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ASPECTS OF THE ANGLO-HANSEATIC CONFLICT
IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
by
., ',1 John D. Fudge' "
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Q " . , . .1 . , . A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of' the requirements , for the degree Master of Arts.
Department of History .' . . McGill Uni verai ty, Montréal © John D. Fudge March, 1983 March, 1983
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ABSTRACT 1 This study examines the economic and political disputes 1 l between Ene1and and the German 'Hanse in the fifteenth century, 1 wi th the ai'D of assessing the impact of the Anglo-Hanseatic ',Var
(1468-74) on the Hanse 1 s tr8de wi th Engl and and ev al uating the 1 1 war's politienl repercussions within the Hanseatic co~munity. , Essentially this war was a conflict between an Bngl ish rnerchant • communi ty intent on mer~[lnti 1 e expansion end the Hanseatic ) confeperation, whi ch l'las determi ned to preserve i ts cOID'1lerci al monopoly i TI northe~n Europe, but whi ch Dl sa was torn by the 1 particularis'lJ of civic and ref.'ional econo'TIic interests. The
exclusion o~ the Hansards from English ~oreign trade during the war years resuJted in sifnificant, but not~~~~~ ya11 pervasive or identical, consequences in each 0:' tl1e pr' ipal
trading ports of eastern England. ~hoUfh the Engli h govern'Dent eventually acquiesced to virtuallj E:very hDnseatic deTand in -order ta end the war iD 1174, the conflict, nevertheless, also
had ~ar-reachinf effects on political unit y within the ~e~an
Hans e. L'Jos t noté" bl e was Co:' ogne 1 s at temDt ta di s3ssociate herself fro')'} the Hanse" 'Jut no less i'l1por:ant to the once for~id8ble trading can:ederation were t~e èive~se reSDonses of " other leading HanseBtic cities to t~e challenge of England's ~~
cO'l1~ercial elite. ï ~ • ,~ j '1 ~ r., " ,0 t ; ! \ ,1
,< -;: J .- RESUME ( .. Cette étude examine les rivalités écono'riques et poli tiques entre l'Angleterre et la Hanse Germanique au quinzième siècle dans le but de déterminer l'impact de la guerre Anglo-H~mséatique (1468-74) sur 1es échanges CO'1'L'TIerciaux entte la Honse et l'Angleterre et d'évaluer les répercussions politiques de cette
guerre au sein de la communauté Hanséatique. Essentiellement, II! ce confli t opposai t le désir expaDsiond ste de la communauté marc,hande Angl ai s e et 1 a détermination de la cO'nfédération Hanséatique à préserver son monopole c01lIIlercial dans le nord de l'Europe; une confédération dechirée par le particularisme des interêts écono!l1iques des villes et regions. Les conséquences de l'exclusion des Hansards du réseau commerciale anelaj s durant les années de guerre se révél èrent signL:i cati ves :nais pas nécéssairem-ent si '1lilai res pour chacun des princi peux ports
't commerciaux de l t est de l' Angl eterre. Même si le gouvernement angl ais éventuell ement Bcqui esse vi rtuell e11ent à presque tout es ( les demandes HrJnséatiques pour mettre un terme a ln guerre en 1474, le conflit eut, 81.;.ssi, de séri eux effets sur l • uni té "',f politique au sein de l'Hanse Ger'TI3.r:.ique. Le pl~s notoire fut la tentati ve de Cologne de se dissocier de l'Har:se, '113is il
ne faut PDS pour outailt di1li nuer l 'i ~t ance des di fférent es réactions des autres vi lles Hanséatiques au défi de l ' élite cO!!lmercial e anelai se.
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~ - ACKNOWL~DGErP;NTS ':/ l wish to acknowledge with gratitude the'gu~da'nce, ,~ assistance and I?al utary cri ticism of:fered by Professor Pet'er C. Hoffmann, and the friené!lj" counsél of Frofes,sor Charles 'C. Bayleyof McGill Yniversity, Montréal. M,y thanks are also
due to 'die Schlange l, who read the original typescri pt and offered many helpful suggestions. A."'1y errors' which have eluded their vigilance are rny own responsibility. ! am indebted also to Professor Mary E. Rogers and Mr. David Howie of - the University of Guelph for their suggest~ons and unfailing encouragement wi th regard to this project. Finally, l extend my thanks to the staffs of the Guildhall Library and Public Record Office in London, the Uni versi tMtsbibliothek l, and Historisches Serninar at the West:f!Uische Wilhelms - Uni versi tl:tt, Mllilster, and the McLennan Lib~ry at MeGill University, Montréal, for their efficient'service and cqurteous assistance. t \ J .D.l". l ' i
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ABBREVIA1'IONS •
, ( I, Akten : Akten êler Stgndetage ,Preussens 1233-1535. / Calendar of the Close RaIls. / '"-ceRe / CLB. Calendar of Letter !3ooks of the City of London.
CPR. Calendar of the Patent RaIls.
CPMR. : Ca1endar of Plee and Mernoranda Roll s of the Ci ty of London. EcHR. : Economie History Review. Foedera : Foedera, convontione§, li terae, et cU,juscunque eeneris acta publiee, inter reges Angliae ..•• HGbll. : Hansische GesehichtsblUtter. HR. : Hanserecesse.
HUB. .Hansisches Urkundenbueh.
. " LUB. Codex Di ploma ticus Lubecensis: Urkundenbuch der Stadt Ltl.beck.
PRO. Public Record O~fice.
Quellen GY.H. : Quel} cn zur Geschichte des K~1ner Handels und' Verkehrs im Wittela1ter.
Rot. ParI. Rot uli Parli amentorum.
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COl-tTENTS 'PAGE INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER l î DIVERSE DEPREDATIONS: THE Al-rGLO-HANSEATIC CONTROYERSY 1 1405-1468 9 j The Baltic monopoly in the fifteenth century. ! Burgundian Rule in the Low Countltes and Eolland's challenge to the Hanse. English traders in the Baltic and their grievances. North Sea pirates. Licences ta keep the sea. Robert Wenyngton's 'coup' and the Hanseatic response •. ,~ Warwi ck' s et tack on the Bay Fleet and the reaction of a· divided Hanse. Poland 1 s victory over the Teutonic Knights; the rise of Danzi8' s merchant 01 i garchy. English shins arrested in the Sound, 1468. Map of the conso1 i dation of Burgundian possessions. Map of the redistribution of Teutonic possessions after the second Peace o~ Thorn.
CHAPTER II PERFIDITY, PRIVA~EERS AND PEACE INITIATIVES : ENGLAND AND :'HE HAXSE AT WAR; 1468-1474 39 Warwi ck' s schemes and the anti-Hanse senti ment in England. . Reprisals ogainst Hansards; Cologne's special status. England's insecure ~onarchy, and eivic particularism within the German Hanse. The 'verdict' of t'1e King's Council; -protests from the continent. Edward T'l, Richaro Neville and Duke Charles of of Burfundy. Pri vateers in the j;orth Sea; Paul Beneke, the 'Grosse Kraweel " Sir John How3rd. Peaee initiatives Bnd th~ Peaee of Utrecht. Map of the German Bange. l
Chapter III C0!v1M0:;)ITIES, MERCHANTS AND THE ECO}TOMIC REPERCUSSIONS OF THE M;GLO-HANSEATIC V/AR 66 Renewal of anei ent pri vil eees and conveyence of the Steelyerd properties. Partnershi~s, co~~odities and s~ipping. The woolen trade of' England' s e8st coast ports. Effects of the Anglo-Hanseatic ',','ar on cloth exports. The trade in ~erchandise payine the petty custom. Hanseatic entrepreneurs in England. '. . -
1 - The Steelyard at King 1 s Lynn and Hanseati c ware ( houses at Lübeck.
CONCLUSION 101
BIBLIOGRAPHY 110
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_. - -~,---~~--- / ! INTROruCTION ( The German Hanse, whose rise and decfine spanrled al~ost four centuries, was a rather unique instit~tion in late ~edieval Europe. Unlike Italian or south Ger~n city leagues, whlch were established pri~arily for military purposes, the Hanse was e confederation of trading cit~es created to promote Bnd Drotect , the econornic interests of' i ts :nembership. As i ts inf} uence j increased, the Hanse eventually came to monopolize trade and 1 j co~merce in northern Europe during the Ieter Middle Ages, and j in doing so played an Integral role in the development o~ the medieval European econo~. It maintained trading links with aIl regions of Europe, and benefited fro~ preferential legislation in ~~ny foreign lands, while at the sa~e time
dominating domestic, , Droduction, trade, transport and finance within Scandinavia and the northern Ge~an terri tories. ~he extensive econo~ic and political power which accrued to the Hanse was only gradually destroyed ~y a ~ultiplicity of historieal conditions, especially the co~bined effects of particularism within the ~embershiD and the ernergence of co~petitive nation-states cèpable of industriel and mercantile expansion. The Hanse then faded fro~ existence as Europe entered a new era of economic growth in the sixteenth and 'seveI)teenth centuries. Illustrative of the principal internaI and external 1 pressures which eventually exhausted the Hanseatic confederation is the erratic course of i ts relations wi th Enel and throughout
the fifteenth century. In t~e international political arena the middle years of the century in particular were frauP'ht ...:i th violence and provoc8tion on several fron~s. Trans~or~ations in western Europe's geo-po1itical structure were affected • ~rofoundly by ci vil war in Engl and, the ri se and fa1l of Burgundy, the final phases of the Hundred Years '.'Iar, and the decisi ve defeat of the Teutonic OrQer in Prussia. Moreover, this period of monarchical state developrnent saw the emergence of' an increasingly nationalist mercantile elite in Eng1and,
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where 'for decades 'Derchants o!.' the Hans~ had benefi ted from ( preferential custorrs pri vileges. In the :najor ci ti,es of the German..., Hanse a ·correspondingly perochiel for'1J of particularism based on ci... vic end regi onal econolli c interests al so ernerp;ed • 3nglish mercanti1€ expansion posed a new threat to Hanseatic ;trade 'Ilonopolies on the continent, while the :'1 s cel 1 'Il'TIunit i es enjoyed by Hansards in England caused bitter reSent'llent wt thin the na t i va 'Ilerchan t cO'TImunity.
The dispute si~mered for several decades and finally erupted 'into an open setl-war betw~en Eng1 and and the Y'anse. It spanned a period of fi ve years, and ended in 1474 wi th :he Peaee of Utrecht. A cent ury after i t had reached the zenith of i ts pol i t leal power by di ctating peaee ter'llS to the Ying of Denmark, the :-fanse now extracted fresh fiscal concessions from,the eovern'ller.t of Eng19nd.
In the interim, however, '1llich had chanf-ed wi thin the Hanse. Its internal cohesi On haè been chall enGed by the rise of the " nation-state~ and weakened irreparably by the new ci vi c parti culari sm. Inasf!luch as the Hansarès :ouf.ht Ene1 !'md ir. , order to preserve ancien~ pri vil eges and 58 :'et;uard thei r estnblished '1lonopo1ies, 'th€' tre9ty siPned flt 1!trecht stgni:'ied a Hanseatic victory. Inèeed, the !-1ar.sards '11ûintained A:1d at least te'llporarily enharced their status in "Sngland. Yet this was a media te rather thar: ul ti mate consequence oÎ the fight, for al though i t revealed ~he extent to wlüch Enr-land 's ;~oreign ./ ' trade èepended on the Har.sards, and resul ted in the re8~fir~ation of thei r ~r:!. vil e{:es, ital 50 s.erved to i 11 u'TIinat e the èecre):'l tud~ of the Hanse and accentuate the fundaTlJental interna} di vis~ ons whieh ul tirnately contributed so signi ficantly to i ts dissolution.
A number of archi val sources end publ i shed cO'TIpil a tions render possible the investigetion of the political 1\I1d econo'llic relations oÎ England And the Hanse in the ::'ifteenth century. Frow the twelfth century onward roya1 officials i. n €8ch of Englanè's 'Dajor ports reco~ded dey by dey the arrivaIs and departures of foreign shi DS. Detail s such as the shi p' s na"'le, -- 3
captain, and port of origin, as we1l as a compl ete de ( of . merchandise, duties payable, and the name of the ~e chant dispatching the cargo a11 were recorded in the Particul rs of Customs. Annual surnmaries (enrolments) were sent to' London and included in the Exchequer Enrolled CustO!IlS Accounts '-':hich listed irrports and exports subject to charges in each por 1 These informative and remarkably compl ete customs èocU'Def1ts 1, are stored now at the Publi c Record O:~fi ce in London. '!'~ere .... is no Hanseatic equi val ent to the Customs Aecounts, and ther
fore, even thoueh gaps exist in the Particul ars J they, a\ with the more cO'llplete series of Enrolled Accounts, provide.;, most 0:' the detail pertai-ning to England 's trade wi th the Hanse. \
Since G. Schanz's exter.sive cO"Dil~tio:; of fir:ures for Engl ish ~rade under the esrl y '!'udors fi rst was oubli shed in 1881, the use 0:' the CustO'll'S Accounts has been relàti vely li mi ted wi th regard to the study of' Hanseetic trade. In 1- Eng:ische Handelspolitik gef:en Ende des Mi~tl?leltC'rs,Schanz provièed a history of custO'11S adœinistrations and revenues, pl us qU3nti taU ve est i mates of Engl ish exports. However, in l1mi tin;; himsel:: to the Enrol1ed Accounts he was not concerned with deteiled informetion reeerding individuel 'l'lerchahts, ships, and cereoes • / Other parti al tabl es 0: the Enro1l ed Acco Dnts have been appended to speciali zed stuèi cs of Ene~i sh foreign t rade sueh as Alice 3eardwood's Alien' !.ferchants in Fnp) end, which examines trade in the la:.e :'ourtecntr. c:entury, and H.L. Grny's ':English
!"oreif,n Trade :ro'TI 1~46 to 14R2" in 1) co1lection of essays
first published in 19~:3 and entitl('d StudiGS in Enp;lish Trade in the Fi :teenth Ccntury. Ar::Din, however, only tOJ1 es fro'Il the Enro lIed Accoun->:'s are rl?pronuced, and the O\J3r.t i tDt: ve statisti cs focus laI'f"ely on wool ar.d c~ nth eX:;Jorts. Final1y, E.M. Sarus Wilson sU'!l!narized the cxtnnt Enrolled Accounts in E"r:pland '5 Export Trode 127:)-1547. Basine her statistics 01'l/ figures from the Accounts, she i'ully docurnented Eng1 and' s expo\rt of wool ( 4
. , . and cloth from thé late thirteenth to the m1d-slxteenth ( century. The, st~dy ends with the year l457,when docu~entation . of the Enrolled Accounts ~ecomes ~ragmentary.
o ~. - Though the inco~pleteness of si~i}ar Hanseatic records prohibits a thorough auantitative examination of trade in the t Hanse's main ports,there are a~ple d~cumentary sources for en assessment of political and more ,general economic relations between England and the Hanse. Actually, one of the earliest source compilations for Hsns'eat1~ history foeuses on the Hanseatic presence in England. Urkundliche Geschichte des hanslschen~Stahlhofes zu London, published in 1851 by the Hamburg arch1v1st J.M. Lappenberg, consists'of a selection of statutes in Latin, English and Low German col1ecteè froID .1 a variety of archives, and illustrating the historicsl - 1 develop~ent of the German trading com~unity in England. Tt :.1
~ , ~ also contains Lappenberg's own narrative outline of the Hanse's , 1 .- history in London, accentusting the Hanse's cultural impact, r \ Ll 1n England and i ts "m!!chtigen Einfluss" on English mercantile development. Two essential source collections, the Hanserecesse and Hanslsches Urkundenbuch, published in conjunction with the ...... Historische Kommission bei der Bsyerischen Akade~e der Wissenschaften and the Hansischer Geschichtsvereln, were largely complete prior to World War I. The Hanserecesse r comprise twenty-four vol urnes covering the period 1250 to '1530. \ A number of archives were consulted, and texts were copied • in their original Latin and Low German. They include extrs
" . ordinarily co~plete records of Hanseatic asse~b11es, as weIl as related treaties, docu~ents and letters which passed between Hanseatic towns (especially Lübeck) and rnerchants, municipslities, 'Kontore', and foreign govern~ents. Concise expositions \ pertinent to individusl do~uments outline historicsl circurn stances. , l The Hansisches Urkundenbuch was the 1!lajor edi t'orial project of the, Hansischer Geschichtsverein, established ln 1870. Eleven
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volumes were pub1ished, each containing 800 to 1300 docu~ents; letters, ordinances, and source narratives resurrected from archives across northern Europe. They touch on several topics 1nc1udlng piracy, pol~tical developments, co~odity structures, '. credit, priees, and litigation proceedings. As in the Hanserecesse, the materia1 is published in the original Low German, English, and Latin of the day. Three other German collections are of particular importance with regard to Anglo-Hanseatic history in the ~i~teenth century.
The Urkundenbuch, der Stadt Lübeck is an eleven volume compilation of documents that passed between Lnbeck city authorities and various other national, terri torial, and ci vic governments beginning ih 1139. A wea1th of material relating to Col?gne's trade history,~some of it not published in either the Hansisches ' Urkundenbuch or the Hanserecesse, ls contained in Quellen zùr , Geschichte. des KOlner Handels und Verkehrs. im Mittelalter, a ' . four volume set edited by B. Kuske. Fina~ly, Akten de~ St~ndetege Preussens unter dér Herrschaft des D€utschen 0rdens GIf affords considerable insight into the politicel an0 economic developments in Teutonic Prussie during the later Middle Ages • Copied in the original L?tin and 3erman, these documents• are of special value in outlini~g-merca~tile disp~tes brought to the court o~ the Grand Masters of the Order, and the key role of Danzig in Baltic co~merce.
~hese docu~entary sources ere augmented by a nurnber of contemporary chronicles. The most infor~ative of these for Anglo-Hanseatic trade in the 'fifteenth cent~ry are ~asper 'Neinreich' s "Danziger Chroni k" pul;)li shed as part of Seri Dtores Rerurn Prussicarum: Die Geschichtsquellen der Preussisehen Vorzei t edi ted by 'T'. Hirsch et al., and "Die Chronik Ch~istian\ von Geren" in Die LObecker Bercenfahrer und ihre Chronistik edited by F. Bruns.
Cf the volu~inous sources aveilable in English, the most relevant are contained in the RaIls Seri~s'. The Calendar of the Close RaIls, Calendar of the Patent Rolls and the 0alendar
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of Plee and Memorenda Rolls of the City of London aIl eontQin ( nU!Ilerous referenees te- the Hansards in' England" as does the Calendar of Letter Books, 0: the City of London, edited hy R.R.' Sharpe. Tho~as Rymer's Foedera and the Rotuli Pnrliamentoru~ shed f~rther light on politieal currents in England and how they affeeted the'Hansard~ there. As German historians attempted to create a great maritime tradition fro~ the history of the Hanse in the eerly years of this century, three, important ~onograDhs appeared which dealt ~p~eifieally wit~ Anglo-Hanseetic relations in th~ later Middle . Ages. Walther Stein's Die Hanse und Englend: Ein hansisch
englischer Seekrieg im 15. Jahrhundert, and D~e Hanse una Eqgland: von Eduards III. bis aur Heinrichs VI!I. 2eit by . - Friedrich SChulz, as well as Karl Eneel 's ":lie Orgar.isation der deutsch-hansisehen Kaufleute in England im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert bis zum Utreehter, Frieden von 1474" are thoroughly . ~ reseerched, 'and manage to keep distortions of historieal truths to .a minimum. In eaeh of these c01lIDentaries there is SO'!le d{seussiorï of parti cularism wi thin the Hanse, but neverthel ess the Peaee of Vtreeht is seen as a clear victory for the Hansards. Only over the past three decades have Marxist historians, in deferenee to soeia1ist sensibi1ities, seriously exa~ined the deficiencies o~ the Hnnse's internal politieal structure and how it wes affected hy international develop~ents. ~ith regard ta the Anglo-Hanseatic controversy, ',Val ter Stark offers a '!lost interesting Hnalysis in 1~beck und Danzig in der zweiten H~lfte des 15. Jahrhun~erts.
'T'he princi pnl En..{'l i s:; contri bution to Ar:pl o-!lanseati c historiography is .M.M. Postan's "l'he :::conomic <.md Polit:cal Relations of Ene10nd and the Ponse fro~ 141n ta 147~11, published in Studies i!'1 [nr:l ish 'T'rade in the ?i fteenth Cenh:Œ. Tt
provides an excellent overview o~ the per:od, though the 8uthor's interpretat i on of the Angl o-!bnseot i c ':.Dr i s deri veel l arfely from thnt of the ear1ier Ger~9n works. Aside ~ro~ an admittedly less comprehensive section in the Enblish translation of Philippe " 7
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Dollinger's genersl history of the Hanse, Postsn's rnonograph ( , remains the only extensive examination of fifteenth century Anglo-Hanseat'ic relations l::lvailable in the Enr,lish lanfuage.
