster, and the dukes of Jülich and Cleves. The cities defended their privileges against the encroachments of the territorial princes, and they often had to call on the League for support.

The politics of the Rhineland and Westphalian cities were also marked by internal conflicts, particularly the conflicts between the patrician families and the guilds. The cities’ patrician families, who dominated the councils, often tried to restrict the political rights of the guilds, and the guilds often tried to expand their political rights. The result was a series of internal conflicts that sometimes led to violence.

The Cologne-Lübeck conflict

The relationship between the Rhineland and Westphalian cities and the Wendish towns of the Baltic was often tense, and the principal source of tension was the conflict between Cologne and Lübeck over the leadership of the League. The Cologne merchants, who had been members of the League from the beginning, and who had founded the Steelyard in London, claimed a leading role in the League, but the Lübeck merchants, who dominated the Hansetag and who controlled the Baltic trade, were unwilling to share the leadership.

The conflict between Cologne and Lübeck came to a head in the Cologne Trade War of 1475–76, when Cologne was excluded from the Hansetag and from the privileges of the Steelyard for refusing to join the League’s embargo against Burgundian Flanders. The exclusion was the result of Cologne’s refusal to participate in the League’s embargoes against Flanders, and it marked the end of Cologne’s leading role in the League. The exclusion was eventually lifted, but the relationship between Cologne and Lübeck remained tense, and the conflict was a constant source of weakness for the League.

A note on dating: there are earlier disputes between Cologne and the League (notably in 1384) that some sources treat as the “first” Cologne–Lübeck conflict. The 1475–76 episode is the most consequential and the most-cited, but it was not the first. See the article on the Cologne-Lübeck conflict for a fuller discussion.