The Hanseatic League

Treaties and Alliances of the Hanseatic League

The Hanseatic League’s commercial dominance rested on a series of treaties and alliances that the League concluded with the rulers of the countries in which the League’s merchants traded. The treaties granted the merchants of the League extensive privileges in foreign lands, and the treaties were the foundation of the League’s commercial system. The most important of the treaties were those with England, Flanders, Scandinavia, Novgorod, and Poland-Lithuania, and the treaties of Stralsund (1370), Vordingborg (1435), and Cadzand (1477) were the principal milestones in the League’s diplomatic history.

This article describes the principal treaties and alliances of the League, beginning with the earliest treaties of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, continuing with the great treaties of the late Middle Ages, and ending with the decline of the League’s treaty-making power in the early modern period.

The earliest treaties

The earliest treaties of the League were the privileges granted by the rulers of England to the merchants of Cologne in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries. The earliest known charter is the grant of Ethelred II around 1004, which gave the merchants of Cologne the right to trade at the port of London and to be protected from arbitrary arrest. The charter was renewed and extended by the Norman and Plantagenet kings, and it was the foundation of the privileges of the Steelyard in London.

Similar treaties were concluded with the rulers of Flanders, Norway, and Novgorod. The treaties with Flanders gave the merchants of the League the right to trade in the great fairs of Bruges, and the treaties with Norway gave the merchants the right to trade in the port of Bergen. The treaties with Novgorod, first concluded in 1270 and reinforced in subsequent treaties, gave the merchants of the League the right to trade in the great fur markets of the Russian north.

A useful caveat: the term “treaty” is a translation convenience. The medieval instruments were usually charters or privileges granted unilaterally by the ruler, not bilateral treaties in the modern sense. The “treaty” framing was applied retroactively, especially by 19th-century historians.

The Treaty of Stralsund (1370)

The Treaty of Stralsund, concluded on 24 May 1370, was the most important treaty in the history of the Hanseatic League. The treaty was the result of the League’s victory in the war of 1367–70 against the Danish king Valdemar IV, and it was a remarkable document that guaranteed the privileges of the Hanseatic merchants in Scandinavia for the next two centuries.

The principal provisions of the treaty were:

  1. The Danish king recognised the privileges of the Hanseatic merchants in Scandinavia, including the right to trade freely in the herring fisheries of the Sound, the right to be exempt from most customs duties, and the right to be judged by Hanseatic law in disputes with the Danes.
  2. The Danish king agreed to consult the League on matters of commerce, and the League was given a substantial role in the governance of the herring fisheries of the Sound.
  3. The Danish king agreed to pay a substantial indemnity to the League.
  4. The Danish king released the Hanseatic merchants taken prisoner during the war, and the League released the Danish prisoners in its custody.
  5. The Danish king agreed to renew the existing treaties, which were to remain in force for the next two centuries.

A specific note on the duration “for the next two centuries”: the treaty’s main provisions held for about 60–70 years rather than 200. The next major war with Denmark (1426–35) produced the Treaty of Vordingborg as a renewal rather than as a wholesale renegotiation, so the basic structure held; but by 1500 the Danish king was treating the treaty’s provisions as starting points for negotiation rather than as fixed terms.

The Treaty of Vordingborg (1435)

The Treaty of Vordingborg, concluded in 1435, was the second of the great treaties of the League. The treaty was the result of the League’s victory in the war of 1426–35 against the Danish king Eric of Pomerania, and it was a confirmation of the Treaty of Stralsund, with additional provisions for the governance of the herring fisheries of the Sound.

The principal provisions of the treaty were:

  1. The Danish king recognised the privileges of the Hanseatic merchants in Scandinavia, including the right to trade freely in the herring fisheries of the Sound.
  2. The Danish king agreed to consult the League on matters of commerce, and the League was given a substantial role in the governance of the herring fisheries of the Sound.
  3. The Danish king agreed to pay a substantial indemnity to the League.
  4. The Danish king agreed to renew the treaties, which were to remain in force for the next several decades.

The treaty marked the beginning of the golden age of the League, the period from roughly 1440 to 1470 when Hanseatic commerce reached its greatest extent and the League’s political influence was at its peak.

The Peace of Cadzand (1477)

The Peace of Cadzand, concluded in 1477, was the third of the great treaties of the League. The peace was the result of the League’s defeat in the war of the 1460s and 1470s against the duke of Burgundy, and it was the first major treaty that the League had signed on less-than-favourable terms.

The principal provisions of the peace were:

  1. The duke of Burgundy recognised the privileges of the Hanseatic merchants in Flanders, but the privileges were reduced in scope and the merchants were required to pay higher customs duties.
  2. The duke of Burgundy agreed to release the Hanseatic merchants taken prisoner, and the League released the Burgundian prisoners in its custody.
  3. The League agreed to pay a substantial indemnity to the duke of Burgundy.
  4. The League and the duke of Burgundy agreed to renew the treaties, which were to remain in force for the next several decades.

The treaty with Novgorod (1270 and later)

The treaty with Novgorod, first concluded in 1270 and reinforced in several subsequent treaties (notably 1300, 1323, 1371, and 1434), was the most important treaty of the League with the Russian north. The treaty gave the merchants of the League extensive privileges in Novgorod, including the right to trade freely in the great fur markets, the right to be judged by Hanseatic law in disputes with the Russians, and the right to hold divine services in their own church.

The treaty with Novgorod was renewed several times in the following centuries, and it remained in force until 1474, when the League closed the Peterhof in retaliation for Russian attacks on Hanseatic merchants.

A note: the Novgorod treaties were among the few that were genuinely bilateral — that is, negotiated and signed by both sides, rather than being a unilateral charter from a foreign ruler. This is because Novgorod, as a veche republic, had its own treaty-making capacity, distinct from the Muscovite grand dukes who eventually absorbed it.

The treaties of the decline

The League’s treaty-making power declined in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, and the treaties of the decline were, on the whole, less favourable to the League than the treaties of the golden age. The principal treaties of the decline included:

The Peace of Westphalia (1648)

The Peace of Westphalia, concluded in 1648, was the last major treaty in the history of the Hanseatic League. The peace was the result of the Thirty Years War, and it was a comprehensive settlement of the political and religious disputes that had divided the Holy Roman Empire. The peace confirmed the political fragmentation of the Empire, and it left the Hanseatic cities as subjects of the territorial states.

The Peace of Westphalia was, in effect, the end of the League as a political entity. The League’s member cities were now subjects of the territorial states, and the League’s political institutions were no longer relevant. The Hansetag, which had been the principal political authority of the League, was now a relic of a bygone age, and the last Hansetag, in 1669, was a meeting of cities that had little in common and less to do.

Further reading