Hence, thoufh it is certain that international econo~ic
and politica1 deve1o~~~nts ~n the fi~teenth century accelerated the deterioration 0: Hanseatic unit y, historiofr8Dhy of the dispute with Eng]and hAs been sporadic, and few studies have atternpted to exa'l1ine cI'itically the relationship between the ". Anglo-Hanseatic War and the fragmentation of the Ger'l1sn trading
co~unity. ~he tentative explanation frequently has been of~ered that the war 8ctually united the Hanse, and thus helped prolong its existence. In addition, no atte'l1pt has yet been made to exa~ine the econornic i'l1plications of the war for the foreign trade of individual English cities where Hanseatic interests were concentrated. The effects of the conflict on the Hanse's trade with ' England, and the central interpretati ve issues perta,ining to , , , Hanseatic unit Y will be the focus of this study. While no absolute line of demarcation can be èrewn in the , . turbulent history of the Hanse's relations with Er.gland, a brief sketch of conditions existing up to 1468 brinp,s ta light the main aspects of the bitter and prolon~ed controversy. A
subse~uent examination of the trade of sDecific Enelish Dorts from 1461 to 1482 and an outline of the activity of individual Hansards participant in this trade will clarify the raIe of
the Hanse in the rer,ional 0cono~ies of England, as weIl as the impact thereon of the An~lo-HanAeatic ~ar. The critical examination of the war itself, and the course of events leading up ta it, reassesses sorne of the traditional Interpretations of Hanseatic historiof,raphy to date, and emphasizes the failures of political institutions within both the Hanse and the English Reslm. In an era when profitable commercial violence W8S an inteeral part of the maritime trading industry, the English government, plagued by foreign wars, dynastie struggles, a~d inter-baronial confliets, proved
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'incapable of providing constructive direction to the Realm's ( ,expand~n~ rnerchant cornmunity. Consequentl~ the ~iases of that 'ço:mnuni ty and those of the egoistic :~:ngl ish, ari stocracy found ultimate expression not only in the expnnqion of trade,
, .' but also in a state of near anarchy on the ,nigh sees. Similarly, the political institutions Qf the Hanse f~i~ed to keep pace "wi th charrging econo!Ilic an~poli tical trends •. Throughout the fifte:nth century the mercaltile expansion of England and Holland seriously, threatened the established Hanseatic predominance "in t'he Bal tic region, and the preservation of the Bal ti c monopoly became one of the key issues in Hanseatic Dolitics, 'fostering dissent a'nd di vision wi thin th'e confederation long before Cologne,' s sfartling defection fr~l!l ,the Hanseatic\ communi ty ir:-14P,8. The èontfoversy wi~h England, in which piracy playeè ' ' a 'major role, was decisive in sharpening internaI divisions
and hasten~ng the,dis~ntegration bf the great 'fir~a confederatio'.
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. , l DIVERSE ,DEPREDATIONS THE ANGLO-HANSEATIC CONTROVERSY , 1 " ( 1405 - 1468 l \ In the fifteenth century the Prussien city of Danzig ! <- -equa11ed and then surpassed Lübeck os the dominant port of trade in the BeItic, and became western Europe's largest supplier of cereal~ and forest proèucts. Consequently, markets in Eng1and and Holland beca~e very i~portent to ~anzig's export trade. Eut foreign contact with the Prussien hinterland wes actively discouraeed by the city's merchant community and by successive Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order, in practice the soverei[n rulers of Prussia anè Livonia, with supre~e control over all the ~ajor trading ports of the eastern Baltiq.
~he only significant ~~elish i~~ort in this region was woolen cloth, and al'1lost 811 of thet which ca'Ile ta the Prussier. ports wes destined for the interior, where regionsl markets were jealously ~onopolized by agents of the Crder and inter-
' , -f' D ' 2 h h oC' 't me dIarles .ro'!] anzlf. lÜ~l+h ~l.OUg, l1UC j O. l S t'lll arrIve'd' VIa the short sea route ta the continent (ie. to A~sterdaœ), fro~ where :t was ~rBnSDorted overll3nè to Lübeck and thence to Danzig,3the direct' sea route via the Sound was a1so well establ i shed and very popu2.ar. For the westward 811: :J,:,ent of ~anzigts'bu1~y export cargoes this '~~}endfahrt' ünquestionably
was more prac-:'ical. ~o the lIerchnnts of L~':Jeck, ho~~ever, the direct i~portatian 0: ~nG:~s~ clot~ overses ta the Baltic constituted 8 potentially seri8us threat. Often partners in the rorth Sea ISrain trade to :::=:r.p-ll'md and + he loow15nès, thE'Y were a1so t'le T!1ajor distri8utors of Fler:lish cloth in the Ba1 tic re~ion. 4 'Any ::::n[;lish cO'Tlpe:i tian in this oree wou} d challenge a long-estnblisheè 'T'onopoly. hforeover, r:love'T1ent of any cG.,rgoes westward through the ~ound necessarily circumvented the o~erlar.d route across Holstein, the very foundetion of Lübeck's prosperity.
Hence, in addition ta ~anzig'anè the other Prussian.ports, LÜbeck and her ~pndish ne:t~':Jours, Stralsund, Wis~ar, and Rostock also :avoured restricti,on of Lnf.:' iSh ar;d Dcltch trade -- ( in the Ba1 ti c. Thei r motives vari ed sl.lperfi cia~ ly acc'ording
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to the character and co~~odity st~Jcture o~ trade in each ( geographical area, but diè not differ in any furidamental sense. Nei ther Lübeck' s attitude, 'nqr that 0:' 'Janzig re:'l ected an ove-rrièinr; coneern :or the coœprehensive interests of the Hanse. ~hey were diet3ted by a spirit of self-interest tieè td the preservation 0: specifie regional ard civic ~erch8nt cOT~unities.
Holland's challenee to Hanseatie do~ination of the northern
Euro~e3n eeono~y often ~aralleled that of ~nelar.d, and a brie~ overview of this sometimes violent struggle helps establish 8 broader historieal eontext :or the Anglo-Hans€atie confliet. Hansards in the Deltie ports often eTDloyed carriers :'roù the Lowlands for the transport of grair. to westorn Europe, and ordinances intended to lirnit the participation of Hollnnd's merehants in direct trade were lareely ine~feetive. ~n 1422 .. they were prohibited :roù resièing in Prussie, anè the follow ing year weré forbidde~ to trade to Livonia, where the towns of Reval, Riga, and Dorpat had replaeed Lübeck and Visby as the Hanseatic inter'Tleè:aries for tY'Dde to J:ovporod Bnd Russia. 5 The restrictions accomplisheè li~t1e, ~ut diè le3~ ~o a sustained
ea~paign of o~struction and pirecy )y the Hollanèers w~o, al though o::'i'ici ally neutral, \'lere h,- ('hl Y s.y"'.p3thet i c tO'Nsrd the Danes when Denrnark and the Hanse were et war :'ro'D 1426 to 1435. 6 Although ships :rom Ho)la~d were attecked during these h:Jst ilit: es, the }Joll a nders persis ted in runni ng the r:lendislr b) ockade oi' tl:e Sa} ti c. ne copr:.i zing teTrlDorarily t~e futili ty of the si tuation, Srand f':T3stl?r P"'ul V-::JD ~usdor~ franted the ~erch3nts of Yollenè, Zeslan1, ~n~ ~n~l~nd access 7 ta Prussia in 1427. ",'hile th'e 'ilendish Dor"':.s a:voca:eè ex el USlOI: 0: foreigners, the Gr8n~ M9ster a~te~?tod instead ta restriet the tradinE acti vi ty of 't~uests' once they had en"': ered 'Prussien , . terri tory. To their economie advantaF'e, LCbeek onrl the ";endis'1 to~T.S did succeed in divertin[ ~ueh 0: northern ~urope's 1 CO'Tl'Tlerce to the old overl3nè routes, hut ?russia's seeminF'ly i rreso1 ute attitude toward the Anglo-Jutch i ncursi or. nelè'at ed tl1e ( possibility of a totally effective ~ar.se9tic blockgèe 0: the Jound. r Il
, '
Another develop~ent of concern to the Hanse wes the ( consolidation of territories :n the Low Countries by the ~kes of Bureundy in the first quarter o~ the century. ..No longer 1 could :he Hanse impose econo~ic polleies on 3mel1, political1y vulnerable duehies and eounties, and play one of; aroinst another. Hol1end, Zealand, and Brabant were added ta th~ Burgunèian possessions between 1430 and ]433, after w~ich the co'ntinuing quarrels wi th the Hollanèers regularly brought the Hanse into contact with the relatively strong, cer.tralized au~hority of Philip the Good, Duke of Bur~lnèy, a1ready , , . frequently anneyed by litigations involving Hanserds at t~e Flernish staple of Bruges. 8
A fierce riva1ry develored betweer: Hol1and ' s expar.ding merchant secter and its German counterpart. Finally, the activ:ty o!' Dutch pirates led tl:;e Eanseéltic diet or 'Banseta~' G at Lübeck to suspend co~merce with Holland in 1430.~ Again \ this severe restriction wes rejecte~ by the eastern Balt!c cities, but antagonisrn in the west eventually cu~~inated in astate 0:: war between Bollane and the '.'iendish tov:ns fro'D 1438 ta 1441.
l.~eanwhile, the C;u€stion 0:' reciprocal tradine; privilepes for ~r.glish r:lerchants in :L'r'Jssia and Livo~ia also 1!ad evo"lved as a contentiaus issue in Hnns€atic af:airs. Hansards had long enjoyed a privileged status in ="C13~d. C:ten rEferreè to there as Esterlin~s, they ~or~ed 3 =ir~:y est8Jlished corporate ~ody v,'i th riehts oi' jurisdiction over 'l1e'Tlbe,rs, and th.rou[."h a series of charters, includin~ Zdward,I's :carta ~ercatoria',lCbene::ited fro~ various customs exemptions. Yet, although Enf:ish 'Tl8rchents . frequently cO'l1plained o~ arrest and ~ar~ss'l1ent in the Wen~ish ports,llby the late four:eenth century they too were well establish~d et K~nigsbere, ~l~ing, and Danzie, enGa~inp in wholesale and retail trade wi th :'orei gners as well as Prussiens. ~hey were especially active 8S ::inanc:ers, ar.d in 08nz1g had formed,a society with an elected governor. 12 ~his organiz- " , ation seems to have been to1erated by the native co~~unity 12
until 'the turn 0: the century when Hanseatic 'Englandfa!1rer' ( objected to changes in English customs regalations. ~he Prussian ports respondeè by prohibitinc English~en :ro~ tradinr with non-Har.sards, restrict:ng t~e~r rifhts 0: residence, ar.d eventually expelled them outright in 1413.]3 ~nflish attacks on Hanseatic shipping were so numerous in the ensuine two 14 years that the Hanse attempted a traèe boycott in retaliation. lts effectiveness again was severely hampered ~y lack 0: co operation within tte tradine confederation, and because Hansards really could not hinder the ~arketing of English cloth in Flanders, Brabant, and Holland.
In 1405 the Y.in~'s a~bassadors to Prussia and envoys of the Grand Master a[reed: ••• al1 Jiege rnarc1J.ants of England \'lhatsoever, shall have frEe licence and libertie to arrive with their shippes, goods and ~archanèises whatsoever, at any Porte of the land of Pruss:a and also the sayd goods and ~archandises :arther unto any place 0: the sayd land of Prussia to transport, and t~ere with any person or persons freely to contract anè bargajne, even 8S hereto fore, and fro~ aurcient ti~es it hath bene accusto'!led. ~:;hich li berty in 811 respects i8 granted unta the Prussians in Eneland.l5 A nuœber of east and south coast merchants were ordered to make restitution for i~legal seizures of Hanseatic S~iDS and cargoes. A corn~ission W8S appointed to hear disputes invoJving
Hanseati c, Prussian, and ~Jtch clai~s. Sut the "di vers ~o'Dicides, depredBtions of goods and merchandise and other dal'T18{!E:S"
perpetrated on and by th~ Pansards and Hollarders cont~nued, renderine prccarious the situation o~ English traders who returned to the Pal ti c ports .16 Pnl i ke thei r l{anseatic counter
parts in ~ngland, they diè not b~ne:it =ro~ ::scal exe~ptions, and without permission to forrr 8 corporate body with eleeted officials, they rerrained subject to the jurisdiction of the Order and the Prussian rrunicivalities. Al though another' si 11Uer accord 'lias 8PT€ed to in 1409, it did little to ~oderate the bi~ter en~ity of the two factions, 13
17 and piracy and co~rnerci8~ reprisa1s continued unabated. The next decade saw no end of claims anè countercharges. Merchants of the Hanseatic '}~ontor' at Serl!er in -r::orway were accused of rob~ery and murder of ~n?li3h traders Dnd fisher~en, while Hansarès in London co~plaincè of tolls contr~ry to the 'co~position' of their cherter in Ene1and.18 Final1y, as Henry V requested the ~rand hlester to encourape the export of Prussian corn in order to co~pensate for n shortaEe in England, the' capture of a Hnnseatic salt fleet, b,y Enelish pirates in 1417 sharpened ani~osity still :urther.19 Several Englishmen èid, however, return to the Ealtic ports; their trans8ct ions wi th hi nt er1 ,3nd "13rkets soon drawing the ire of rival Honseetlc ~(:rch8Dts. At least :ï=ty-~ive Engl i sh trDders were estab1 i shed in Danzi g 'Nhen renewed persecution curtaiJed their co~mercial activity severely in 1422. ~~ew decrees 1 i'111 teù the len[th 0:' their stay in Prussian terri tory, ar.à togethcr wi th al1 other non-Hanseatic gue3ts th ey were denle· d di ree t t ra d e Wl'th th e ln't' erlor. 20 mh'l 13 f'.urt h er provoked Enf.le.nd 1 s mercélDti le sector whi ch 1 en,:'o:;inp; sol id representation in the ~o~~ons, lobbied persistently to curtail the privileges o~ !orCl[n merchants during the 1420'8. 21 Conversely, the war 8etween Bolland and the ',I{endish towns afforded the latter ar. opportunity to stlfle English as well as "Jutcl-j trade to the EoUic ,:;y blockaèin c: the :Jound. Eut freq~ent attaeks on Enelish ~hi~pinf only led ta ronewed tensior., 22~mè, 'N~il (; Du~ch, :Sne1 i sl-) ond ',','endi sI-:! pr~ vnteers clashed or. the high sees, :hç Dleas henrd nt 'i'estlli:-:stc>r and Janzig 8eca~e as predistable as tl-)c>y were ~rcq~ent. ~ansards co-r.pl aineè the t shed ::3 in London were "anew t rOllbl i ne; .qr.d 0q distrainlng" them, and sued i'or èisc~arp:e ::'rorn custOïJS dues.-'-'
In Prussia, delee;ations of ~nGlish traders repent~dly apDeared at the court of the Grand Mastcr ta seek parity, complain of depredationô" and request pe~ission to clect Dlde~men and occupy a CO'Tl:TIon house. 211 But by ruline: th8t FnfJ:lish rncrchants "su11en alle recht und eewor.heid a1s 8f1der t?este hyre in lande haben", the Grand Master carefully rea:'fir'Iled the status q~
\ ,j .. 14 in Prussian territory.25
There ~ay weIl have been so~e justification ~or de~anding reprisaIs agRlnst ~an38rds in order to €~phesize the strupele for parity, but the En~lish fovFrn~ent could not a~~ord ta overlook entirely the IhnseiJtic contribution to England's
~ercantile prospfrity. A proc]a~Rtior Tnde in all Tajor
English ports in r,~arch, 1,13:) co11ed for El hel t ta the harass ment of Hansords nnd thcir ships hecause:
••• by reason of t~e Qrrest in ~nelDnd,o~ cer~8in ci tizens and merehant,s o~ J{u'Jbur{" and of their goods, rnerchants not only 0:' ;f,)r.1blT[" but others in the pBrts of the O'",.,i::: Hnnse l)avo slnee abstained fro~ co~in[" ta the rrnl~ OS they uGed to do, fearine that hinèrnnc(' or nrrcst ~i~~t be laid unon the~, and the kinr'~ will i3 that tbeir s~spic~on be re~oved ••.• 26
P While this i8 an inèicotion a: so'nC of ici û 2. co;)ce~n for the state of Anflo-!![lnse~)ti::: relations, subseqUent developments reflect the futility of such an atte~pt to cjrb ~aritime . l V10.ence. Pr0c13~3~io~s èij not necessarily constitute effecti ve ] aw, and di è Dot {"U!"1r8I'tU' r'?èrcss.
Despite inter~it t ent ne ~oti 'Jti on'] ~7 pi rRey .<'10 Jri shed end cornplaints ~1JJtiplied. 'Nhen the ',','<:,ndish tov:r.s did not reply ta lettçrs requestinr rçstitution :o~ the capture of a lar.ee ship fl'olT] :105tO:: in 1 1,32, the ri nr, Dt the urrrinf of hi s Counci2 [lD(; the Co"rroon.~, 8ctbori. ZO(~ the errest 0: rrooès and shi:'8 be]o;,rr~r.c ta ~crch;nts 0: U\~nck, "/isrp~r, l':3rnI:J 11rF:, and Ro"tock. 2q lhnsnrds iD} nrl .'"~!"1è ,'1] ~o ob,F'cted t 0 ;Jay: ng new tonno[c ond Daurèoge dues; a~d by t~e 'TIid-l1~~'~ An~lo Hanseatic rcletions hoè ~e:ener8tpd to the point 0: bitter . 2~ 1~pas8e.
But 1~3~ S3W Enf,lonC's fortunes on the continent sustain a sharp rever~3[jl. France ~lfld :J,ur[~1.mdy wero rf'concl l eè "Ji th the '!'reDty 0: krTF)S, Br:d w:i t hin [l yr:8T' ::::n,~l and \"{!3 fC'udi ne wi th a f'orlwr a;"]y, DJY.:p Phi~ ip 0: 3urrlmèy. ::'8r:'c+:s in
~landers Dnd 9r8~ant werc clQ~pd to ~n~j~h exror~3, jeopard izine the wool And cloth traje on which England's national 1S
finances depended, end necessitating, an approprfete revive1 of interest in somewhat Tore cordial dealings with the Ha~se. Serious bareaininp; ensued, and, in 1437 Eng18nd and represent atives fro~ the ma~or Hanseatic cities and the Teutonic Order agreed on B gencral po1icy of reciprocity.30 Restrictions on EneJish traèe in Prussia were to be li:ted, and Hanseatic privileees in England, including exern~tions ~ro~ increased tunnage and poundap;e du€s, were reaffirmed. The events of the 1Ùd-1430's were crucial to the long term deteriorntion of Anglo-Hansentic rel ations. While shifting allegiances on the continent temporarily eliminated the Flemish market, and dealt EngInnd's ~iJitgry a~bitions in northern France a serious blow, the accord with the Hanse se8ured the other principal continenta1 ~arket for 2n&lish c1oth. But the agreement, by which Enc~and appeared at last to have gaineà parity for her merchants in Prussin, eventual1y proveà v8gJe enough to be o~ little consequence. Danzig re~uGed }o endorae it, and never recognized it aô binding. 31 Danzif's Lttitude , ~ , 1 notwithstanding, the English ~overn~ent itself estnblished a
precedent for the keeping of' the seas j 11rinf the 1130' s which quickly nullified the concessions it h8d sa lonp sought ta
achieve, and eventuaJly pushod the Real~ closer ta open war with the Hnnse. Piracy aJre'ady h8~ p1ayed a significant raIe in Anglo-Hanseatic politics up to 1430, but in the middle de cades of the century it ca~è to displace Ene1and'~ cJa~our for parity in the Baltic as the do~inant issue.
