Hanseatic League

Japanese: ハンザ同盟 - はんざどうめい

The Hanseatic League was a league of cities, mainly from North Germany, that held hegemony over the commercial sphere of Scandinavia in the Middle Ages. Its official name was Deutsche Hanse (Hansa). The original meaning of the word Hanse was "group," and it was used to refer to a union of merchants who banded together to protect their commercial interests in foreign lands.

[Shosuke Hirajo]

Hansa the Merchant

In London, merchants from Cologne had already established a meeting place for their guild in the mid-11th century, and in the mid-12th century, merchants from Hamburg and Lübeck were also allowed to form guilds, and the guilds from each of these home cities merged to form the German Hanse in London. The base of this type of Hanse was not limited to London. As a result of the progress of the East German colonization movement that began with the construction of Lübeck (1158), many commercial cities were built along the Baltic Sea coast, and a Nordic commercial sphere was formed centered on the Baltic Sea. As a result, important bases of the Hanse were established in Novgorod, Bergen, Bruges, and other places, and they were called Hanseatic trading houses (Kontor).

At first, it was Gotlandic merchants based in Visby on the island of Gotland who held the reins in the Nordic commercial sphere, but from the end of the 13th century merchants from Lübeck took over their position and established a foothold that would later become the leader of the Hanseatic League.

[Shosuke Hirajo]

City Hansa

The Hanseatic League, an alliance between the home cities of Hanseatic merchants, was born from the merchant Hanse. Already in the mid-13th century, individual alliances had been formed between several cities, but in 1356-58, conflicts between the Hanseatic merchants based in the trading post in Bruges and the local merchants in Flanders intensified, and the Hanseatic merchants asked their home cities for help. This prompted a meeting of the Hanseatic cities proposed by Lübeck (the origin of the Hanseatic General Assembly), which declared an economic blockade of Flanders under the name of the "German Hanseatic Cities." In 1366, it was confirmed that commercial privileges in foreign lands would be limited to the citizens of German Hanseatic member cities, and the league of German Hanseatic cities became clear.

[Shosuke Hirajo]

Alliance Form

The ties within the Hanseatic League were relatively loose, and important decisions were made at the Hanseatic General Assembly, which was made up of representatives from the member cities, and later a system of contributions for member cities was created, but there were no written rules for the league, no permanent executive body, and no official list of member cities was ever compiled, so even the scope of member cities is unclear. About 70 cities formed the core of the league, and it is said that about 130 other cities joined it in a loose form. In addition to the cities, the Teutonic Knights were also members.

[Shosuke Hirajo]

Disappearance

At the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the early modern period, as the nation states, including England, began to become more powerful, they began to adopt mercantilist policies. In particular, Dutch merchant capital advanced into the Baltic Sea trade and took over leadership. As a result, the Hanseatic League rapidly declined and the number of member cities drastically decreased. In addition to Lübeck, Hamburg, and Bremen, only three other cities (Cologne, Brunswick, and Danzig) attended the last Hanseatic General Assembly in 1669. Lübeck, Hamburg, and Bremen had already formed a close mutual aid alliance in 1630, and even after the dissolution of the Hanseatic League, they continued to maintain the tradition of Hanseatic cities into the 19th century. Even in the "Federal Republic of Germany" (formerly West Germany) after the Second World War, Hamburg and Bremen are members of the federation on an equal footing with the other seven states (Lands).

[Shosuke Hirajo]

"Studies on Medieval German History" by Masuda Shiro (1951, Keiso Shobo) " "Studies on Medieval Cities in Western Europe II: A Study on the Economic History of the Hanseatic Empire" by Takamura Shohei (1980, Chikuma Shobo) " "The Hanseatic League" by Takahashi Osamu (1980, Kyoikusha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

中世の北欧商業圏の覇権を握った北ドイツ中心の都市同盟。ハンザ同盟とは俗称で、正式名称はドイツ・ハンザDeutsche Hanse (Hansa)。ハンザHanseの語の原義は「集団」を意味し、外地における商業権益を守るため団結した貿易商人の組合をさすことばとして使われた。

［平城照介］

商人ハンザ

ロンドンには、すでに11世紀中葉、ケルンの商人が組合の集合所をもっており、12世紀中葉にはハンブルクの商人、リューベックの商人も組合結成を認められ、これら本国都市ごとの組合が合体して、ロンドンにおけるドイツ人ハンザが形成された。この種の商人ハンザの拠点はロンドンに限られなかった。リューベックの建設（1158）に始まる東ドイツ植民運動の進展の結果、バルト海沿岸に多数の商業都市が建設され、バルト海を中心に北欧商業圏が形成されたが、それに伴い、ノブゴロド、ベルゲン、ブリュージュなどにも、商人ハンザの重要拠点が設けられ、ハンザ商館Kontorとよばれた。

　最初北欧商業圏の指導権を握ったのは、ゴトランド島のビスビーを拠点に活躍したゴトランド商人であったが、13世紀末よりリューベックの商人がその地位を奪い、後のハンザ同盟の盟主となる地歩を築いた。

［平城照介］

都市ハンザ

都市ハンザ、つまりハンザ商人たちの本国都市間の同盟としてのハンザ同盟は、この商人ハンザから生まれた。すでに13世紀中葉より、いくつかの都市間に個別的同盟が結ばれる事態が認められたが、1356～58年、ブリュージュの商館を拠点とするハンザ商人と、フランドル地方の在地商人との争いが激化し、ハンザ商人が本国都市に援助を求めてきた事件を契機に、リューベックの提唱によるハンザ諸都市の会議が開かれて（ハンザ総会の起源）、「ドイツ・ハンザの諸都市」の名のもとに対フランドル経済封鎖が宣言され、1366年には、外地における商業特権の享受がドイツ・ハンザ加盟都市の市民に限られることが確認されて、ドイツ・ハンザの都市同盟としての性格が明確となった。

［平城照介］

同盟形態

ハンザ同盟内の結合は比較的緩く、加盟都市の代表で構成されるハンザ総会で重要な決定がなされ、また、のちになると加盟都市の分担金の制度がつくられたが、成文化された同盟規約も、恒常的執行機関も存在せず、加盟都市の公式リストさえ一度も作成されなかったので、加盟都市の範囲すらさだかでない。同盟の中核となったのは約70の都市であり、ほかに130ほどの都市が緩い形でこれに加わっていたといわれる。都市以外にドイツ騎士団も加盟していた。

［平城照介］

消滅

中世末・近世初頭、イギリスはじめ強力化し始めた国民国家が、重商主義的政策をとり始め、とくにオランダの商業資本がバルト海貿易に進出し、指導権を奪った結果、ハンザ同盟は急速に衰退し、加盟都市も激減した。1669年の最後のハンザ総会に出席したのは、リューベック、ハンブルク、ブレーメンのほかは、わずかに三都市（ケルン、ブラウンシュワイク、ダンツィヒ）を数えるにすぎなかった。リューベック、ハンブルクおよびブレーメンは、すでに1630年以降緊密な相互援助同盟を結成しており、ハンザ同盟消滅後も、19世紀に至るまで、ハンザ都市の伝統を維持し続けた。第二次世界大戦後の「ドイツ連邦共和国」（旧西ドイツ）においても、ハンブルクとブレーメンの二都市は、他の七州（ラント）と同格の連邦構成員となっている。

［平城照介］

『増田四郎著『独逸中世史の研究』（1951・勁草書房）』▽『高村象平著『西欧中世都市の研究Ⅱ　ハンザの経済史的研究』（1980・筑摩書房）』▽『高橋理著『ハンザ同盟』（1980・教育社）』

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