By 1435, when EnglRnè lost her Burgundien ally, English , 1 ships did not control the Channel, and the continental foothold at Calais wns in jeopardy. The wartime navy which Henry V had esta~lished in 1416 to ensure a successfuJ defence of
northern France had beco~e an expensive liability for his son, and between 1~23 and 1~30 the fleet of' about thirty ships 32 had been ~old to pay royal debts. As it had in the past, the government then relied on private individuals ta keep the sea. But indentured captains and crews Dlso were expensive and not entirely e~fective. Hence, in 14~ ~icences were lssued to 16
1 ~erchents end shipowners to "resist the king's enemies on the ses" et the i r own expense. 33"vBP t ure d ft enemy Il s- h lpS. an...~ C areCfo e s beca~e property of 1icencees. This ~ercenary legislatio~, coupl ed wi th the suspension of a 1414 statute which had 'Tl8de
violation o~ safe-conductG at sea and recei~t o~ pirated goods treasonnble of~ences, only aggravateè the already volatile situation with the Hanse. ':'he official recof'11ition of.1the
profit ~otive in sen keeping was tantamount to licencing
piracy on the hirh seas. EnCOUr8[ed by this ncw ~reedo'Tl, shipowncrs petitioned for, and received licences in London and various other ports of coll ~or foreifn shi~ping, ineluding Hull, Ipswich nnd Lynn. 34 Eventually about Vürty ships were . acti ve o~!' the C08StD of :<'landers and Fraree, and saon "friendly shi~ping was almost in as m~ch danger as the enemy froŒ men intent 0:-. what was virtua21y a business venture. ,,35
In atte'Tlpti~g to [over~ a nation econo'Tlically and spirit ually drained by a century of intermittent weI' with ~ranee, and further weakcned by the in-fiGhting of a sel~-seeking aristocreey not ensi1y aroer:sble to lew, the Enf: ish 8rown frequently was unwilling or unable to Doliee the activity of the sea-f'Drine popul!3tion. Preoccupation 1'.'1 th the waT'S in France resul ted in more nEfI eet of the probleTTIs of lawlessness "' and disorder. Even Henry VIS 'navy' had been uned pri~arily
for the transnort of troops rrlther t h '3D for any eoncerted ca'11paign 8?,t)ir;s~ pir')"""';. ":ldpT' younf Henry '!I, who field virtually no control ovpr t~~ aristocracy, p~rversion of' the law by those who en,Jcy('d tre. ':Iwour of "the r1l1 in: councP increased. In I:nclanè' s h,l::-,':::lour tOWil3 there W8é> no shorts{"e of individuels willing ta rcc0ivo stolen [oods, !1nd law oP the sea wes meaninrless ta influer:tinl offenders who routinely threatened plainti':fs, p'Jid o~f ['"ovcrr.rnent o"ficL1JS, D:1d bribed: juries. Annrchy on the hifh seas coulè ~ourish because there was no eentrnl fOV(>;'T1':'ent in Znf'19nd stroD[, E:-nOufr :0 stop it. 36 ~he situation ~DS ~(en 3u~~8rized cODcisely by M.M. Postan, whose apprBisal concludes: 17
The mercenary interests o~ the ruling ~ernetes in, and oùt of, the Kiq: 1 s council were al :"owed full licence, Matters o~ stete coliey were made to serve the private eains o~ party chief tains. And as there were eesy And substantial gains to be deri veè fro':] D:tecks on fiar.seatic cOT~erce, the anti-Hanseatic piracy developed WiPl every successive stac-e in the disn::ption of English govern~ent. Persons wit~ f:riev~nces, resl and imaginary, fa und it easy ta obtain letters of marque 8fainst the Bense. With these letters or without the~, attaeks on Panseatic ) shi~ping ~eca~e ~ore frequent than at any other period in the fi:teenth century,37 1! . 1 Licences were granted in~requently a~ter 143~, and in 1442 the C01lmons pressed :'or, ond succeeded in establ ishing a sm31l fleet 0: privateers to keep the sea, but the illega1
captures of ~anseatic, J...:.tch And ?lerr.:sh ships continued with strikine regularity.38 Althou[h it W3S ~ut one o~ ~he n~~erous instances of will~ul disrefard for authority, the seizure of " a Prussien vessel, 'la Isabell' of Dam::i.f" perhaps best ex e~plifies the irr~verent nooè 0: Bnrland's ~erch8nt - shipowning co~munity by 144~. ~he ship wes boarded while at anc~or (!) in Plymouth harbour. Ruf:ians ~orc~è ~he c8Dtnir. ~ro~ his ship, the crew under 'les hacches', and carried awny a cargo belonging, :or the ~ost part, to ~lc~ish merchants. 38
~he Commans ushered in the 1440'8 with new restrictions against foreifners which further rc~l0cte~ t~e tempera~ent o~
the merchent co~~unity and Its growi~f influence in rolitical
affairs. ~he King was rrentcd D subsidy in 1440 only on the condition that foreign ~erch9nts be subJected to e new poIl 40 tex. '!'he Hanse rnaintDineè FJ' priviJeI:eè stetus in Englend,
and this ~n8bJed Its cne~ies in Parlinroent to wo~ilize the biases of an expanding ~idèle 'ClS3S, and chanrel 8nti-~oreign sentiment intoan enti-Hanse cQ~peiŒn. The familier requests for parity were eo~mon, and in the Daltie ports of Stettin and l:lanzip English'Den cornplained 0:' "uncertain taxes and tribute", extortion, rOhbery and ~rnprisoI"''T'ent. "'Ve rrarvel at
1 the cO'llplaints of the lllerchants ••. , whi ch :'S'Deatedl y assaul t \ our ears about the oppressions, injuries and ~urts inflicteè o
18
on the'!! ••• 11 la!llented the English King in his protest to LÜbeck, ( and again in 1442 the Commons advocated revocation of Hanseatic privileges in ~gland if the 'situation in Prussia was not 800n 41 ( remedied. In truth, however, the manipulation of econo~ic policy in England showed li ttle sincere concern for Engl ish traders in the Baltic. The three year war between Bolland and the ','/endish towns had not prevented- the rapid re-establish- ~ent and growth of Engli~h trade i~ tr.e region, despite LÜ~eck's ~ atte:npt to blockade the Sound. So~plaints by :Janzig merchants ',' (' . a~~~he turn of the decade indicate that in spite of restrictions, Eng1;shmen,in that city were trading openly with'non-Hansaràs and keeping their warehouses open- aIl day, to the detriment of local businessmen.42 'Ilhen the ",'lendish dispute wi th Rolland ended with the Peace of Copenhagen in 1441, 'ships ~rom Zealand, Holland, and England returned to the Baltic in inçreasine .. numbers. The '.'/enàish towns had ~ailed to stell the tid~ against mariti'!le interlopers from the west, and coulè defer no longer the fate of the Hanse's erstwhile predo'!linance in the 9altic ( trade. But English pressure for 'reciprocal' privileges kept the situation unsettled and provided a rationale for the proposed revocation of Hanseatic ~ranchises in Eng1and and piratical attacks on Hanseatic shi~ping. Indeed, after Par1iament succeeded in having the King formally demand that " the Prussiens recognize the 1437 treaty, the Ene~ish goverr.~ent did ~ot ~ake itself availab1e ~or disc~ssion ~ntil after the ultimatu~ had lapsed. Sa, by 1447, when litigation involving Hansards and Solchester ~erchants egain resu1ted in whc1esele "~ arrests in England, the Hanse' stood o~ the brink of for~ei ting aIl its immunities there.43
.. - A 'Hansetag' at Lübeck reacted to the maltreat~ent and arrest o~ Hansaràs in England by hastily reco~mending the i~ediate apprehension o~ ~hgl~shmen in Hanseattc terri tory. ~he, ,Order and the Prussian towns decl ined to cO'Dpl y, preferr1 ng • instead to have their own representatives clari:'y the si tuation 44 .' in England before teking action. ':'0 the En el ish the l ac~ o~ consensus Wi thin the Hanse 'lias clearly evident, but the poH~ical r 19
leverage achieved with the cancellation of Hanseatic cherters ( in England saon was nuliified by another Bureunèian boycott ~I 1 o and the resu~ption of war in France. Again faced witr possible econollic isolation, England dispatched envoys to' the diet at. Lübeck in 1449, and resumed negotiations with Hanseatic officials.45 However, in May of that year the ~ost astounding privateering feat to date eliminateè any possibility for agreement.
At sea under official sanction, English p~ivateers cormnanded by Robert 'Nenyngton captured the cOllbined Flein1sh Dutch-Hanseatic salt fleet as it returned fro~ Bourgneuf in early summer 1449. The Anglo-Hanseatic cor.troversy escalated accordingly. \Vi th the fleet of more than a hundred ships in custody at the Isle of 'llight, Wenyngton claimed he and his fellbwship had sustained ".. ~2, C>OO worth har!Il", and :'urther suggested that, since he haj captured "all the chief shil)s o~ Dutchland, Holland, Zealand and Flanders", the ti'lle had come "ta treat for a final peace as for these parts". But the sixt y ships of Holland and the Lowlands soon were releesed, while the Hanseatic vessels, .incl uding sixteen frbm LÜbeck, were auctioned. 46 The incident placed incalculable stress on relations between England and the Hanse. ln light of",Venyngton's' . \ nonchalant attitude, and the probability that certain royal councillors profited fro~ his caper, it is not unreasoneble to presume that the a:tack was condoned, if not aetually instigated by members of the .govern~ent.47 This is plausibie, giv~n that the Hanse's relations with 3urgundy were not par~icularly amiable .... at the ti'DE:'. The Hansarès could scarcely," contemplete a simultaneous breach with ~oth England 9nd Burgundy. But in presuming that this latest episode in maritime gengsterism ~ght pressure the Hansards into a hastily concluded peaee, Wenyngton and his cohorts seriously misjudged the temperament o~ those affected by the capture. Wendish and .. 1 l, l 20
Prussi'an towns incurred the heaviest lasses, but unl ike !>anzig, ( Lübeck wes not able to comoensete her merchents by con~iscating Engl ish goods. 48 Consequen~ly, Lt\beck' s resistence to a~y co~promise with England intensified, further contributing to the deterioration of Anglo-Sanseatic relations, ,as well as to the 10ng-term disintegration 0: the Hanse froT!') wi thin. !n aèdi tian to the reprisals in Danzig, Engl i sh traders in the Law Countries were arrested, end Burgundian authorities extracted a considerable SUl!! in compensation fro'TI the Engl ish govern'llent. 49 , Fro~ this point onward,division within the Hanse began ta play an even more appreciab1e role with respect to England. ln 1450 Danzig, Elbing, Thorn, K~nigsberg and Fulœ did not send representatives to the diet in Bre'llen et which Lübeck attempted to align other member cit~s in support of her 50 ' compensation claims against England. The Prussien towns and Cologne were not prepared to sacrif'ice the! r l ucrati ve Engl ish trade for a dispute between Englar.d and the Wendish towns. In e prelude to what was ta follow in the 1460's, Cologr.e's' envoys in Flanders hastened to clarify the city's status vis~ à-vis Engl"'and with English o:ficials. 51 Vlhile her èe!'ection frolJl the confederation in 1468 eventually ''fouI d praye to be a deci sive factor in the Hanse' s di 8501 ùti on, i t cer-:ainl y was consistent with a protectionist approach alreajy established ~uch earl i Er. In this respect Col oene' s expression of ;::Jarti c ularism was not anJ more 'un-Hanseatic' or illil::>eral than that of Danzig or Lübeck. Frustration in Lübeck peaked in the 1 ate SUT'Yler of 1450 when the English, recognizine the divisions within the Har.se, and hoping to negotiate di rect1y wi th th'e C:ranà i.!aster, att e!Ilpted to send a delegation to Prussia. To avert any Ang1 o-Prussi an co~pro!Ilise, LUbeckers captured the envoys et sea and cast them
into prison. This de1~berate affront to the Prussian towns
and the Grand Master el i llinated any chance ~or an accord, and constituted still another blow ta the concect of a Hanseatic
1 '--- r 21
'firma confederatio'. Furtherœore, when news of the o~trage ( ."reached :&lgl and, Hansards ar,d their goods were arrested, and , 52 . \ worst a~fected were the Prussians and Cologners • ~ , Lq,beck haè. succeeded te'l1porarily in forcing her vd.ll on \. - the other Hanseatic towns, and they agreeà to dea} wi th her claims against Eneland at a diet to be hel d at Utrecht the fo~lowing spring. 53 In England, custO'TIS oi'fiCials',in the' major ports were instructed to '!Jake proe] sTation:
••• forbidèing any person on pain of ~or~eiture and imprisonment to in:lict any in jury on any persons of Prussla or the 4anze, unti1 the diet be finished between the king and the master of Prussia and the proconsuls and consuls of the cities 0:' the Henze et ~tright in May next touching the refor'Ilation of o~fende~s ags1nst the ancient leagues between the king and them of Prussia and the Hanze. 54 • The mandate was issued a!Ilidst a rash of 111egal attacks on Flem1ah, 55 Henseatic, and Italian shipping during 1450 and 1451 t wh11e the session which convened st Utrecht produceè no agreement. Delegates fro~ the eastern Bel~ic still were determineè ta restrict expansion of English trade to :he hir.terland, but preferred ,to esse the tension by o:'fering a short-ter!D safe conduct :'or English traffic. Priar to the !Ileeting (:ologne
again distanced hersel f frOID Lübeck 1 s cause, end her represent- _ .. ,".". atives and those frcim Hamburg, Bremen, and Prussia were able 56 to achieve a resu'TIption of traèe. L~beck's re:'usal to endorse the new arrange~ent and her subseouent atte!Il~t8 to obstruct the maritime and overlnnd tre~~ic in Enflish c'oth co~nounded .. con~usion end resent~ent ~tthir !be Hanse. Her contc~pt !or •
Cologne WDS drG'TIDti zed in 1450 "Jy the capture of the shi p transporting the English deleeation to Prussia and the confiscation of i ts corp,o. A substantial quanti ty of c10th and rnoney belon["ing to rnerchonts of ~ologne wes seized, but LUbeck offered no recompense. 57
Vlhile SOll€ historians of the Panse such os 'Val ter Stein, -, ?ri edrich Schul z and, llore re~er:tl y, ?hi1 i ppe Do"llinger have ", , ,. f " 22
" ," 'maintained the' tradi ti~nel view"t'oat Lübeck held t~f' P8ns'e ( together by taking a fi'rm l ine at";einst EnglanGl, other' recel'lt cO'llmentaries by'Eri; '.'i~ise and Walter Stark ernpbasize th~ limits of such~n interpret~tion.58LÜb~Ck: the viri~ait guardian of ~anseatie interests, actual1y had ~solated herself ! , from much 0: the rest 0: the cO'1lmurll ty, Dnd no ). anger W8S able to co~mand the cornpliance of recalcitrant wembers. Prussia, • "Livonia, Cologne, and ,even H.q'Il~t:r[" end prê''ll€D rej~'cted 'her uncoôpro'Ilisi~g attitude, and welco~ed another e~tension çf the sa=e-conduct aereement . VIi th ::::ngl Bnd in 1!"~2. Enf,l'and's wri tten acceptar;ce of the aeca rd excl udeè Lübeck, ar:d, not unt il, i, 1456 was the c,i ty incl uded ir: B new 1 onf-t erm snfe-conduct pact. 59 Lackinc the unani'Ilous SU8port of' ~ther '!l8,lOr ci ties ..vi tllin the confederation, Lübeck wos incapable nressin[ the i~sue of , 0= eo:npensa.-tion. Her prete,ntions ta the po1itieal leadersh~p of' the Hanseati c . cO'Dmuni ty, . however cheri shed.,. v. .ere .i 11 u,Eory / ' The' presence of !-:ollanders and Er:[lish'Jen ir. the 381 tic llad
al tered percepti bl y co~erei81 L"e18t i ons~i ps i Y'l northern ( Europe, and haè-encouraged reg~onal ~3rticularis~. Estrange~ent '\ l' wi thin the Hanseati c sphere, ar.d the decli;e 0:' Lübeck' s poli tical authori ty were. b~t two, !pani:f'e-stati'on's (Jf this l~rf~r, and '1lc:Dre -funda.nentàl process.
In E:lgland the de'lla·n~s. for rights in Prussia 'had beco'lle littlé ~ore than a pretext :or ~iracy, a~è t~e government, 'shaken by dynastie uncertaiTlties which saon would er.J?Ul::' 'the country in the ','iors 0: the Roses, ',';83 :)Qwcrlcss té stern thE' tide of v:01 epee and ir.di scri:1i müe a +~ t8d:s or: ~ore: rT' shi Dpi D.[- , - A large hulk :ro'D Danzip' bO'Jnè for Hull ir. l i5:3 WAS seized ar;d' - , di vertcd to :~(>wcastl c wherC' thE car[!o W[lS disnosed 0'" "contrary to'the friendship betwcen the king And t~e~ or P~UGsta renewad
O -~ lat e" • 60 ""h- e f 0 11 CWHlf'. ,year a kor' :ro'TI ft:, ddel ~ur; W8.S t13ken, .an~ another hi~8cked while 8! anchor o~f ~olw8ter.61 9y 115~ Han3ards in ::: pswi ch èareè not 2 t te'Drt ta 1 eav(' Dort, c12i ":'inr:
••. S:..Jbjeçts 0:' the hT'r l!': Sh;.. pc of wr..r- ir:tend to spoil O{ans8r::!~ of eoods en::! ":1er2h'm::Ese shinped in their ships ••• unèer co:j.our a:- sesrch, ' .. r '.- 23
asser~ng that the goods are not customed, cbntrary to the friendship between the king and them of the Hanze. 52
Kingdo~ Meanwhile 1 war had broken out between the of Poland, the Prussian towns and the Teutonic Order, increasing the danger to foreign shipping, in the Bal tic. The defeat 'of the ':'eutonic ,- , knighta at T8nnenburg. in 1410 had ended Ger~an expansion in the eastern 8altic, and was a grim prologue to an era 0:( poli tical instability,fata1 ta the- Order. and pro!oundly im~ortant to the p'o~itica1 destiny of the Hanse. Thenceforth, the towns east of th~ river Oder were to have an evep greater share in ~tate
" -affaira. For its wholesàle cereal exports,the Order had depended not only on ,its demesnes, ·but also -on substantial auanti ties ~ of grain co11eeted aS'renta from the peasantry. Sut the almost cop'tinucus wars wi t~ Pol and ?urinë the fi rst hal f of the fi fteen;! century. decimated the rural population. ~here was widespr'èed /" emigration to the towns, and many vacated land hOldi1?S were)~/ taken over by the gentry. ~1ore and 'TIore econornic and pQlit,ycal power acerueè ta the 1andlord Bnd ~erch2nt bourfeoisie.63 In 1440 the estate o~~ers end so~e twenty to~~s, including the 'pro-'llinent trading cer:tres of Danzig, :21 bing and Thorn, for'lled
a c·onfederation to. protest the C:rder 1 s a busi ve taxation and 'arbitrary boycotts of merchandise. Fourte€n years later, in 1454, this leag...1e allied wi th Pol and in gn atternpt to ~re9k the ~ower of the ,Crder. The con!lict disruDted trade in the regioI'l Tor thirt een years, And the 'IVendi sh towns offered no mi1itary assistance to either't~e kni~hts or the Prussian towns. ·As the war"raged i~ the east, the ouarrel in thé west between Engl and and LUbeck worsened steadil y. The Earl of -Warwi ck - 'kingmal{er " pri vateer, and governor of. Ca1ai.s - instigated an attack on ?not.her Hanseatic saI t fleet in 1458. His Enflîsh sea-rovers seized eighteen o~ , ~ ," l Lübeck'a ships and,in 'so d6i~g, revived aniTosities in the 65 1 • Wendish seetor. Despite and other attacks on Hgnseatic \ t~is shipping, other cities o~ the Harise o~~ered Lübeck only seant
L_ ... ,- "
24
support for any naval action in the Korth Sea. And, al though ( pri vateérs from Lübeck ambusheè an Engl i sh shi p off Bornholm in 1463, 66Eng1 i sh aceess to the Bal tic al ready had bee!: restricted' severe1y by the wars in P01and, l ir:li ting Lübeck' s opportuni ties for reta1iation. When young Edward IV cerne to
the throne in 1461 Hanseatic pri vileges were con~ir'Ileè and exter:ded, but i t was not until 1465 that a LUbeck delegation, ...' ',: be.cked by othe~ 'iiendish towns, met with English envoys in He.mburg to diseuss tHe outstanding clai~s for co~pensation.67 He.d the Hanse been able to display sorne semblance of
uni ty, ~ngland' s predicament might weIl have been llore serieus.
J Philip tre Good, Duke of Surg'JDdy, had i'!IIposed a boycott 0:' • Eng1i~h goods in 1464,' ar:d the closir.g 0:' hie dOllihions to Engl ish cloth exports ~gGin' :nadp :'ri endly rel ations with other ... IDajor consulle~s, stich as the ~er~en Herse, al~ost i~perative. The Engl ish representati ves, mi ght well have been forceè to re evaluate their options had they been coni'ronted wi th a 'ur:: ted' o Hanse and the possibility o~ virtuel exclusion fro~ the continental trede. . However, Ltlbeck's deTsnds obviously were not cor:sistent wi th the wishes of other Honse '!1ernbers, and certainly did not refl ect the pos i tion of ~ol ogne 's :Jlerchants, who \'.'ere res ponsi b1 e
for the lar[;est portion of the Hanse's t~aêe in English 'soolens. Aware of this, the Englis~ delega":.es at :181'1burg de cl ineè to
~iscuss L6beck's c1aims, and the diet adjourned witho~t aeree ment. 68 :'wo ye3.T'S 1ater the dr8'!Jatic chance in Anr;lo-B'Jrr'-.::-:èiar.
relat:ons rendered the cHy' s C~-ODerat ion even 1 es s essent:' 91 to Enc1and. Ch9rles the :::01d succeeded :mke Philin, resc:rded the boycott 0: English merchanèise, and allieè ~,i'1!self wi th Edward IV afainst Louis X~ of France. 3ut throughout the J450's Hanseati c pri vi 1 e[!es in Enf1 and were reai'fi rmed for short periods, and,despite his strengthened position il: 1467, Ying
Edward was not eaeer to provoke 2 ~ispute with tKe ~ansp. Such a conflict would only cause furt'ler disr1Jption of t"",e ( seal anes essent::.. al to the conteœpl ated i nvasi on of France. r .,
Instead, peace:ful rèlations wi th the Hanse were threatEmed by ( the continuanee of piracy and the anti-Eanse faction of thé
. King 1 s Council, wh1ch was l ed by Warwick and drew sunport from '. the COl'!lmons and the City of London. , " ! A quarter eentury had passed sinee the Peaee of Copenhagen , 1 had ended the war between Ho11and and the '.'[endi s,h towns iri 1441 1 and compel1ed the Hanse to reopen the Sound and accept mutual l i'ree trade. In' the ir:teriTJ1, however, a 1 Hansetag' had voted l, l to stren[:then the Hanseatic stapl e et Bruges by gr~mting i t a special tax on goods purchaseè in Hol1and, Zeeland, Bnd Brabant'.
• ~e ordinanc e was contravened routi nely by Hansards and non Hansards al i ke, and was vigoroL;sly oeposed by Cologne. Hansards in Bruges also eomplained that thei r speci al tradinf pri vil eges were not res pected by the 10C31 authori ti es. . O:'f the ~;orth Sea coast, "!Ileanwhile, persistent attaclrs on Hanseatie shipping by Hollanders and Fle~ish pirates had beer little affected by the peaee treaty. The Ha::lse, there:"ore, resorted to a :,oycott 0:' the Low 80untries in 14,')1, and 81so briefl.v transferred ( the Bruges 'Kontor' to the indepenèent bi shopri c of tTtrecht. But by the mi d-1450' s Eansards we-r-e 0 bli::.:-ed to retu:::,n to Bruges,
and in 1457 the boycott WBS 1ifted. ':'0 the detri'1le:1t of the Hanse, H011and' s t rade had benefi ted, ColoEne had been furthe-r- a l lenated,' and.(:O· rnany .LOrelgn fT'erchants never returned to Eruf':es. 6°'
Elsewhere, King Kasimir ;:"1 of ?o2.end and the PrussiFm league had prevailed, and the wer against the Teu"ton:c Orde!' ended in 1465 wi th' the second Treaty of 'f''lorn. Poland €,8ined full sovereipnty over all of ,westerr:: Pr'.lssia, and the Yinf
granted ~ar.zié': virtually excl~sive authority in rra+;:ers of 70 trade. Already the lareest and I!lost prosperous 0:' the eastern Baltie ports, Danzig ensured her lonp-term 'Ile;,canti1e ascendency by forbiddine: transacti ons between foreign traders and interior , markets, except through the a[eney 0: one of her ci tizens. 71 Hence, although they had col1û:,orated ",ith the tovms ag9inst the Order, the landed estates which pY'oduced :nany of Pruss:a '8
exportable raw produets acquiesced, in the end, to the author~ ty
o~ Danzig's '!lerchant eli te. The cr.ranie r"1isorder of the previous
l 26
Q decade and the final demise of the Crder had indeed allowed
members of the trading cOl1lrnuni ty in the eas tern Bal ti C ports te ( preserve, consolidate, and enhance their po:!.i tical and cOlJ1rner~ial pred'or:!1inanc e • Even so, the author of one of the more recent and popul ar histories of the Hanse has argued that the coll apse of the Teutonic Order "was not al together pre ,judi e'i 81 to Hanseatic interests". Professor Phili ppe Dollinger eO::''Di ts himself to the conclusion th3t:
Tc sorne extent the Hansasuffered fro~ the back lash of the disrepute into which i ts Tost illust rious rnerrber had fal1 en, but she was al so freed from eo~~ereial riva1ry and fro~ the selfish polieies of a princip81i ty whose acnbi tious plans had ofter. gi ven her ,lUst cause to fear. 72 '!'his view has the 9')peal 0: si'11r;licity, b'.lt i:' the defeat of the ~eutonic Crder i~jured P.anseatic pres:ige, what then
o~ the ignominious :'ail cre 0: the ~anse 1 s gre3t '.Vendish towns against Holland in 1441? "'he i~pli~é3tlons 0: that strUl;:g1e ( and the 1'reety of Copenh9gen which eDded i t went far beyond metters of prestige and reputation, and sa too did the ruin of the Teutonic Order. It had coincided v.'Ï :h, and contributed
to, the rise of increasingly po'.verful and stronc-willeè 'Ilerc~ant oligarchi es in the Prussi an tO\'lTIS, wr:ere in teres ts 'Nere bound up with the maintenance Bnd inc~ea3c of civic mercantile
a'utho r.l'ty The same \'lBS t.corue 0_ th e L':vorLan -l '-LT3.ri__ ng cen~res.+ 73 As a natural consequence, subse~uen~ disagreements with the ~Vendish towns accentuated refio:lnl diversity. ::t 1.S in this sense that the collapse o:~ thf? Te'.ltor:is C'rde::, can be seen as
having further i!"lperi~led 'ianseatic cohesioD. 'T'he "sel fish polieies" of the Crder had been rcrr.oveè, or.l.Y to br renlaced by the equally narrow particul arism 0:' D:mz i fIS cQ'Il~ercial
bourgeoisie. '_'pon beine accorèed full aUU"lorlty in a~fai rs
of trade and CO'TlT.erce by Vasi 'Ili r -r:V, ~,rJr:z1 r co:-:ti nued to restrict the activities o~ foreir:neT's, reso:Tir.r that:
••• keyn Nuremberger, LUTbBrth, 3neelsc~er, Hollendir, .?lami:;k, Juèe, adl r we1cherJ ey r " ' 27 t
wezens f'remden wsz reichen unde landen eyn iderman ist, •••• privilegia addir freiheit haben saI zcu kouffslagen adir zcu wonen a.n willen, •••• 74 Throughaut the f'ifteenth century the trading centres of Prussia and Livonia had, like their neif,hbours ta the west, , 1 \ adopted attitudes of' inde pendent protectionis~ regarding pol i ti cal and commercial pol icy. 'l'hi s approach was mani fest both in open confrontation with the Teutonic Order, and in 1 persistent quarrels with the Nendish towns vis-à-vis trade wi th western Europe through the Sound and t he protection of wholesale raw product markets in the eastern European hinter ~and and beyond. Of' the Prussian ports, only Kt3nigsberg was subject to the rule of the Order a:'ter 141)1). The others, led by Danzig, contributed aopreciably ta civic particularisœ within the Hanseatic sphere. Once again Eng1ish ships returned to the Baltic. Alsa, in deliberate defiance of a 1455 Anglo-Danish agreement prohibiting trade there,exceot by special licence, Englishmen frequented Iceland, where their behavior precinitated a series o~ events which eventunlly led to a decisive confrontation wi th the Hanse. ?ishing crews from Bristol and Lynn put ashore in Iceland in the autuffi!"l of 1467, rob"!:Jed and burned several houses, and ~urdered the D8nish governor. 75 A few !!lont hs lat er, in June 1462, a hanèful of :Sng1 ish
~erchant shi~s interrupted t~eir voya~e ta Prussia in order to pay custo!Us ta the Danes a,t Helsin,;or. ''lhile at anchor in the Sound, the EnZlish were encircled by R sGua~ron o~ ei?ht ships, inc1udinC two allegsdly ~ro':l D[lnzi~, and oblip:ed ta surrender their ships end cargoes without o~~ering resistance. , English accounts of these and slJbsequent events ine1 ude stories of Danzigers dividing up t~e ~erc~andise in ~open~a~en, and o~ English eloth being unlaeded i~ ~[lnzi[ under coyer of darkness. 76 The Danish King claimed that the conf~scations were in response ta the atrocities com~itted in Tceland the nrevious autu~n, whil e "othir men of Den'llerke sai de, tha t the Kyng of Ene1 and
-"""'----_ ...... -,
had writene unto the kyng o~ Denmarke, to take and do his best . 77 ( with Englisshrnen, and that was the noise thorowe all the lande.
Among those identified as leaders of the adventure were ~ three Prussian captains, Henry Sterneburgh, Vincent Stolle, and Michael Ertmann. 78 That they participated in the event is undeniable, but their affil iaUon wi th the' ci ty of Danzig was perhaps not so obvious as the English testimony implied. They were among several who, having served on the si de of Pol and during the Thi rteen Years War, were faced wi th' a difficuJ t transition to peace:ful maritime enterprise upon its conCltl'3ion. They chose instead to serve the King of Denmark in his continuing di'spute wi th Sweden. They did sa against the wishes of Imnzig' s
council, and es a result hed forfeited citizenship of thf~ city. When Ertmann returned there in September he wes imprison j temporarily.79 Not wi thout sorne justification, Danzig cO~lrlaineà the responsibili ty t'or the Sound incident rested wi th Ct,ristien l of Denmark and a few Prussien expatriates, rather'then w:th Danzig or the German Hanse. However, English testi mony al sa i '!lplicated , ( several other prominent Hanseatic merchants, including two from Lübeck and eight more from Stralsund. BC King Christian's acknowledged responsibility for the arrest of the English ships, and his insistence that they were sequestered in retaliation for the raid in Iceland, did not ., " soothe ~gland's injured pride. Nor did it pacify indignant members of the merchant community who, hitherto content ta engage in piracy as the occasion suited them, clamoured for redress. Injured parties found eager spokesrnen in t,varwi ck and other cduncillors of the King such as Thomas Kent, e long time enemy of the Hanse and leader of the delegation imprisoned et Lübeck in 1450. 81 Edward IV's protests to King Christian brought no satis ~action ta the English, and the absence of Danish ships and goods in England virtually eliminated the possibility of
econo~ic retaliation against Denmark. As a result, the elleged involvernent of the Hanseatic city of Danzig assumed an exaggereted 29
importance. There would follow a new wave of persecution Bnd retaliation in kind; age ald remedies which co~pensated for Immediate lasses, but did nothing ta alleviate a probl~m fo~. /' '-~ which the merchants themsel ves were 1areely res·ponsi bIr. Casual co~mercial violence had plagued Anglo-Hanseati~relations for more than half a century, and as councillors ~es~eà the \ King for harsh reprisals, and the audacious sni~ of ~glandts expanding mercantile sector waB channeled anew into an~i- 1 Hanse hatred, a decisive confrontation loomed ever closer. /,( ~: ! ,1 \ 1
1 j , l· / .1 1 t 1 1
, • 1 Q,
~ 1 L ___ t '. REFERENCES \ ( CHAPTER l •
1 1 Unless specifically indicated, references to England and the Hanse pr.ior to 14~8 are based on the accounts in E. Daene11, Die BI ütezei t der deutschen Hanse. 2 vo1 s., (Berlin! New York, 1073); K. Enge1, "Die Organisation der deutsch- hansi sehen Kauf1 eute in Engl and im 14. und 15. J ahrhundert" , HGbl1., XIX (1913),445-517, XX (1914),173-225; M.M. Postan, "Tt"le Economie and Poli tica1 Relations of Eng1and and the Hanse froID, 1400 to 1475", Studies in English Trade in the Fifteenth CentUry. ed. E. Power and M.M. Postan (LonQon, 1933) pp. Cll- 153; \VI. Stein, "Die Hanse und England beim Ausgang des hundert j!1hri en Krieges", HGb1l., XLVI (1921),27-126, and Die Hanse und Eland: Ein hansisch-en 1ischer Seekrie im 15. Jahrhundert. tbl tter des hansischen Geschichtsvereins l, 1905.
Lübeck und Danzig in der zwei ten mu fte des Abhandlun6en zur Handel s-und Sozialgeschichte p. 44.
3~pid., pp. 41-42; HUB. IX no. 39.
4 \ . V/.,Stark, op. Clt., p. 94; HUB. XI no. 445'#1,6,7,8.
5 \ K. I:ritze, Am Wendepunkt der Hanse. (:Jerlin, 1967) pp. 55-56, 6~j HR. (1) VIr no. 397, ô09 #23, 800 #1, VIII no. 4, 26; HUÉ. VI no. 489j Akten l no. 302. ~ 6 K. Fritz~, op. cit., p. 70.
7 Akten l no.\378. \. 8 \ K. Fritze, op~,Cit., pp. 50-51; P. Do11inger, ~ , German Hansa. transe D.I< Aul t and S.H. Steinberg (London, 1970) pp. 283-84, 298-300. \ \ 9K. Fritze, op. cit.;," p.7]; HR. (2) II no. 11,94,146. Also see F. von behr, Di e HolH!nder und di e deutsche Hanse. Pfingstbllitter des hansischen Geschichtsverei ns XXI (1930) pp. 26-46 and K. Spading, "Zu den Ursachen fUr das Eindringen ( der HolHlnder in das hansische Zwi schenhandelsmonopo1 im 15. Jahrhundert", Neue Hansische Studien. ed. K. Fritze, et al. (Berlin, 1970) pp. 227-42. r 31
10 ( R. Princi pal ~;a~'igat l. ons, "Joya,r!,es, .' 1 of the En lish l';ation. vol. l !\ " " Il , In 1438 merchants frOID Lynn, Yarmouth, i~orwich, BostOB, Hull and London cornplained tha t men of the '.'lendi sh towns had arrested their servants and merchandisc. However, subsequent arrests in Eng1and were not confïned to traders tram the Wendish sector. Several of those detained came froID Cologne and Dortmund. AlI were released after pro:TIi;.iing that the English would not be harassed in the '~'iendish tov-ms. CPrwffi. 1381-1412 pp. 143-44, 149-50. A similar si tuation occurred again in 1307. CPR. 1396-1399 pp. 309-10.
12 T. Hirsch, I)anzi - s Handels-und Gewerbs eschichte unter der Herrschaft des Deutschen Ordens. 3tuttgart, 19i)() pp. 99- 101; F. SChulz, Die Hanse und En land von Edunrds ~E. bis aill Heinrichs VIII. Zeit. Berlin,1911 pp. 4?-50; K.H. Ruffmann, "Englt!nder und Schot ter; ir. den :3ecstMdten Ost-und Westpreussens", Zei t3chri ft :-ür Ost:orschung, VI: (958) p. 12; HR. (l) III no. 403 tt4, IV no. 5, 307 #8, :')'37 #2-6, V no. 100 #~, 101 #2-3; tillB. 7:'J no. 928, 1042. 13 F. Schulz, op. ci t., pp. 50-51; HPS. IV no. 1054, V no. 617, 629, 651; BR. (1) V DOo 101,198 #3-6, '?J3 #5-9.
14 liRe (l) V no. 13'J, 2Cl9 #3-6, 2Jl, 212, 225 #3-5; HUB. V no. C:)3, 613, 61:;, 1)13, 620, 021, 033, 1)34; CPR. 1401-1405 pp. 424, 132, -133, 5')2, 509, lt1,)5-1108 pp. 59, 60; Akten l no. 65, 70. 15 R. Hakluyt, op. cit., p. }40; a1so CPR. 1405-1408 p. 153. J.L. Kir:)y reviews this eDisode ir, Anglo-I'russian dip10macy in "Sir Wi1li8'1l Sturmy's :S'D"Jassy to Ger:nany in , 1405-06", History TOdny, XV 096.5) pp. 39-47. 16 The commlssion to nEéJr disputes invol vint; Hansarès was appointed in SU'TJ11ler l <~06. CPR. 1405-,)P p. 234. Merchants in Hull and Lynn were ordered arrcsted, Ibid., pp. 230, 232, 236, and resti tution o·rdcred for thé r08":)ery of ships t'rom Lübeck and Greifswald, Ibid., pp. 202, 305. Within a year, however, merchants from the East coast Dorts were being sought '" _in connectio~ with the c8pturG of a ship from HaTTJburg. Ibid., pp. 352-53. 17 R. Hakluyt, op. cit., pp.l'13-70j HRo (1) VI no. 7fl, . ," J", -,
, ,. <'-'t• f·\ 1.-, . ' \ 32 . , \ 399 # 1 ,,451, 556, 581, 582, VII no." 592-'#7-10;.. HUE. VI no. ( 371,"418, 447, 635, 678, 689, 789, 934, 942, 964;--GPMR. 1413- 1437. pp. 70-71; CPR. 1413-1416 p. 65. 18 (" HUE. V no. 756, 1012; HR. (1) VI no. 385; CPR. 1408- 1413 ppo 383-89, ~OOj CLE. (1) 1400-1422 pp. 95-96, 198', Foedera VIII pp. 70Q~01~2-25, IX pp. 325-26. 19 CLE. (1) 1400-1422 p. 174; Rot. Parl. IV p. 1920 : 20 K.a. Ruffmann, op. cit., pp. 22-23; Akten l no. 302. 21 o J.S. Roskel1, The Commons and their Speakers in English Parliaments 1376-1523. (Ulanches ter, 1965) pp. 183,186, and The CO'JlTllons in the Par1iarnent of 1422. (Manchester, 1954) pp. 51-53, 125-29; HR. (1) VII no. 592, 671, VII~ no. 452, (2) l no. 169, II nb. 76; ~~~. VI no. p04, 517, 529; Rot. Parl. IV p. 348, V p. 65. -- 22 . Rot. ParI. IV pp. 348, 403, 493; HR. (1) VIII no. 452 #9, (2) l no. 385 #20. 23 CCR. 1422-1429 ppo 49-50, 53, 140, 192, 257, 311; Rot. Parl:-IV p. 192 •
' 24 • Akten l no. 385, 3S7, 484. 25 Ibid., no: 385. 26 \ çeR. 1429-1435 p. 55~
27 , 1.'. Foedera X pp. 6~5, 627-28j Rot. Parl. IV p. 493. 28 CPR. 1429-1436 p. 22~j CCRo 1429-1435 p. 1550 29 '. HR. (2) l no. 50; HUE. VI no. 1011. TUnnage and poundage was first levied by order of Council in 1347, and year by year fol1owing, by agreement with merchants. From 1373 on it took the form of a par1ia~entary grant of 2s • . tunnage and 5p. poundage for keeping o~ the seas 8Dd support ~f~a navy. However, mQst of the revenues were spent on the wars ~n France. M. Oppen"leim, A History of the Administration <;:'
, . L_ r • \ 33 , \ of the Royal Navy. (Hamden, Conn., 1961) p. 10. YJhen enjoying full privilege, Hansards were exempt from paying the subsidy ( of tunnllge and poundage. r:. S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System. (Cambridge, Mass., 1918) p. 112. The contro versy in the 1420's stemmed from Parlia~ent's grant of 3s. per tun of wine and 5d. per pound worth of eoods. o 30 , J.M. Lappenberg, Urkundliche Geschichte des hansischen Stahlhofes zu London. (Osnabrdek, 1967) p. 57; H. Buszello, "Die aU8wMrtige Handelspolitik der englischen Krone im 15. - Jahrhundert 1', Frühformen eng1isch-deutscher Handel spartner schaft. ed. K. Friedland (1ien7K~ln, 1976) pp. 71-73; HR. (2) II no. 25, 29, 46-47, 63-71, 76, 79, 81, 84-86; Engrrsh Historieal Documents. vol. IV, èd. A.R. ,Y~ers (London, 1969) pp. 1035-36. Foedera X pp. 666-70; CPR. 1430-1441 p. 52; J. Ferguson, Eng1ish Diplomacy l422-l~ (Oxford', 1972) p. 96. Sorne of the economic repercussions of the conflict between Burgundy and England are reviewed in N.J.M. Kerling, Commercial Relations of Holland and Zealand with England from the late 15th Century to the close of the Middle Ages. (Lei den, 1954) pp. 48-52. 31 .. T. Hirsch, op. cit., pp. 113-14; Akten II no. 40 • 32 C.F. Richmond, "The keeping of the Se as during the Hundred Years War 1422-1440", History, XLIX Cl 964) pp. 285- 90, and Royal Administration Rnd the keeping of the Seas in the fifteenth Century, 1442-1485. unpublished Ph.D. thesis; (Oxford, 1963) pp. 31-66. 33 Ibid., '''and CPR. 1429-1436 pp. 509, 608-09. 34 Rot. Parle IV pp. 376-77, 452, 493; CCRo 1429-1436. pp. 509, 510, 512, 515, 603. 35 . C.F. Richmond, "The keeping of the Seas during the Hundred Years War 1422-1440", op.(eiL, p. 29~. 36 , C.L. Kingsford, Pre,judice and Pro'l1ise in Fifteenth l, Century England. (London, 1962) pp. 77-780 1
37 1 M.M. Postan, op. cit., p. 122. 38 CPR. 1436-1441 pp. 64, 85, 86, 90, 202, 270, 408, 480; \
. ~ l 1 34 ,. 1 En~liSh(Historical Documents. vol. IV, ed. A.~. Myers (London, 1 • 1 ( 19 9) pp. 446-4J. 39 CPR. 1436-1441 p. 409. 40 CeRe 1435-1441 pp. 310-12; J.S. Boskel1, The Commons and their;speakers in English Par1iaments 1376-1523. (Manchester, 1965) p. 220. 41 HR. (2) no. 318, 346, 380, 539,1644; English Historiesl DocumentS:-vo1. VI ed •. A.R. Myers (London, 1969) pp. 1036-37; Foedera X pp. 753-55; Rot. ParI. V pp. 64-65; Akten II no. 318. 42 .. . Akten II no. 87, 332, 370. 43 HR. (2) III no. 283, 286-89, 294-95, 316, 318. Also F. Schulz, op. cit., p. 89. 44 Akten III no. Il, 13, 14 18. ( 45 HR. (2) III no. 503-05; LUB. VIII no. 334, 411; Akten III no. 51. i' 1 •.J 46 A.R. Bridbury, England and the Salt Trade in the later Middle Ages. (Oxford, 1955) pp. 90-91; A. Agats, Der hansisehe Baienhandel. (Heidelberg, 1904) pp. 76-78; HR. (2) III no. J 196; C.F. Richmond, Royal Administration. pp. 193-97. Wenyngton was a merchant and ship owner at Dartmouth who had been pardoned for piracy and murder in 1445-46 and was indented to serve in keeping the sea in A.pril 1449. CPR. 1446-52 p. 270; J. Wedgwooa;~ ed. History of Parlièment •. vol. 1: Biographies of the Members of the House of Commons 1439-1500 (London, 1936) p. 934. He was Mayor of Dartmouth, 1447-48, und Member of Parliament, 1449-50. In 1452 he was pardoned for the attack on the salt fleet, and he was Mayor of Dartmouth ae~in in 1456-57. ~or his own report of the capture see "Robert Wenyngton to Thomas Daniel - 25 May 1449" in The Pa'ston Letters. vol. 1, ed. J. Warrington (London, 1961) p. 26. 47 J. Ferguson, op. cit., p. 101; HR. (2) III no. 638, 647, 669, 670. C.F Richmond refutes the idea' that the EngJish l'l" government instigated the attack, but agrees that sorne members of the Council did prbfit by it. C.~. Richmond, Royal Admin~ istr,ation. pp. 197-202.
1 ' .. J 35
48 ( HR. (2) II! no. 536, 555 #2; Hl~. VIII no. 84 #71. 49 C.F. Richmond, Royal Ad~inistration. pp. 1~9, 202; 1 / Foedera XI pp. 235-36. 1 ."'1" i 50 Akten 11r no. 73; HR. (2) III no. 563, 570, 607. 51 HR. (2) III no~ 567. 1· ~f'., 52 \ CPR. 1452-1461 p. 119; HR. (2) III no. 647, 666-67; 1 Akten III ~o. 75. In ear1y September 1450 bailiffs in Lynn, Ipswich, London, and Colchester were instructed to "arrest the persons and wares of any merchants of the Hanse Almain, and to keep them safe1y unti1 further arder". CPR. 1445-1452 pp. 430-31. Later the Hansards, LUbeckers excepted, were re1eased, and their goods and ships restored~ CPR. 1452-1461 p. 123. -- t . ; 53 HR. (2) III no. '651; J.M. Lappenberg, .;:.o~p.;:..-=-c..:..i..::.t.=...., pp. 76-86; Akten III no. 103-05, 131, 149. 54 CPR. 144~1452 p. 445. Also Foedera XI pp. 281-82. 55 1 ePR. 1446-1452 pp. 434-36, ~38-39, 440-42. 56 HR. (2) III no. 661, 693 #1, 694 #1-3,10, 712 #1,2,9; Akten III no. 103-05, 164. 57 HR. (2) IV no. 14, 71; HUE. ~X no. 285; Que11en GKH. l no. 36, 37; H. Busze110, op. ci "!:., p. 78. 58 P. Dol1inger, op. ci t., pp. 3::2-05 j W. Stein, Die Hanse und Eng1and: Eln hansisch-englischer Seekrieg l'Il ï5:" Jahrhundert. pp. 17-18; F. Schulz, op. cit., p. 199, and W. Stark, op. ci t., pp. 183-211; E. ','icise, "Die Hanse, Eng1and und di e Merchnnt Adventurers: :Gas Zusamllenwi ri<"ung von K~ln und Danzig", Jahrbuch des K~lnischen Geschichtsvereirs, XXXI-XXXII (1956-57) pp. 151-53. 59 Akten III no. 164, 285; HUI3. VIII no. 22()-85, 298, 380, 446; HR. (2) IV no. 168-70, 176-77, 399-401, 450; Foedera XI p. 274.
, t L ! • - il
36
60 ( . CPR. 1452-1461 p. 174. '-.... 51 Ibid., pp. 221, 223. 62 Ibid., p. 29~. A linenWcargo belonging ta Hamburg Imerchants in Ipswich also had been seized, taken ta Harwich, and "exposed for sale". Ib~a., p. 311. There also was considerable hostility directed against Italians in England at this timeo See R. Flen] ey, "London élnd Foreign Merchants in the reign of Henry VI", Eng1ish Historiea1 Review, TIV (1910) pp. 644-55. 63 H. Rosenberg, "The Rise of the Junkers in Brandenburg Prussia 1410-1653", American Historical Review, XLIX (1943-44) pp. 1-22, 228-42. 64 Ibid., pp. 234-36. For ~ore co~prehensive analysis of the dec1ine of the Teutonic 2rder in the fifteenth century see K.3. Murawski, Zwischen Tannenberg und Thorn. (Gattingen, 1953) and particul ar1y E. Wei se, Das '.Vi derstandsrecht im Ordenslande Preussen und das mittela1terliehe ~ùro a. (Gattingen, 1_ 0. L beck s raIe in the conLlict is reviewed in M. Biskup, "Das Reich, die wendische Hanse und die preussische ?rage um die Mitte des 15. Jahrhunderts" , Neue :1ansische Studien. edo -- K. Fritze, et al. (Berlin, 1070) pp. 341-57. 65 HR. (2) no. 666, 667; HUS. VIII no. 769; CPR. 1452- -. 1461 pp. 436-43, 1461-1467 pp. 231-82, 349-50. 613 LUB. X no. 81. 67 ~'{. Stark, op. cit., p. 191; h'ù'B. IX no. 196; J.M. Lappenberg, 00. cit., pp. 12~~26. 68 :nIB. IX no. 211-12. 69 W. Friccius, Der Wirtschaftskrie aIs Mittel hansischer P01itik im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert. (Ltlbeck, 1932 pp. 52-82; F. Vo1l behr, op. ci t., pp. 54-61. 70 Akten IV no. 3ê7; HUB. VrII no. 5Îl3. ", 37
\ 71 ( !bid., and H. Rosenberg, op. ci t. 1 p. 235. 72 P. Do11inger, op. cit., pp. 2~4, -73 M. Ma1owist, "Poland, Russia and western Trade in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century", Past and Present, XIII (1958) pp. 26-41; G. Hol1ihn, "Die Stape1-und GMstep01itik Rigas in der Ordenzeit 1201-1561", HGb11., LX (1935) pp. 128-36, 165-76. 74 Akten IV no. 367. 75 Foedera XI p. 551 j E. ~~. Carus-Wil son, "The Iceland Trade", Studies in En 1ish Trade in the Fifteenth Centur • ed.""~E. Power and M.M. Postan London, 1933 pp. 179-'30.
79 Ibid., no. 471, 495; "Casper Weinreichs Danziger Chronik", scristores Rerum Prussicarum. vol. 4, ed. 1'. Hirsch (Frankfurt, 196 ) p. 730; HR. (2) VI no. 95, 97, 108. 80 \ HUB. IX no. 471, 476. 81 P.M. Kendall, Warwick the King'llaker. (London, 1963) ppo 223-24; K.A. Fow1er, "Eng1ish Diplomacy and the Peaee of Utrecht ", Frühformen en 1 i sch-deutscher Handel s ar~tnerschaft. ed. K. Friedland K61n Wien, 976 po 12.
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oC .,•
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o .. " r::ro,nhOlm ..
FRANCE
S JI V 0 Y
o 100 200
CONSOLIDATION OF BURGŒmIAN POSSESSIONS REDIS'T'RIBU'T'ION OF TElJTONIC POSSESSIONS 1 384 - 1 4 ,C) 2 AF'T'ER 'l'HE SECOND PEACE OF 'l'HORN - 1466
Additions to Bur~undt8n Possessions :" .:-:::-" West Prussia under Polish rule c.J ~~ Ecclesiastical Principa1ities fil \11111 1 East Prussia ruled by Grand Master 0) as vassel of the Polish crown .. ... r
II PERFIDITY, PRIVATEERS AND PEACE IN'ITIATIVES ENGLAKD AND THE HAJJSE AT \VAR; 1468-1474
Mueh of the pressure for reprisaIs against the Hanse originated from within the King's Couneil, where Richard ~;eville, Earl of Warwick was one of the principal protagonists. In his colourful biography of the 'Kingmaker" P.M. Yendal1 goes so far as te calI the Ang1 o-Hanseati c dispute "V/arwick' s war". Neville's personal contempt for the Hanse had been amply i11- • ustrated a decade earlier, and there i8 no doubt that he owned at least one of the ships taken at the Sound in 1468. But unlike many other Englishmen who suffered rnaterial losses, . Warwick' s motives for seeking hast y action against the Hansards were essentially political. His politica1 c~bitions coincided with the co~mercial concerns of London's increasingJy ~ilitant merchant co~muni ty. He favoured Louis XI of France,' and sought to undermine the Anglo-Burgundian alliance. ~eactionary measures out of aIl proportion to the seriousness of the original dispute certainly would embarrass Ying Edward to his new Purgundian ally
and at the same time appease London's merchant sector fro~ whom Warwick mi eht expect su:mort. Moreover, i ~ an open confl i ct with the Hanse could be provoked, it no doubt would staIl a joint Anglo-BurEundian invasion of France. l However, by 1468 ',farwick no longer dOClinated the will of the ~an he had ~ade king of England, and he certainly did not • control the King's Council. Other advisors ta t~e King also were affected >;.;y the 1 atest confronttüion in the Bal tic. ll{arwiek' s
brothers, the Earl of ~orthu~berland and the ArchbishoD of York, held shares in t~e confiscnted carroes, and another of the ships likely beloneed ta Sir John Howard, a Yorkist supporter w~ose influence at court can not be dis~issed as insienificant. He too was especially active in maritime trade. 3ir John Wen10ck
and Tho~as Kent also couJd be counted 8~ong the councillors unfriendly ta the Hanse.2
Aside fro~ the finp's men,the ~ost ~ilitAnt anti-~anse agitation in Lngland derived from London's merchant fraternities. / 40
Though the east coast ports were still visited regularly by ( the Hansards, and continued to be i~portant distribution points for continental iŒports, they were not great exporting centres for cloth as they previously haè been for raw wool. By mid century an ever lar~er share of the cloth trade had begun to accrue to London, which also became a much more permanent centre of court and royal administration under Edward IV than it had been during the reign of his predecessor. The Kine frequently turned to the foreign and native merchant com~unities ~or financial assistance. As a consequence, wealthy and influential businessmen enjoyed ready access to yjng Edward, and o~ten were consulted before commercial legislation was tabled in Parliament. 3 Furthermore, London's parliamentary representatives in the fifteenth century were drawn exclusively froT the city government "control1ed throughout by a ~ercantile elite, with the acquiescence and assistance of the rank and ~ile of the wholesale ~erchants".4 The civic authorities no doubt resented Hanseatic autonomy within the city walls, while the native mercantile sector on the whole objected to paying higher custo~s ch9rges than P.ansards for the export of English clotho These merchants ~aintained significant representetion at the parlia~entary level in an era distinguisheè by ~latant politic~l Dartisanship in which members of the Com~ons were openly catronized by rival factions 5 and influential indivièuals. During the late 1450'8 the --interests of this nnti-Hense lobby coincided with those o~ 3
faction centrin~ arounè the :"eville clan, whose involve~ent in
the dispute with the Hanse steT~ed froT a curiou3 co~bination of contempt for the foreif~ t~odinp co~mun1ty, leriti~8t~ claj~s for damaf€s resultinp ~ro~ the seizure of shiD3 in the ~ound,
and not e s~all a~ount of -nolitical brink~ans~iD.-
Yet Kinf Edward, hi~self a participant in oversea tracing
ventures, seldom had alJowed co~mercial oressures to Interfere with politicnl and diplomntic objectives. Prior to l4Gc he had ensured that protectionist and nationalistic cOT~ercial
legisletion did not unduly restrict the Hanseatic cOT~unity
in England. In 1162 for exemple, London received a cha~ter r 41
which included the right to tex foreigners, Hansards excepted. ( During the early years of his reign Edward IV appeased some of the anti-alien prejudice by confir~ing Hanseetic privileges only for short periods, but he nonetheless refused to deprive the Germans of their exemption from tunnage and poundage when \ 6 it was granted ta him for life in 1465. However, in 1468 his monarchy still was not secure. The threat of a Lancastrian
insurrection backed by France re~ained very real 50 long 8S Margaret of Anjou went unapprehended. In addition, Edward's secret marriage and his alliance with Burgundy had alienated Warwick, perhaps the weal thiest and most inf1 uential ~an in the entire Realm. The King also ~o~~inued to rely heavily on the Londor. business co:nmuni ty to he~ p finance his schernes on the continent. 3y 1468 there~ore, it beca~e expedient ~or the English monarch to pacify the militants in London by evoking more drastic ~easures against the Esterlings. In late July representatives of London's Hanseatic communi ty were summoned before the Souncil at ',Vestminster and informed that as a result of the seizures in Denmark England was demanèing L20,000 compensation from the Ger~an ~anse. Cn Jul y 28 the King ordered the arrest of all Hansards in :Sngl end and the confiscation o~ their ships and proper~y. Hansards, caught unawares and unable to warn their shi 89 1 captains, were hauled o::.~f to the gaols. :::n Boston, Lynn, Ipswich, Colchester and "allen plaetsen in Eng} and" their goods and shi:)s were selze. d • 7
However, Englend could ill 8~ford to obstruct ~anseatic co~merce co~pletely, and the ~ologne connection re~ained vital.
The city dominated the importation of Rhine wines and ~etBl
wares into Englnnd, and her mf'rchan:s were equally Dro~inent in the Hanseatic share of London's cloth trade. Colofrers, as well as non-BDnsards,ob England, Brabant and Holland had fil1ed the void, and Cologners ( deliberately circumvented restrictions in Bruges by diverting much of their trade with London over Antwerp. Fro~ there :hey redistributed English woolens throughout Hanseatic territory, along the Rhine, and eastward over Leipzig, Ereslau, and Cracow. Cologne even linked so~e of the trade between England and Italy. Since the Hundre"d Years War often rendered uns8fe for cargo transport both the Rhône valley and the Atlantic coastal waters, the Italiens, who were also large consu~ers of English cloth and sUDoliers of luxury goods, frequently employed the Rhineland route via Cologne. 8 The city's obvious disillusion with her northern neighbours regarding the Bruges 'Kontor' and a~fairs in the Baltic certainly invited En[lish exploitation of Hanseatic disunity. A Co~~ons' petition 0: 1441,which protested et length about alleged cri~es by ~ansards,~ad de~andeè susnension of P.anseatic privileges on condition that suc~ ~easures s~ould not aoply to ( "Merchauntz, Citezeins, nother In~abitantz 0: the Citee 0: Coleyn, whiche that untrewely colour not other Mcrcheuntz of o Pruse and the Hansze .••• "~ ~hrou[!~out the r:Jiddle decades 0:' the century ColOGne had consistently dlssocintec: herself :ro~ Anglo Wendish disputes, and En?land was cerefu} to consider the city's special significance in this regard. As Gerhard von Wesel, secre:ary 0:' the Hanse i~ London, prepared to re1inquish custody of the ~9nse's '3teelyard' dwelling ~nd werehouse co~~ound in A~r.ust 146g,Shancellor Robert Stil1in~ton enquired a~out the co~positlon of the Hanseatic fellowshlp. Cf course the r:J~keup 0 0 the ~er~an cOll'Iluni ty in London was not l ikel y unl'nown to the governr:Jent, but ','lesel nonetheless ans'''ered that 801'0 unnsards came :ro~ Cologne, others from Prussia, ~estp~ali8, Nijmepen, Hamburg, and vari DUS other 0] [lces. '.'f'1en '1s]rf'è. how '::olor ne ~;tooc1 wi th Denrnark,the secretary, hillsel~ a Colofnor, needed no further pro'Ilptine- to reply that Color-ne too ~8d beeT: at oèds with ( Deœnark in the past. lJpon hi s èeparture, St 1111 nrton su[gested li r 43 lO that- the King might take this into consideration. ( Within days of this conversation the merchants o~ the city of Cologne were released.11 Other Hansards would re~ain imprisoned throughout the wint~r of 1468-69. In November the Council pronounced its 'verdict', and the impounded goods, \ except those belonging to Cologners, were àivvied up to Englishrnen who clail'IJed lasses at the Sound. A London mob stor~ed the Steelyarè, and an er.voy of the ~peror was ~urdered in the street. Control of 'Hanseatic' commerce in England 12 reverted exclusively ta the merchants of Cologne. This series o~ events has prompted speculation that the Council 's verdict, and ~ore specifically Colocne's exe~ption from it, not only challenfed the Hanse's privileged status in England, but a180 constituted 8 calculated attel'IJDt ta unèermine Eanseatic unity.13 Within its own terons of reference this explanation is satisfactory enough, but it should not be taken to imply that the English govern~ent displayed àn inordinate capacity for daring and imagination. True, on the hasis of pest precedent the English ~ieht gU€SS t1at the Soloer.ers would opt for a priviJeged status which excluded other Bansards, and therefore ~aint8in an integral link in the export trade. Sut had Cologne elected to close ranks with the rest of the Hanse 1 there still would have been ample opportunity for serious negotiation. Certainly Er.glanè riske8 nothir.;, in atteTptin~ to exploit a Hanseatic weakness,whict for several years had been self-evident to aIl concerned. Also, in view o~ such overridinr; concerns as t.he chaotic state of dOl1estic pol i tics in England and the constant politi~al intrigues involving France and BureundY,it is difficult ta imagine that Solofne's exe~ption reflected a thoroughly contrived 'policy' designed to split the German Hanse. In London the ~erchants o~ Sologne were predominant among the Hnnsnrds engaged in cloth export. ':'heir prominence in this trade, and London's significance as the focal point of corn~erce and governroent and as the 'Pa,jor centre of anti-Panse 8zitation were responsible for the otherwise largely inexplicable policy of the ~nglish government in 145~. l ------44 The preferential treatment accorded 80logne was less a deliberate attempt to challenge Hanseatic unit y ~~an a compro~ise aimeè at aopeasing powerful interest groups1~n and around London, while at the sa~e time preservinr- an i~portant cog in the national econo~y and a source of leans for the royal treasury. By 1468,unity within the Hanse existed o~Jy so far as it served individual interests. LUbeck Dnd the T\'endish tO ....'DS had chosen not ta support Danzig during the Thirteen YeaTs '.'1'ar, and likewise, Coloene and the Hanseatic towns in Prussia and Livonia had shared little of LObeck's enthusias~ for confront ation wi th Engl and. '-'{hil e the bureers of Lt.lbeek continued ta delude themselves regarding the city's political pre-eminence within the confederation, the chanGin~ realities of the European trading ecanomy had led the other wealthy cities such as 8re~en and HBm.burg, and oarticularly DAnziF and ~oloEne, in diverse di rections. 1 ,1 !n ~3tters of sigr.ificant eeono~ic and po~itical importance, ( all had adopted a particularism besed on control of reeional ~arkets and centres o~ production. Cologne objected to the expensive m8intenan~e of the Bru€es 'Kontor', stren~theneè her hold on the Rhineland trade in wine, metal products and cloth, and cultivated her special relationship with Eneland. Bremen, too, re~ained detached ~rom the ~endish sphere, and strove to control frain transport on the Weser ~nd alonf the rorth Sea coast. 'l'he ci ty' p, qU8rrel s wi th the Duke of 3urgunèy during the 1440's resultod in separate pe3ce a[rcements which did not always apply ta the ll,f:lnse 2S a whole, F:lOO :i n:HsC(i'TIinate at,tacks by Bre'1lcn's pirate fleet die not mnke it less B-...\kward /' for the rest of the Hanse ta ne[oti8te amiqhle relationships with England and Holland.14 'l'houCh still often boune by the atti tudes of the T,Vendish froup, Hal11burc 8180 had Dsserted herself in opposition to LObeck 1nd hRrl prosDered ~hroufh monopolistic ordinances refordinc the ~rain trade. ?ar to the northeast,~eval and Rifa severely res~rjcted eccess ta \ ( the Livonian hinterland, and rnono~olized the Hanseatic trad~ to the Bussion e~porium at ~ovporod. ?inolly, Danzig, aide~ 1 l r 45 by the demise of the Teutonic Order, had succeeded in do~inating ( the trade of the Vistula and the Prusso-Polish interior., At one time or another al1 of these rising civic and regional powers had enforced their own 'Stapelrecht' regulations not only against foreigners, but against other non-resident Hansards \ as welL 15 Conversely, Lübeck's authority within the Hanse had been weakened irreparably by circumstances which had developed during the course of the fifteenth century. The Ha~seatic boycott, 50 e~fective in the past, had produced few positive results in the quarrels with Flanders and Rolland, but LÜbeck cou1d offer no new innovative counter~easure to arrest the rapid mercaptile '-" expansion of the Hanse's competitors iD western ~urope. In addition, the civic particularisrn which permeated the Hanse by mid-century was noticeably limited in nation-states such as England and France and also, though to a 1esser degree~ in the newly consolidated Burgundian t'erri tories. V,'i thin the Hanse, however, there existeà no central authority. LUbeck, the erstwhil e 1 eader 0:' the Honseati c cOllrTJuni ty, was increasingly unable to enforce constraints on the ~eTbershiD. In ridding themselves of the ad~inistrative tyranny of the Teutonic Crder, the Hanseatic cities also found theTselves without even a nOTinal sovereign authority through which ~hey could conduct diplo~atic ùnegotiations with rival states. 16 The ~ost obtrusive cra11enpe to Lübeck and to the Hense's raison d'etre ca~e in 1468, and 1s T8nifest in the actions of 80logne's ~erchants after :heir release in 3ngland. Colo~e thahked the King for his consideration and advised her werchents not to lend rnoney to the towns of the Eanse or beco~e involved in the conn i ct in any viay.l 7 Colof,ner:::; èuly ass u'Tled a 8s01 ute control 0: the Stee'yard, and for the next half de cade England and the 'Hanse' were ernbroileè in a sea wAr, perhaps a predictable, if not inevitable, result of ~or€ than hal~ a century o~ intense controversy. A succession of insecure monarchies in the fifteenth L , '. . \ 46 century had been powérless ta affect the demeanor of England's ( maritime trading co~unity, and the violence which marked the deterioration of Anglo-Hanseatic' relations throughout the middle decedes wes symptoffiatic of acute economic and political weaknesses within the,Realm. The warliKe proclivities o~ the English did not ste!ll ent1rely frOID the quest for com~ercial parity in Hanseatic terri tories. , In London, EngJ ish merchants~ were more interested in restricting"or even revoking the fiscal privileges of their German rivals than in achieving parity in Frussia for their collea~Jes from the ports o~ England's east coast. In this context,the anti-Hanse agitation in England can be seen, at least in part, as a strugg1e for more equ1tab1e application of customs regulations whe~ein Hansards would pey , a larger share and,thus,forfeit their advantage in the highly competitive cloth trade. Native English mer?hants trading '. to foreign lands, who by the mid-fifteenth cent ury were co~~arùy referred to as 'Merchant Adventurers,;8reinforced anti-Hanse ( se'ntiment w1 th often legi timete comp1aints of 'excl usi on from, ~nd~persecution in, the Baltic region. But their argu~ents were o:'fset as often a 8_. not by the epide'Ilic 0:' piracy t'or 1 which they themselves were largely rësponsible, and which the hundreà years of conflict ~ith France had encouraged. During the middle decades of the century the e~ergence of powerful mercantile interest groups schoo1ed in commercial violence cOllbined wi th a belligerent aristocracy to challenge further the authori ty of e govern!llent al ready ,handi_capped by . , political tur~oil and a perpetua11y exh~usted treasury. !t . , was hardly m~re coincidence, ~or example, that 'Thomas Kent was a!llong those a,?pointed to investigate Warwick' s atteck on the Hanseati c fl eet in 1458.1 9 Yet a decade later the depredations et Helsingor, in the~selves no more cowardly or less legal than in any nu~ber of previous instances, provided the English with a \ pretext for continued 'reprisaIs'. The escalation of hosti1ities which followed ushered in another critical phase in the Anglo- . " Hanseatic legacy of con~ict. • ... ~ r 47 • Merchants of the Hanse co~ld not have anticipateè the ( extraordinarily severe measures instituted'against their fellowship by ",the English government in the summer of 1468. Nor had they forseen being abandoned 90 totally by the city 1 t of COlogne. But dismayea and angered as they were, the delegetes j who gathered for the Henseatic diet et Lfibeck in August could \ do l ittle except ini tiate a diplomatie campaign for the prompt ,,- rel eAse of their imprisoned colleagues. Henee, prior to issuing 1ts verdict in late autumn the government at Westminster was deluged with appeals from , the Ranseatic co~unity. The official protest of the 'Hanaeteg' was followei by separate letters from ~jor towns such as Stralsund, Soest, and Duisburg. Typically the pleas stressed that the piratica~ eneounter which had precipitated the Eng11sb reprisaIs wea orchestrated by the King of Denmark, and that the Hanse could be implicated on]y insofar as a handful of Baltic pirates apparently hed been willing accessories. l'- NiJmegen reminQed King Edward of thet town's friendship with England and affirmed that her merchants were innocent o~ any involvement in the recent Baltic ski~ish. Likewise the town of Kampen pointed out that her citizens recognizeà the Bishop / of Utrecht aa territorial sovereign, and denied any connection with the Danish king or his attack on English ahipping. 20 Not aIl protesta orieinated so far afield. Imprisoned Ransards also oceupied themselves in soliciting the support of their English business associates. The Duisburg ~erchant Joris Taek later reeounted: ••• doe hadden wy gefangen gemeynlich al den , lackenmackera int lant ~eschrieven to London to ko~men, orome ons bystant to doen .••• 21 The clothier~ioucestershire responded in October 1468 r with ~ petition to the Y~ng. The appeal not only reminded the ~overnment that the Hansards were, and ever had been friends , . , of the Real~, but also expressed genuine alarm at the har~ful repercussions caused by their arrest and detention: 1 1 l -~~ 48, ••• your seid besechers 'been and have been ( deferred and delaied of paiement of ther dettes owyng to theyme by the seid [Hans~ !Derchauntes, which drawith among theyme to the sum~e of ~5,OOO and more to ther full grete damage and likly undoyng, if i t this long shold stond. 22 Moreover, with so many purchasers of English cloth confined to gaol, these textile manufacturers fro~ Gloucester were understandably concerned for thei r own li velihood. " The royal councillors seern to have been little moved by such practical considerations.• According to their command, goods belonging to Hansards were redistributed to Englishmen, and only the pro pert y of the merchants of Cologne was exempt. The Cologners thanked King Edward, and in a written summary of the preveiling situation et the end of the year scornfully indicted the rest of the Hanseati c confederation for causing such grave misfortune to befal} the Ge~an 'Englandfahrer,.23 Another wave of diplomatie protests followed in the new year. Appeals from several terri torial princes as well 8S letters from the Emperor and the King of Poland already had r.eached London. Now came a plea from the Bishop of Utrecht and another from the Archbishop of Cologne on behalf of the merchants of Ni j'Degen. A l etter fro'II '!i'landers admonished the English govern'1lent for jeopardizing the entire "reipublice communis mercature" t and William Caxton, then secretary of England's Merchant Adventurers in Bruees, is also said to have voiced support for the Hansards. 24 Yet i t waB not until fl1ar~h 1469, following repeated requests by the Duke of 3t!Tt:tlndy, that the' English government relented. The vague charges against the Hanse were reiterated, but finally, after paying a sum of 4,000 nobles into the rayel , 25 caffers, the Hansards in England were releesed. The Hanse was allowed until the end of August ta pey a fine substantielly less than the .i2'O,OOO originally de'!landed, and was invited to treat wi th Engl ish envoys at Bruges in lete Mayor early June " so that the dispute might be resol ved. 26 l 49 But the lengthy confinement of German merchants had hardened attitudes wi thin the Hanseatic cO'D1Iluni ty during the winter of 1468-69, and England's refusal to retract charges of Hanseatic co~plicity in the Sound incident was an indienity that could no longer go unchallenged. The 'Hansetag', which 1 convened at Lübeck in the spring of 1469,was well attended. Buoyed perhaps by the release of the hostages in England, i t 1 now issued a scathing twenty-six point rebuttal o! the English 1 allegations, concluding: Quibus concessis et obtentis, si serenissimus rex Anglie subditis suis per civitetes Anse Theutonice putaverit injurietum (et) illatum injuriam eut quamcumque spoliacionem in suos commissam doceat, libenter competentis judicis sentencie obte~perabunt Be arbitrio boni viri illatam injuriam, postquam de ea legitime constabit, condigne setlsfactione reperabunt. 27 Freed from prison, the Germans in Englend were recal1ed to their home cities, while the Hanseatic secretary in Bruges was instructed to reject the English claims and press for nullification of the Council's sentence. 28 Although their privileges in England were indeed restored, the Hansards now would sett1e for nothing less than full compensation for a11 damages suffered as a resul t 0:' the Engl i sh repri sal s. Predi ct ably the demands presented at Bruges were rejected, and subsequent political events in Englanè soon di~inished still ~urther any possibility of negotiated settlement. By t~e €nè of July, the disaffected Warwick had made prisoner his cousin Edward IV. Wi th royal ad'1linistration in the hards 0:' the Kevi 11 e ~acti on, prospects 0:' co~promise with the Hanse all but var.ished. The signi:'icence 0: this turn of events wes not 1 ~st on Duke Charles of Burgundy, to whom King Edward's insecure monarchy was a source of constant concern. COfnizant of the probability that a protracted Anelo-Hansenti c dispu:e would destsbilize the ~:orth Ses trede and ,ieoDBrdi ze his own plans for war with France, and acutely aware of ~a~wick's French affiliations, the Burgundiah duke hed urged restreint in England's t 50 ( quarrel wi th the Hanse. But an English administration fri endly to"France was of no political use to hi!!!, and the waning fortunes of hi s Yorki st a11 y now di ctated a sOllewhat more sy~pathetie ottitude toword the H8nsards. The Ger~ons themselves must have realized the fu~ility of further discussions with an English govern~ent alternately too preoccuoied with poli tical intrigue to desl responsi bly \'l'i th disputes invol ving international trading partners, or control l ed by a faction openly hostile to the Hanseatic co~~unity. After a year of diplomatie initiatives,moderate attitudes, which were parti cularly evident wi thin the Wer:dish sector, gave way to more mili tant ones. Nothing more could be achieved through negotiation. The quarrel now woul è be settl ed on the high seas. In March 1469 English !JJerchants who had been in Danzig returned ho~e, and in the autumn, without the for~al consent of the 'Hansetag', the Hanseatic ~erchants in Bruges instigated an escalatioh in hostilities by fitting out two privateers for action against the Engli sh. The shi ps were co~manded by captains from Danzig, Paul Beneke and Martin Bardewik, and operated out of ?I~,~h ports wi th the tl}ci t approval of ~ke CharI es 0:' BurD1ndy. The pr1 vateers deployed in the North Sea throufhout the ensuing four years were essentially rnerchant ships manned by extra levies of so1diers. As might be expected, the owners and crews often were 3S interested in profit AS in forcing a settleme!"1t wi th Enr,lnnd. ":'here were attacks on '?rench ships as w€'.11 /18 Enflish. 3k.ir'nishes occurrC'd at'close !'anpe, the object ~einr: to over;;ower on oppo'3ing crew rothcor than destroy D s~in cnd prized C8rrO. ~he refi~tinE of a vessel for ~ilitnry service primarily otte~pted to create additional space for soldiers and thC'tr weapons, and acco~~odate whatever rudi~entary cannon rniGht be 8voilatle. 30 Beceuse they had to be revi ctual ed frequentl y f3r.d were in constant need of repai r, ships of this era rellaineè et sea'~1Y for short periods ( usually not exceeding two or three weeks. , ( r 51 The first victim of the new Hanseatic initiative was a large English ship, the 'Joen' of Newcastle, taken by 3eneke and Bardewik on New Year's Day 1470. Soor. after this success, Danzig dispDt ched yet another shi D to join the hunt. !t was captained by Eler Bokelman, a J8nzir, shipper well csta8lished in the t rade between Enp;lDnd and the RaI ti c. Hi s own vessel and a voluab1e cargo beloneinp; to 8 nu~ber of Hanscatic ~erchants had beetiJ. sGized in Hull in 1468. In l ete May he and Bardewik engaged 8 far superior English flotilla off the coast of Scotland. Though eventually defeated, they did T[)ansge to infl i ct considerable damage on their opponent8. 31 Eng1ish shipping incurred substantial losses during the summer 0 f 14 7()~2 even though Danzig and Hernburg appeared ta be the only major Hanseatic ci ties interested in an acti ve ca'Tlpaign. No official boycott of English merchandise was instituted until autumn 1470, despite Danzig's vociferous insistence as eerly es 1469. With this meesure the Kings of Polend and Denmark readi1y concurred. 33 The 'Hansetag' of August-September 1470 a1so introduced trade sanctions ai~eà et isolating the merc~qnts of Cologne, and t~reatened the city with expulsion from the confederation. Unsweyed, the Cologners rernained in Englend. They were formally expelled fro~ the Hanse in February 1471.34 The ~ologners were victimized further 8y the pirates fro~ Danzig and Hamburg, who nlreody lJod ber:un to rOO!T1 the !;orth Ses in increasinf nu~bers. In A~dition to hinderlng the trade of English'TlerJ and Cologners, attBcks t,y these sea-rniders on other foreirn ships rekindled'o~d Dnimositie8 in Holland. Eventuall y as m[lny 88 ei ["hteer. Fonsen-:: i c shi D~ became invol ved in the disruption of co~merce between Enr1and and the continent, even though Duke Charles for8Fldc his sU8jects to aid the Hansards saon after Beneke's initin1 foray.35 In 3epterrber 1471 the roliticol turlloil in Eng1and had assu'Ded a new mAf'T1i tude !)s VlElrwick forced Sdwnrd IV to :'lee the Realm. The fugitive Y.1nf a~d his s'J1rlll :'ollowing deDarted frOID Lynn, and were closely pursued by Hanseatic privateers l 52 as they crosseè the sea to the Lowlands,where they were recei ved by Willia'D Caxton. Edward' S sister and her husband the Duke of Burgundy sponsored his return to Engl ~md lete that same winter. Duke Ch8rJes' support was virtually essured when Warwick 3ucceeded in conel udine 0;'1 DJ l iance wi th France in February 1471. 36 This consti tuted A declarntion of war on Burgundy, and made Edward IV's speedy restoration essential to the Burgundians. Prodded by the ~Jke) and apparently encourar:ed by a suggestion that shoul j he safely regain his erown the Kine would reconfirrr. Hansentic pri vileges in D.;gland, the Esterl inFs were nersuadeè to Drovièe a substar;tial navE'l escort for hi s return to Eng1and in if.arch 1471. 37 The crossing was uneventful, and ;'larwiek's death st Barnet on April 14 and the subsequent defeat of Queen Margaret at Tewkesbury et last rernoved two of the most serious threats to Edward' s monarehy. Upon regaining the throne, however, his indebtedness ta the Hansards wes forgotten at 1east temporarily, f!) ( and only the i'ranchises of Cologners were guaranteed for a further year. 38 Henee, the mariti'De conflict continued. Cff the coasts of England,Beneke and his raiders prowl eè uI'lmolested, '''.' tanng two '!lore prizes and capturing the L0rd Mayor of LO!'ldon aboard one of them. The boycott of English wares was ti{:htened, and in August 1471 the 'Grosse Krnweel', a mSfTl'!loth Fre!1eh-buil t caravel, sailed frorn Danzip, acco'TIp~ni ed by still ar.o:!;er shi D captained by the free-lnnce pri vateer ~!.1 chael Ert:nanIl. 29 The 'Grosse Kraweel' was actua11 y the 'Smnt Pierre de la Rochelle', which had C01'!e tp tl-)e Bo} tic in 14'32 ,qS part of the Bay snlt Î1eet Bnd WBS abandoned in Danzir as unseaworthy. In 1470 the ci ty Guthori ties decided to r('f)3ir and 8rrr the vessel to join the fray ap,ainst the Er:("Jish. 'Nhen the ship finally 1 eft port D ye<3r Inter, cO'llmFlnded by Danzi F couneillor Bernt FDwest, i t was armpô wi th ,;event een canon and carri cd a veri t8 bl e s:;::ü} nrmy of three hundred 8nè f'i ~ty 'T'en. TJ:lwiel dy, expensi ve ta mointnin, nnè barE'ly senworthy Rt the beGt o~ tiTes, the caravel haè a less than illustrious history under Pawest. Lightning destroyed the mainmast, Plore thon once the shi p ran l r 53 aground, and the crew was mutinous. Despite aIl its i~pressive physical credentials the 'Grosse Kraweel' spent a great part of i ts l1i 1 i tary career i~mobili zed in the Swi n estuary, more a curiousity ta visitors thar. Il threat to Enfl:sh shiDpin[" 40 unti1 Beneke 8ssumed cOl1manè in surnl1er 1472. During the :irst two SU'11rners of the AnC} o-111:lnSeatic ~y'ar only Danzig, Hnmburg and, ta 8 l e3ser extent, ~rernen had been inc1ined to underwrite exper.sive privateerinf ventures against Eng1and and the merchants of Col agne. LÜbeck was rel uctant to follow suit until the spring of 1472 when i t was announced that four ships had been fitted out 8nd saon would join the fight. Lübeck' s captai ns al sa were e'TIpowered ta staD shi ps from Flanders, Zealand and :101land, and cO:l:'iscate car,€oes .~ 1 1 belonging ta, or destined for the ene~. 41 By May 1472 the Lübeck contingent had joined Beneke, Ertmann, and several other Hanseatic privateers in Sluys for what pro'Ilised to be a very lucrative, if not decisive campaign.42 The devastation of Eng1 ish maritime cornrperce, which the addi tion of the Lübeck squedron might have ensured, was prevented in part by the timely stebilization o~ the pol~tical si tuation in Eng1 and. '.I{i th his rnonarchy on a 'TIore secure foOtinf and the menace of Warwick' s private navy removed, Edward IV now WFlS able to Tfluster f.I fomidable force to safe guard his overseFl trade. At least elghteen En['lish ~ir:hting ships were at sea in r!'1e SU'TImcr of 1472, probùb1y under the overall command of' the Kin['s trustcd co:..:ncillor, Lord John 13 Howard. In carl y Ju1 y, onl.y' two weeks after 0e1 nf: severel y maul ed by D Fr€>nc h squ8oron, the Frmsards enCOUT]+ e>rf,d ~loward' s flotilla and were soundly defeated. '!'he shi 'Os fro'Tl Ltlbeck were burnt, and Ert'l1ann numbered w:lOnp, t he cnp~ ured HaDsards. 44 'IIi th the Yorkists é,ecurc in Enrlfmd, D,lke ':hArl es' interest in the Ang} o-Rurgundi ~n 1)111 rHlce nJ so wn?, renWF' kened. Hl1ns eati c attacks on neutr::'!l shippin/r 91rendy had prol1pteè hiT to ::'orbid his subjects to revictual the Ger'l19n privateers. In 1472 pirates frOID Bre'TIen stranded in Bolland were rounded up and 54 45 ( executed by the Burgundian authorities. Thus was the Hanseati c threat repelled end England' s ~aritime trade preserved. Within the Hanse the reversaIs of 1472, which also included the death of tlartin B,qrdewick off Calais, served to further accentur3te di verse nt ti tudes. In particuJar the defeats da~pened LUbeck's enthusias~ for-con frontation, which had been no more thon moderate ta ber,in wi th, and in Ju1y 1472 overtures for peace came forth both fro~ the the Wendish sect or of the Hanse and froT"Q Ene1 ish authori ties in London. 46 But militants wi thi n the Hanse were not yet 'prepared to yield. Though the city of Danzie dec1ined to sponsor any new privateering ventures, ships a1reedy sent to engaee the English did not return to the 381 tic. Harr:burg continued to equip fightinp ships, and in the autumn of 1472 pri vateers from that ci ty took two Engl i sh and Spani sh shi DS 7 sail ing :!."roTIl ?l anders and brought the'!l back to the Elbe. 4 Yet to be reckoned wi th also was the .'Grosse Kraweel', now ( commanded by perhaps the most resourceful anâ redoubtable of Danzig's captains. During the winter of 1472-73 the' 'Grosse Kraweel' wes purchased by three prominent mernbers of Danzi g' s ci vi c council, Johann Sidinghusen, Tydeman Valand, and Heinrich Niederhoff. AlI three were prosperous t;lerchants, and both Val and and r~i ederhofi' had substantiel trndin,P' interests in Engl and. 48 '!'hey duly instructed 3eDeke to continue his e!''"'orts 8,P'ainst the Enplish. The con:lict at sea then resur..1ed for a brief period, and in the sprint: of '1473 cul'llinated \~·i th the most celebrated of 011 Honsestic nriv8teering exr;loits. In a skirmish off the Isle of Wight in Ilarch Hamburg' s 4 Q raiders captured a carf'o belonfinp to Genoese merchonts, - and in an even more spectacular encounter a short tirne ] Dter, Beneke and his cohorts, who hnd spent the wi nt er in Hal'!lburg, attacked two Italian-b~ilt Burrundian &a1leys which had been ( chartered by the Medici rnerchBnt bankers in BruBPs for a voyap,e fro'Il Zeel and to ~lorence. The ships al so were to calI u 55 ( et London in order to unload al um and take on a quanti ty of wool. The remainder of theï r very val uabl e cargoes consisted of woolens, linens, tapestries, and furs be10nging to the Italians and a nUllber of ernineDt Enclish merchants in Bruges. Also abonrd were two al tarpieces intended for Florence, the more notable of which wos Hons Memlinf's 'Last Jud~ement', commissioned by the for'Tler lll'HlFlger 0: the 3ruf,8S brnnch of the Medici, An{;e10 1'l)nl. Heedles:l. of 3urgundian warninfs not to harens the ships, Beneke caotured one of the co11eys and a small En[!l i 3h es cort vessel. He then too k them ta Barnburg where the booty W8 s di vi ded allont" the crew, cnptfü n, and the ship's ovmers. Memlings :a~ous altorpiece eventually waS given ta the Church af St. Mary in Danzig. 50 Even other Hanseati c towns were shocked by Beneke' s latest caper. Ha~burg, fearing reorisals fro~ Duke Charles, hesitated to allow the Danzigers to unload their spoils there. The English ~erchants immediately sought the helJ' of their King, but neither Edward IV's letter of protest ta the Duke of Burgundy nor the outrage expressed by the Itelien merchant community in Bruges coul d accompli sh anythi r.g more than the temporary arrest of Hansards in Flanders. 51 Though merch~nts' :rorn Mi ddel..burg cO'ilpl ained in June that Ha'Dburg 1 s pri vateers had sei zed thei r cnrfoes CO'D! ne from England,52 Beneke' s natori OUS escnDBde W8S essenti ally the 1 ast major engnger:Jent 0:' the AnEl o-Hansea tic '.'{ar, and 'Tlost certainly expedited a nefotiated solution ta the quarrel. The principals aoparently had tired of theii disruptive and costly maritime struegle. Edward IV' 3 consoli dation of power in 1472 had per't1i tted hi ru ta become more independent of pol i ticel factions wi thin the Real '11, and i.ndp ed he hDd d€ stroyed the enemi es who once stood between him and an n:nbitious military [)lliar.ce with the Bureundinns. Such an [lf"rrecrncnt naw took nrecedence over a mari ti me cOllmerciDl dispute whi ch, lr. Dny case, hod been reduced to stalemate. Roya] interests now \\'0111 d be better 56 served if vessels atte~pting ta de~end English co~~erce against Hanseatic corsairs could be deployed against the French. Moreaver, the speedy stabi li zation of Engl and' s nati onal economy W8S anather essential prüli~inary ta the i~pending struegle with France, Dnd necessitated eo~mereial acree~ents wi th Burgundian and Hanseatic traèinrz partners. Resolve withir:! the Ilanse W8S a1so in question. Even Danzie, a leeding proter,onlst in the vm,r, stoad aeeused of violatinl3 the boycott 0= Enflish llerCh30êHse which the city had advor::ated so strOn{71y.58 IJore cenerally, the hieh cast of maintaininc privateers and the de~e3+s sustaineè durinp the 'previaus su~mer had had a 30berinr effeet on ~he GerT.an cities. The Hansards too 'Nere weary of the coni'} i ct. Al ready in Janu9ry 14 73 :sn['~ i"h eovoys !-:ad beeo instructed ta eo-ordinate a cessation of hastilities with ~en~ork and the Hanse, and ini tiate serious discussions wi th the Burp1.lndians. A truce wi th the Danes was agreed to in May, and by 'TIi d-SUl1l1Jer ( negotiations with the Hanse were set ta begin. A sllnll entourage headed by the King's secretary, ~illia~ Eatclyff, flrGt journeyed ta 9ruges in an initially unsuecessful atte~pt ta conclude a new alliance wi th Bur?Undy, and then continued on to l"trecht and a meeting with the Hansards. They were confronted by a delegation nu~berinc twenty-seven in aIl, and led by LBbeek burgerl1'Jeister Heinr:i ch ~ns tor;;. 'T'he ci ti C' 'J of 3re'llen, Hamburg, Danzig, Dortr:l'-.md Dnd M1lr.ster were re;;rr:sented, as weIl 8S the 'Kontare' in Loodor., 13r~lf'es aOel :Jerif'r:.;"1 Di seus s i ans co '11mp[Jc eè 0 ri ,J L!l,Y l t;, nnd hea te d de ba te er:sued t as the HansDrds nressed ror nu1]irj~ntlon o~ the verdict i~posed on the~ by the Ki nr t E3 Counei l, Dro~ es Une, 8S they had previousl.y, thl1t the E:'ntire ~('r'll.'ln Llrmse had been held account3ble unJustly for cri~es pproctrnted by ~he Yinp of Den'1lark. Ta this the LorI i sh ro:;1:i od thot the llnosC' indeed wes eollecti vel,y responsi bl P, DOC: thDt the 3E'ntc"nce wes bath ( legal and juste A:ter rst~bllshin~ this point, hawever, they were et et 10s3 to explsln why ColoEne hed been exe'Ilpt from l r 57 punitive measures. They suggested instead that the conference ( not\ dwell on the legal i ty of the juège':]ent, but rether 55 concentrete on solutions to the si tuation at hand. The initial Hanseatic reou€st for reconfir~8tion of ancient privileges in England presented no frcat obstac1e. But the Esterlings 81so expected restitution totalir.€ /20,000, return of the Steelyard in London, and proDerty for the estab1ish~ent of per'Ilanent fDCili ties at Boston and Lynn. The Hanseatic deI egation was amena bl e ta Hatcl yff' s proposaI that rccompense take the for'1l of exe'TIptions ~rom Eneland '3 national customs' dues) though the Lngl i sh alpbassador ir.si sted thBt he wes not empowered ta fi x the suent Nor coul d he m9ke any cO'TImi tment re["ardine the request for 'houses 1 in Lynn and Boston, cl aiming such serious 'Tlatters required the consent of the Ying and ParI iament. Hi s predi cament wes corrrl i catod still further by a Hanseatic stipulstion +'het :;olof'ne ':)e excluded f'roT]1 811 Hanseatic privil efes in ~nE1 '3nd lJntil s'Jeh time 8S the ci ty was readmi tted to the German Eanse. 'T'he B8nS'3rds at 'Utrecht intirnated that if this request were cranted and the houses at Boston And Lynn turned over ta the'TI, the other claim :'01' fiscal compensation would be lowered su':)st8~ti811y. Messcngers were dispDtched to Enr1and, and discussions at Utrecht were suspended during A\..: '1.lS t , -98 English de1egates awai ted King Edward 's instruction:-} ref':lrdinp "the 3 r:;rete di:'ficultie3, the so~me which WAn to eycessive, t~e howses which wer ot'1er mennes and not the ki;l[~es, the 801oniers which h8d not offended". 56 Aware thQt Edw8rd 1'1 VIns attending to other concerns in '\'/a1es, and thDt a pl}rlii)~ent would r.ot be su:n:noned befQre October, Hatclyff cautioned the :-iansards not ta expect 3n i 'nmediate or concl usi ve rcpl y. Indeed, when the messengers returned and talks rpsu~ed durinr the first week of Septernber, the Germons were Ddvi sec] tha t the KinG would make no decision regardine their clai 11S until he had consul ted Perl iament. Troubl ed by this addi ti onal delay, the i ncreasin~] y ,, 58 ( impatient Hanseatic contingent countered wi th a l ist of essential arti cles "t'rom whi ch they wol d in no wi se departe", namely .t:20,OOO compensation, the properties in England, and the exc1 usion of Cologne. 57 The parti cularl y stronp: stand taken against Coloene refl ects the resentment that the ci ty's defecti on had caused withi TI those areas of the Har:se represented et Utrecht, and the danger i t posed: Thay said finally in this wise: the ci tees of the Hanse be confedered and have advi sed among hem self to have no CO'11'Dune wi th the Coloniers ne to be joyned wi th thaim in no rome ne place ne to Gwell, wher thay shuld enjo.Ye as grete privilegges as thay have. '!'he,y knew well that and thay abode in England ano thaires or like privile[!ges, it wer certain~ that thay shu1d be destroyers of the Hanse.oB A truce between Eng1Dnd Dnd the Hanse extendinf to March 1474 was agreed to, wi th the sti pu1 Dti on tha t the meeting at Utrecht reconvene in January 1474, by which time T:dward rI was expected to have for:nul ated a fir'11 rep1y. .. The clairn3 of the Hanse did not fO unchalleneed when the de1egates finally did meet for a third -r:1.'l1e in ?ebruary 1474. The exclusion of Cologne wa8 resi sted, but eventually the English consented ta i t and the!'ehy 11)anaged to reduce the grant of customs exemptions ta LIO,OOO. '::i th calculated rel uctance, Edward IV and the Er.gl ish Perl iDmt:> nt conceded to every essential HanseDtic de1!and. On February 28, 1474 an agreelJlent was si gned at Utrecht, sigf1i f'ying t ~e end of the war between England and the Gf'?r'11an Hanse. 59 ( r REFERENCES ( , 1 " CHAPTER II l 1 P.M. Kendall, op. cit., pp. 223-25;1 C.E\ Richmond, Royal Administration. p. 388; K.A. Fowler, op. cit., pp. 12-13. \ 2 C.F. Richmond, Royal Administration. p. 388; C. Ross, Edward IV. (L08 Angeles, 1974) p. 265; HFD. IX no. 478; Wen10ck '.l'as a council1ar in '.VarwicY's circle. J.R. Lander, "Council, Administration and Counci110rs 1461 ta 1485", Bulletin of Histori cal Research, XXXII (1959) p. 160. 'Ç 3 C. Ross, op. ci t., pp 353-55; Ac ts- of the Court of the Mercers 1 Company 1453-1527. intro. L. Lye11 (Cambridge, 1936) pp. 63-138. 4 S.L. '1'hrupp, The Merchant Class of Medieval London 1300- 1500. (Chicago, 1948) p. 84. , t 5 Ibid., pp. 56-5'0, 83-,0.,1; M.S. Giuseppi, "Alien Merchants in Engl and in the Fifteenth C entury", Transacti ons of the Royal HistorJ cal Society, neVl seri es IX (1895) Dp. 7:::,-98. 6 C. Ross, op. n-:., pp. 35G-ô~; J.I,l. La'Ppenberg, op. cit., pp. 127-29; Rot. PDrl. V pp. 501-03, 508-09; CLE. (L) Edward IV - Henry 'III p. 18; C:PR. 14f)1-1467 pp. 109, 261, 276-77. For King Edward's invol vement in averses trade see ~ Power, "The Eng1ish Wool Trnde in the reign of Edward IV", Cambriàge Historieal Journal, II (lG26) p.230 '--- 7 HUE. IX no. 48n, 482, 490,524 #4,5,7; BR. (2) VI no. 119. Many Hnnsards apparentl.j; sought sanctuary in churches. 8 R. Davie, "The Rise of Antwerp and i ts I::nglish Connection 1406-1510", Trade, Govcrnment and Economy in Pre-Industrial England. cd~ D.C. C:olman and A.H. John (London, 1976) pp. 6-10; H. Buszello, "Kt\ln und Ene1nnd 14GS-1509", Mittei1ungen BUS der Stadterchiv KMn, LX () 071) p~J. (131-1·1; H. Ammor.n, "Deut~chl and und di e 'ructündus tri e t!o Y'dwes ~ e'clropLls irr. Mi t tel 01 ler", IIGbll., LXXII (1954) 49-.'').S; Quellen Gnl. l no. 0G0, 002. Also see B. Kuske, "Die Kt31nel' IiGnaels DcziehUDf,en ifTl 15. Jahrhundert", Viertellahrschrift ftlr Sozial-und ~'lirtschafts eschichtp, nI (l909 pp. 2J6-3080 l .' 50 9 (' Rot. ParI. V pp. 54-65. 10 HUB. IX no. 482; H. BuszeJ10, "K61n und EngIand 1468- 1509", o~it., p. 437. 11 HUE. IX no. 467 #5, 482 #5. 12 Ibid. , no. 471, 501-07, 511, 527-28, 530, 549; HR. (2) VI no. 119:""24, VII no. 34. 1~ . , ) " F.R Salter, l'The Hanse, Cologne and the Crisis of 1468", EcHRo, III (1931) pp. 93-101. , 14 J. Müller, "Handel und Verkehr Brernens j ID Mi t telal ter", Bremisches Jahrbuch, XXX (1~27) pp. 48-49; HR. (2) V no. 319. 15 The ordinances and staple regulations of these Hanseatic citie~ are reviewed in W. Stein( Beitr§ge zur Geschichte der deutschen Hanse. (Giessen) 1900) pp. 41-43, 123-41. For Riga see G. Hol1ihn, op. ci t., par:icular1y. pp. 113-36, 165-76 • 16 l . J. Ferguson, op. ciL, pp. 84, J.07.~ ':" 17 HUB. IX no. 491,,510; HR. (2) VI no. 100,11'4-15,164. 18 E.M. Carus-Wilson, Medieval Merchant Venturers. 2nd ed. {London, 1967) pp. 142-45. 19 Foedera XI pp.,415-16. 20 HUE. IX no. 495~ 501-')6, 509. -. 21 Ibid., no. 541 #VI-4. 22 'Ibid., no. 525. 23 Ibid., no. 537, 555. BR. (2) no. 119, 121, 124, 163. 24 HUB. IX no. 542-45, 5~9, 554. For Caxton see,~. IX L.. _.. r' 61 p. 431, footnote #1. ", 25 HR. (2) VI no. 165. 26 HUB. IX no. 569-70, 577. 27 Ibid., no. 584. 28 Ibid., no. 585, 588. .... \ 29 Il "Casper Weinreichs Danziger Chronik", op. cit., p. 7al; il P. Simson, Geschichte der Stadt Danzi~ bis 1626. vol. 1 CAalen, \, 1967) p. 288; CPR. 1467-1477 pp. lOr, 168-69. 30 O. Lienau, "Danziger Schiffahrt und Schiffbau in der (~ zweiten Hâ1fte des 15. Jahrhunderts", Zei tschrift des 1,Vest preussischen Geschichtsvereins, LXX (1930) p. 74: But a1ready since 1447 al1 Hanseatic ships were 'required to be armed in order to ward off pirates. Large vesse1s carried weapons for twenty men. E. Daenel1, "The Policy of the German Hanseatic League respecting the Mercantile Marine", American Historieel f ( Review, XV (1909-10) p. 49; P. Simson, op. cit., p. 289. 31 ··Casper Weinreichs Danziger Chronik", op. ci t., pp. :731-32 ; HR. (2) VI no. 314. 32 C.. F. Richmond, Royal Administration. p. 348; "Casper Weinreichs Danziger Chronik", op. ci t., p. 733; "Die Chronik Christians von Geren", Die Lübecker Bergenfahrer und ihre Chronistik. ed F. Bruns {Berlin, 1900} p. 360. 1 33 HR. (2) VI no. 161, 202, 249 #12, 284, 356 #61-73, 360-61, 418-20. For the campaign of 1470 see a180 H. Fiedler, "Danzig und England: Die Handelsbestrebungen der Englllnder . vom Ende des 14. bis zum Anfang des 17. Jahrhunderts", Zeit schrift des Westpreussi sehen Geschi chtsvereins, LTIIII Cl 928) p. 95. 34 HR. (2) VI no. 355 #61-73;108;114,113, 358. 35 Ibid., (2) VI no. 316, 347, 352, p. 26, footnote 4; Que11en GKH. l no. 513; HUS. IX no. 796. 82 36 A.R. Myers, "The Out"break of \far between Eng1and and ( Burgundy", Bulletin of Historical Research, XXXIII (1960) 114-15. 37 "Casper Weinreichs Danziger Chronik", op. ci. t., p. 733. tiDie Chronik Christians von Geren", op. ci t., p. 359. 38 ~ 1467-1477 p.'272j J.M. Lappenberg, op. cit., p. 134. 39 "Casper Weinreichs Danziger Chronik", op. ci t.l , p. 733. r i 40 O. Lienau, op. eit., pp. 72-80; "Casper Weinreiehs Danziger Chronik", op. eit., pp~ 731, 733. HR. (2) no. 529-59 consists of a series of letters written by Bernt Pawest when he eo~manded the 'Grosse Krawee1 '. They provide considerable insight into the difficulties he and the other Hanseatic privateers encountered during 1471-72. See ~lso H. Fiedler, op. cit., pp. 95-96. 41 HR. (2) VI no. 507, 524; HUE. X no. 109. Cologne again complBined of attacks on channel shipping by Hamburg's ( . privateers in January 1472. Quellen GKH. l no~ 560, 568. 42 HR. (2) VI no. 525, 526, 548; "Die Chronik Christians (l yon Gereï1'";" op. cit., p. 360. 43 C.F. Rieh~ond, Ro al Administration. pp. 349-50; CPR. 1467-1477 pp. 299, 31 8, 340, 355. Warwick's own 'navy' had consisted of sorne ten ships. John Howard too, owned at . 1east six. G. V. Scarnrne1l, "Shipownlng in England 1450:' 1550", Transactions of the Royal Historiea1 Society, 5th series XII (l962) pp. 119-21. 44 HR. (2) VI no. 557-58; "Casper Weinreichs Danziger Chronik"-;Op. ci t., pp. 734-35 j "Die Chronik Christians von Geren",, op. ci t., p. 360. 45 HR. (2) VI p. 473, footnote 1; ~ X no. 100, 107, 119, l38~73 j "Casper Weinreichs Danziger Chronik", op. ci t., p. 734. 46 ( HR. (2) VI no. 547, 548, 550. 63 47 HUB •. X no. 166; "Casper Weinreichs Danziger Chronik", , tf ("'.. op. cit.~ 735. 48 HR. (2) VI no. 642-43; "Casper Weinreichs Danziger Chronik"~p. cit., p. 736; HUB. IX no. 39, 541. \ 49 HUE. X no. 192. 50 HR. (3) III no. 176, 183; "Casper Weinreichs Danziger ,Chronik"~p. ci t., p. 735; F .L. de Roover, "A Pri ze of 'Nar: A Painting of fifteenth century Merchants",' Bulletin of the Business Historieel Society, XIX (1945) pp. 3-12; P. Simson, op. ci t., pp. 291-94. \ 51 Acts of the Court of the Mercers' Company 1453-1527. intr. L. Lyel1 (Cambridge, 1936) pp. 68-76 out1ines English efforts to gain restitution. For the Italian reaction see F.L. de Roover, op. cit., pp. 3-12; and Hamburg's reluctance, W. Stark, op. cit., p. 20l. 52 HUE. X no. 218; CPR. 1467-1477 p. 282. 53 Ibiœ., no. 122; HR. (2) VI no. 170 #5, 470 #5. 54 For the peaee initiatives see H. Buszello, ~D e aus wllrtige Hande1spolitik", op. cit.; LA. Fowler, o. t.; and G. Neumann, tlHanslsche Politik und Politiker be en ll Utreehter Friedensverhandlungen , Frühformen ene;J' ch-deutscher Handelspartnerschaft. ed K. Friedland (KB1n!WierJ, 1976) pp. 25-29. 55 The report of the English ambassadors is contained in HUB. X no. 241. 56 HUE. X no. 241 #67. .... 57 --'HUB •. X no. 241 #86; HR. (2) TIl no 0 44. 58 ffiJB. X no. 241 #86. '1 59 ( HR. (2) VII no. 142. '. -' ~. , ~ The Hanse ln Northern Europe •o ~~:, ca 1450 NOR W A y • Malor Han,.otlc Town, o Town, fr.qu.nt.1II tt, Haneorlll, • Honnotlc Kontor. _L.mlt, of th. Emplr. and th. T.uronle PO ..... ion. o 50 100 1&0 ZOO Z!!O :!lOOk... Scol. 1.8000000 ,v -<. NORTH '/-" (:Jornrtolrfl ~ SEA l. ..c1 IV o • Dortmund .------\ ..... Av.S3\.l N~ PlU.. "'~ SuroPe-ln the 15th ccntury. (From thé-SchedëISêne-Yeltënroriik, 1493.) ()) CJ1 III COMMODITIES, MERCHAN'!'S Mm 'l'HE ~C~TOMIC REPERCUSS!ONS OF THE ANGLO-HANSEA~C 1.'/AR Hanseatic liberties and privileges were reconfirmed by the King and Parliament within a short time of the agreement at Utrecht, and Hansards were not long in resuming their trade with the English. Before the year was out,a ship from Danzig carrying lumber, chests, cables, and pitch was reported wrecked by storm off the Essex coast.l Cologners were allowed until the end of October 1474 to vacate the London Steel yard. 2 The King then purchased the property from the City of London and conveyed it ta the merchants of the Hanse in perpetuity at an annual rent of l70. The English Parliement endorsed the arrangement in March 1475: It ls ordeigned by oure said sovereigne lord by thadvice and assent of his lordes spirituelx and temporelx and the commens in this present parlement assembled and by thauctorite of the ( same, that ••• the said Duche Hanze, otherwise called ~erchauntes of Almayne, havyng an hous in the cite of London, commenly called Gildhalla Teutonicorum, that nowe be or hereafter shal be, shall have, hold, en joie and possede to theyrn and their successours for ever more the said place called the §tilehof, otherwise called the Stileyard •••• ~ The Hansards also received their Quay, garden, and houses at Lynn in April 117~, and soon thereafter an agreement wes concluded eiving the"T1 fac::li-ties at Boston. 4 The working environment in which individuals or groups of Hansards conducted business likely did not vary significantly from one east coast port to another. Although no physical evidence of the great London kontor has 8urvived, the recently restored buildings of the Lynn Steelyard do afford sorne insight into the character~ of day to day ] i fe for llansards in that , .. port. It wou1d not be unreasonablc to suggest that the facility ( j is, in most respects, a sca~ed-down version of the London depot, and it 8eems quite probable that its essential charactcr- '--- 1 _ r 67 istics are not markedly different from the surroundings that ( Esterlings created for the~selves in other ports such as Boston, Hull, and Ipswich. 5 Before the terms of the Peace of Utrecht granted them use of the Steelyard site, Hanseatic merchants based themselves \ in other sections of Lynn, renting various gardens, eellars, houses and storage faeilities along the waterfront. The present Steelyard property, situated between St. Margaret's Churchyard and the river Ouse, àid not develop into the focal 6 point of Hanseati c, trade until spring 1475. Two years after the signing of the peaee treaty a memo from the London kontor authorizlng repair of buildings in Boston and Lynn describeà the latter às a very old structure comprising seven 'houses' and ten rooms wi th eight chirnneys. A ki tchen, hall, ar::"è court yard are listed as being arnong its other èistinguishing attr.ibutes. 7 Al though sorne 'bqildings have been al tered eon3ider ably since their initial construction, much of the original Steelyard has survived. It occupies a ~ong reetangular site adjoining the south q~ay on the right bank of the river Cuse. Bui 1 t round a quadrangle wi th about twenty-two metres of frontage on the river, the structure extends a length of " sixt y-one metres to its eastern end w~ere the dwel1ing ur.its were located. The three-story north wing is constructed o~ bri ek, and whil e rnuch of i t was rebuil t in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth cent ury, sorne sections are much older. The long south side of the quadrangle consists of two-story warehouses constructed of brick. and ti~ber. Constant da~pness and frequent floading in years past have ensured that little remains of the original timber work. mhe west quarter adjacent to the quay also is entirely of brick. ;t cantains a small hall with a collar-beam roof, and most likely served as a dining area. 8 The Steelyard was but one of several com~ercial - do~estic 'houses' in the port of Lynn. ~obether with ncighbourine mer~antile esta~lish~ents,such as Ha~pton Court and Slif~on House,it is representative of the gcneral character and 1 J 68 physical continuity, of the water!'ront district at the c10se ( of the Middl e ~ges. Here the Hansards li ved and worked. 'Vi thin the confines of the Stee]yard they took their meals, socialized, slept, stored merchandise and transacted business. At the wharves along the river ships unloaded the forest products of the Bal tic region, s:ockfish and herring from the North Sea, ,and the manufactured wares of Flanders, H01land, and the German ~pire. ~hey set sail !'or continental Europe laden with :::ngiish cloth and wool for the Calais staple. The ve,ry nature of the Hanseatic trade in England 'liould take the Esterlings to other ports, trade fairs and industrial centres throughout the Real:n, hut in major harbour towns, v:here significant numbers of Hansards congregated, their business activities often centred around olaces like the Stee:y3rd at Lynn. It wns counting house, dweIlin; un:t, warehouse 3-nd distribution centre, and focal point for their traèe to Eng1end. To facilitate diversified and voluT.inous trade over long ( distances, Hansards, like other entrepre~eurs of the period, frequently entered into business partnerships. 80~~on a~ong Guch partnerships, in ports l ike Lübec}: and Danzig, were those consisting of kinsmen jointly involved in mercantile enterprise. Aside frof11 these 'Farnil i engesell schaft en " however, '!lerchants also formed temporary contractual relati::H:.ships wi th other colleagues, ships' captains or, as was CO'!l'!lon in the timber and grain pro~ucing regions of the Pru3so-Polish hinterland, with '!lembers of the landed Gcn~ry. YE~ these tradi~g assoc iations seldom speciolizod i~ specifie wares, concentreting inst ead on parti cul Dr trade ro'.J: es or ::orkets. Dan7} gers, for example, per!odically co~bined the~r resources for ventures in England, Scotland, Dnd Scandina':~a, v:hile the ",rider dis persion of Lübeck's trade fostered the creation of an even greater nU'!lber of associations in that city. Partnerships notwithstanding, prosperous HanSDI'ds 8.::'so ernployed agents, often fel10w merchants, as business rcprcsentDtives or .' 'Vollmachten' in ~stant cities or foreign lands. 9 f. r 69 An indication of the diversity of the Hanseatic export ( trade is provided in the Libelle of Englyshe Polycye, a fifteenth cent ury treatise on English trade and sea powe~ which includes a review of the co~modities brought ta England by the Hansards: Now bere and bacone bene fro Pruse ibroughte Into Flaunders, as loved and fere isoughte, Osmonde, coppre, bowstaffes,' stile and wex, Peltrewarê"and grey, pych, terre, borde and flex, And Coleyne threde, fustaine and canvase, 10 Carde, bokeram; of olde tyme thus it was •••• ../ Gram from the eastern regions also helped sustain a growing European population. Particularly after the '!'hirteen Yea~s War the export of grain fro~ the 3altic began ta accelerate, and Danzig, Binee it wa~ the principal harbour for the Prusso Polish interior, became the major distribution point. l1 From the fertile districts of western I.~asuvia, Dobrzyncrland, Curland, and greater POlahd,cereals were transported to Danzig, whence they were carried to Scandinavia, the Lowlands, and ( less frequently, to England, ei ther through the Sound or via Lübeck. Chief among grain exports were wheat, rye, and barley, shipped by the 'Last', a unit 0: measurement equal1ing about 2,250 kilograms.rz-- Of greater i~portance to the Anglo-Hanseatic trade were the bLÙky forest products etported by Danzig, Elbing, and neighbouring Centres in the Baltic. English bo~en needed bowstaves" and wood and other rnaterial s for shi p construction were constantly requirèd in ~ariti~e England, Zealand, and Holland. ~rom north east Masuvia and Podlasia,wood was floateà ta the Baltic coast via inland waterways like the Vistula. Sorne also ca~e from Lithuania, where Kovno was an important distribution centre. Danzig's own shipyards took a substantial portion of the lumber, but greater quantities were shipped westward. 13 Wood was graded accordine to type and auality. Especial1y important for tle ship-building industry was '·Vagenschoss l, large oaken beams three to five metres long, or heavy broad l 70 boards of the same material and length. Remainders from ( 'Wagenschoss', as weIl as poorer quality oak and sorne beechwood, were cut into boards about one and a half metres long and twelve to twenty-two centimetres wide. Referred to as 'K1app holz', lt was used in carpentry and house construction. Other types included 'Dielenholz' (floorboards), 'Riemenho1z' (for ship construction), and 'Mastholz' (ships' masts). England too was the leading purchaser of bowstaves made of yew imported from the Cerpathian forests. 14 Byproducts of the lumber industry also were important ta the Hanseatic Export trade. These included pitch and tar for ship construction, end ashes used in cloth dyeing and the manufacture of soap. 15 Merchants from Thorn were key middlemen in the pitch and tar trade along the Vistule, while ashes came from Masuvia down the Vistula or fro~ Lithuania over Kovno. AlI three com~odities were shipped by the 'Last' from Danzig.16 Another product exported by Danzig was wax. The major sources were in Lithuania, and again Kovno was one of the ( l ' principal outlets; Wax was shipped by the 'Stro', a la~ge block weighing two hundred to two hundred and f~rty kil~grams; but retailed in much smal1er units such as the 'Schiebe' or , 17 'Stein' weighing about fifteen kilograms. f 'Faserstoffe', wr.ich included flax, hernp, and, yarn, augmented other exports frorn the eastern Ba1tic. Flax was shipped in 'F~sser', 'Packen' or, as was usual in Danzig, by the 'Last', containing one hundred and twenty buncll es, each weighing one half 'Stein'. Hence, one 'Last' fJax exported from Danzig weighed approxirnately eight hundred and Aighty eight kilograms. 'Packen' weighed close to one thousand, while 'FMsser' were equal to three quarters of a !Last '. Again the English were primary customers, often sending purchases through Hansesti c agents wl10 benefi ted fro~ lower customs charges in England.18 , \ ~ Finally, both Danzig and ~abeck were major redistribution ( \ points for high quality Swedish bog iron exported in amall bars r , 71 a~d referred to as osmund. L~beck supplied the western Baltic, { and Danzig shipped through the Sound ta markets in England and the Lowlands. Also, quantities of Hungarian Iron and copper came ta the Baltic via Crokow and Thorn, and wcre re-expQrted ta the west. l9 \ Other significant products imported into England from the Boltic centres included furs,' honey, canvas, yarn, cable and cordage, anchors, and various other naval supplies. LtlbeckerG shared in this trade a~d also broueht fish from Norway and Iceland. lla'Ilburg exported f1sh as weIl as beer. Westphalia and the Lowlands contributed finished cloth and an assortment of manufactured wares, while the merchants of Cologne sold wine, llncn, thread, stoneware, metal products, and luxury goods from the Rhineland and sauthern Europe. 3y 1450, the Hanseatic cities likely employed about one thousand of their own sea-going vessels with a co~bined displace~ent of perhaps fort y to ~ifty thousand tons. Probably ha1f of theGe ships were engaged in the east-west trade from the Bal ti c to the Atlanti c coast, wi th LObeck and Danzig each ')0 maintaining about one hUI1dred ves:Jèls. L. Among them were various small eraft used for coast31 tra~fic, sueh as the cr3yer or barse. Larger 'ships, the Eanseatic kog or hwk, were the main carrïers in the long distance trade. Tt is difficu1t ta distinguish precisely one type fro~ the other, though prior to 1450 kogs were sing~e masted vessels and generally smaller than the ships of the second r181:' of the cent ury, whi ch were clinker-buil t, and featured f.orecastl€s, poop decks, and stern rudders. ~hree masts eventually became mori common, and a / typical hulk of the Iater fifteer.th century would have a displacement of about one hunèred tons. It would have a kiel length of nbout seventeen m0tres, a beam of almost six, and an overell length of about twenty-five. The high risk of shipwreck,due to winter storms, prompted the Hanse to forbid ships to eo ta sea between November 11 and February 2. When ( - they did leave port thcy were crewed by llansards and frequently sal'1 e d ln . convoya. 21 72 For the principal imports into the Da1tic region in the ( fifteenth century Danzig's traèe again provides a ~auge. Using the extant 'Pfundzollbec~èr' fro~ Danzie :or J460, 1470, and 1475, S. Sa~sonowicz has computed the total worth of a11 maJor co~modities imported. Salt 8ccounted for one third to one half of the total in any of these years, and 1aree quantities of herring alGo were imported by sea. Another 'Zollbuch' shows that for the year 1465 grain and for0st products, great portions of which must have been èestined for western markets, constituted 22 about 73 % of al~ i~ports coming in via ~horn and thp Vistula. ~he Engl i sh, of course, pl ay'2d no part ir; Danzie' s sal t or herring trade. The 'nain source for saI t was the Ba.)' of Bourgneuf, and the herring :ist-Jeries which supplied the Bal tic region still were contro~led by Hollanders or the Hansards tnemsel ves. :~or was the Banse a factor in Engl and: s suosta:ltial wool Export trade. It W3S controlled almost exc1usively by English merchants of the Calais staple. 23 However, England's expanding woolen industry certainly contributed appreciably to the supply of another importan: eo~~odity. Tn 14~O, as the ~hirteen Years ~ar restr~cted =altic traf~lc and civil war disrupted the English export trade, eloth reprEsented only Il % of the total value 0: DanziG's i~ports. In 1~75, after normal rel ations wi th Engl and and :10 ~ land were rE-s-:ored, the ')/1 figure tripled to almost 36 ~.G~ The long-esta~lished ~le~ish rnanufscturing industries continued ta ~urnis~ much of it, ~ut Holland and ~ngland also expor:ed lar~e a~ounts. So~e English cloth was shipped directly to ~3nzib' t~JuGh greater quantities . ?5 were sold i~ the Lowlands, reac~lng the Baltic vin LUbeck.-· Bngl and '11armfactureè Blîd export e::: severa] vari eU es 0: woolen cloth, ranging fro~ heavy worst8ds to Jight 'kerseys' froll Yorkshi ré, Gloucestershire, l:orfolK, and Vent. ~ne Engl i sh standard of ~eBsure~ent was the 'cloth of assize' or '~roadcloth', a double-width cloth twenty-four Y8rds Jong end one and a hal: to t'tm yards w'îde. Many sl-lO:'ter sr;d narr:)V'CT si:lgle-width ( c.:loths also were exporterl, :)ut were cO:-1'1crted t 0 ci oth of . . l t ft' 1 +' 26 aS31ze,. equlva en s or eus OT.S ~a~cu a_Ions. ,- 1 73 \ '\ < King's Lynn: The Hanseatic Steelyard. The south wall with ',jettied' upper story. l5th century. Lübeck: Hanseatic warehouses on the -- ri ver Trave. 15th-17th century. v J.O.F. 11182 JO F 11178 ; , 0 Ir 74 ( Most precious of the many typ~s were the '~n grain' cloths coloured with expensive scar~et dye i~ported from the Mediter ranean. Cowmonly called 'scarlets', these cloths were subject " to the highest customs charges in England. Next in value were the 'half grain' or 'part grain' varieties dyed on1y partially • with grain, and often violet in colou~. ~he ~ajority of ", England's cloth manufactures, however" were those 'without grain'. ~hey were dyed instead with ~odder or basil and were available in reds, blues, greens, and white. O~ these less expensive cloths 'kerseys' and '=ssex straights', rnanufactured in East Anglia were, together wi th raw wool, the mainstay of eastern England's export trade. Kerseys, generally red, black, or white in colour, were only eightee~ yards long, and rated by En~ish customs officiaIs at thrce kerseys to' one broadcloth. 27 The thriving industrial city o~ Soventry was one o~ the leading producers of woo10n textiles, specializing in 'Coventry blues' which were woven, dyed and f'i:lished ir. tl;8t cit.Y. • Though the Coventry cloth merchants a:so traded to London in order to o~tain imported l uxury items, !3oston was another 'TIein 22 port for trade to the Baltie. Cloths were identi:fied ar.è priced according to their cuality and wnere th~y were ~eru factured. At Danzig, woo1ens from Londor., Lyrn, ~01che3t€r and Beverley were distinguished frorn cornroon English and kersey cloths. 29 England's chenper cloths were exporteè prirnari1y b,y Hansards and denizcns, English su~jects or foreign-born ~erehants .privileged to pay custorns at native rates. ~heir avera3e value has been calculated at about .,r~2 per clotho rlore expensl'le types generally werc bousht by non-hDn8 1.::atic c.!liens, of whoT t!Je 'Tlost important to England's trade were the !talians. 30 A review of these cloth exports ls indispen11able for any e'U;lluation of the impact o'fi the Anglo-Hanseatic '/.'a1" on English and Hanseatic commerce. ~he cxtant Eychequer customs enrollments, which indicete beth the volu'l1c nnd distribution of Englanrj '8 ( forei gn trade havl: ·bcen us ed lJy ,H. L. Grny in hi s st udy of the English export trade betwE:'cn 1446 BIJd ::'"~f"l2. CO'l1plete labl es of the accounts from the late thirteHlth" century to the middle r 75 of the sixteenth century also are published. Differential customs rates distinguish Hanseatic ship~ents from those of denizens and alien merchants. 31 The export figures show that the English cloth trade a1ready was depressed weIl before the quarrel with the Hanse erupted into open conflict. Renewed fighting in France ~ro~ 1448 to 1453 and civil war in rngland a decade later contrib uted ta the decline, reducing the yearly volu~e of woolen exports to about 75 % of the pre-1448 1evel. Over this period .. Hanseatic rnerchants annually exported an average of 10,000 32 cloths from England. For the period under review a nUT.Der of trends are discerni bl e in various English ci ti es whence cloth was export€d. In one of Englanà's busiest ports, Southampton, strong cOillT.ercial links were maintained wi th Spain and Italy, and Ransards were of little consequence in the cloth trade. They did ship s~all Guantities from there, as weJl as from Sandwich and Yarmout!-), in the early 14ê,)'s, but aside from these rare instances, the Hanseatic cloth trade was concentrated entirely in London, Lynn, Boston, Hull an d l pSWIC.. h 33 During the six year span i~T.ediate1y prior ta the tumult uous summer of 1468 exports frorn the port 0: Lynn fluctuated radically, but avereged 427 cloths. Likewise the Hanse's s~are in this trade varied, clirnbing from 11.3 ~ of a11 cloth exports in 14~4-65 to 80 % the following year. On the average, Hansards annually exported about 155 c1oths, thus accounting for approx imately 36.6 % of the trade in any given year. The remainder was in the hanàs of de ni zen traders. Other ali en merchants plsyed no sienificant l'ole. In the fiscal year 1157-~e Lyr~'s exports peaked at 963 cloths, but Hansards in Engl and were arrested and thei r share in this sdmittedly mor~in81 trade wes reduced te a ~ere 5.4 t. The next year DOW the cloth lraJe lotally devastated Dy the conflict wiUJ the Hanse. With the EstéI'linC3 expc11ed :rom Eng1ùnd and the !{orth 3ea traèe routes rrore unsafe than ever, 76 Lynn' s cloth exports dwindled to an annual average of only ( 49 cloths between 1468 and 1474. The trade was revitalized, however, by the customs exemptions granted ta the Hanse at Utrecnt. Hansards flocked oack to Lynn during the next two years and shi pped 578 cloths represe:lting 78.5 % of t he total volume. '!'he pre-1468 volume of trade wes re-este,:)l1.shed, and in the fol10wing six years annual exports averaged 445 cloths before a pronounced, but again temporary, sluTp in the trade commenced in 1482. Resuming their former presence in Lynn, the ~ansards were remarkably consistent in their yearly export ation of cloth during this post-war periode ~he annual average reached 158 cloths, closely approxiT.ating the pre-war volume, and the Hanse 's share iL thé total trade for any or.e .ycar again averaged 35.5 %. ':'hough severe1y injured by the Ang1o-Hansea.tic ',','ar, Lynn 1 s c10th export trade indeed survi veà, and recovery was rapid ( foll o'Ning the ret urn o[ the Esterlir.gs. 'T'he yearly vol u.1J1e ;, and the Hanseatic share in ::. t'Nere reattaineà wi thin half a deca~E, and only after 14.'~2 did Lynn 's export trade begin to falter appreciab1y. A much di~ferent scenerio ur.fol :ed in the neigp,bouring 'port of 90ston, where cloth expo:::'ts dl.lring the pre-war era a1so ';aried considerél~1y :rc-n year to year. Hansards shipped 82.5 ~:;, of 771 cloths exported from Boston in 141")}-62. ',Vhen total exports droppe:d drastica11y to only l8? cloths in the following year, Hansards were' Dbser.t :'rorn the trade. '!'h~y returned to export 59 'h of tne port 1 s total output ovel' the next two years. From l'1Gl to 1467 figures for cloth exports from Boston are not diss i mUar to t hose of Lynn, averaging 481 yearly. But Dt Boston the Hansards were more pro'llinent in the trade, Dnd exported usually abou: 300 cloths per year, or approxi ffiute1y 62.5 % of t ~le totnl, though in the t wo years precedinC their arrest in England the Hanseatic portion had been reduced to weIl under 20 :,~. , , r 77 Worthy of note too is the involvement of other alien , merchants in Boston 1 s cloth trade. In most years they were J responsi ble for less than 1 % of the exports, but when the Hanseatic share dropped from 88.6 % in 1464-65 to only 15.2 % the fo11owing year, that of alien traders rose sharply to 33 %. As in Lynn, 1467-62 brought the Hanseatic share in Boston' s cloth trade to i ts low ebb at 8.8 %, while overall c10th exports reached a six year high of 633. The para11e1 with Lynn ends with the outbreak of the Anglo-Hanseatic War. '!'hroughout the period 1469-74, when Lynn'$ trade was reduced to a trickle, Boston's cloth exports actually increased s1ightly to an average of about 500 yearly. Ini tiall y the denizen merchants gained the Hanseati c share of the trade, but from 1470 to 1~72 aliens shipped about 10 %. In the next year they controlled nearly one quarter of the exports, and by 1474-75 shi pments by al i ens accounted for a1!Ilost 46 % of Bostoft's c10th trade. However, the return of ( of the Hansarès caused the alien share to pl uœmet to less '. than 2 % in 1475-75, and i t remained negligi bl e for years to comeo ?" In the decade. ~~lnning 1474-75, cloth exports from Boston averaged only a18"Cloths, substantially less than in the pre wer era. A total of o!1ly ?'J cloths were shipped from Boston in 1476-77, and the Hnnsards were not involved. let a year leter they shipped 548 of ~r,2 cloths. !hroughout this i~itia1 r post-w~r pcriod Hanseatic exports now averaged 221 cloths per year. While the volume 0:' the port 's cloth expor-l:.s had becn reduced to nbout three fi:'t hs of t hat a t tai ne:d duri ng the war and pre-war period, tne Hanse's average yearly exports had diminished by only about 25 %. Consequent1y the Hansards inherited a greater percentage of the trade, exporting ca. 70 ~ of a11 the cloth coming out of Boston from 147S unt il the port' s cloth export trade began to decl ine irreversibly i. n the mid- 1480's. But Boston was second only ta London in wool exports, and was the main out1et for the sheep far~ing ureas of Lincoln- L .. 78 shi re, Leicester, Derby and Not tinghsm. Engl ish merchant s, ( who virt ually abandoned Bos ton' s cloth traèe to the Hansarès, clung instead to the pert's sporaèic but as yet not entirely depressed wool trade. Before the exclusion o~ Hansards in l1fO,the c10th export trade at Hull hud declined steadi1y fro!T1 2,1613 cloths in l4f51- 62 to just 375 in 1466-67, and the Har;seatic share fl'.lctuated froID 4.7 % to 50.6 %. As in the other east coast ports, total exports froID Hull recevered temporarily in 1468 to l, 663 cloths, while the Hanse accounted for but 11.4 %. The a1ien share in the trade seldoID exceeded 5 1) of the total. Hence, Hull t s cloth trade remained largely cent roll ed by denizen llerchar.ts. Cloth exports stabilized sO'Ilewhat during the war years, averaging 693 cloths an~uGlly. TheuGh this figure does not approach the yearly average of 1,Q23 achieved froll 1461 ta 1464, i t €xceeds that of 1464-67. Exports by al i ens ~eca"e entirely insiGnificant, and heneeforth they ceased to be a ( factor in Hull • 8 cloth export trnèe. 1 . . . The peaee wi th the Har:sarès ar.d their subsequent rE: turn to Encland appear to have bene:'i t0d liul 1 enor'l1ously. :;n 1474- 7fJ the port sent 1,250 eloths to foreigr. markets, and the :Csterling8 shipped 35.,') % of that total. During the next seven years HuI:' exported an average 0= 2,P22 cloths anr.t.:a~:y. :'ne Hans e accoun ted fo r arc und one fi ft h o~ the : raèc duri ng this pcriod, and in each j8ar i'ro:n 1,~7::-S0 to 14P3-81 distribut ed roughly one q:J.arter of Hull' s cJ oth, even though tte p:Jrt' s total exports bcgon to taper off agsir: in the Eorly 1480'8. Hul] 's cloth exports o'Jer 8 spon of two decE\des indicate that thE- Honsards ~ecame 'IlliCh more :ir'!lly estajl iS~led in :his trade nfte;r the; weI' than th.::..y haè :J(:.'en irnmedia:E1y prior ,~o it. '.!'he: trade,itself, which !lad slurnpeiJ bndl.'l before the war, 'Nas rcvived nfter 11,74-75, nnè HansBrds, rr;ind=ul of the a,ivantage OUS cUstOffiS pri vU eges t hey had wrcs t cd froT the> Engl isr ki n{:, ( control] ed one ,quorte!' of i!ull's l'é.'vi tal ized cloth trade ,\1 thin a half decade of the war '3 end. l 79 Perhaps worst ai'fected by the Ang1o-Hans,.eatic "/ar and ( its aftermath was the port of Ipswich in Essex, where the Hanse woul d ship an average of 1,533 c10ths or about 85 ~ of the total exports in any gi ven year between 1451 and 14137. This volume was halved to 852 cloths in l4~7-68, while the \ port's total output stood at 1,377. The war years brought about a depression of trade to rival that experienced in Lynn. The yearly average for total c10th exports up to 1474-75 was only 426, and the free Cologners in Ipswich managed to ship less than half this aTIlount in the enti re six year period. Nor was the 51 ump in the port' s cloth trade remedied with the return of the Hanseatic marchants, as lt apparently was in Lynn. In 1474-75 e group of seven Hansards did export 349 c10ths from ::pswich;34and in the next year, as the total output rose again to 1,341 c1oths, merchants of the Hanse accounted for 63.6 %. But this apparent recovery wes short-lived, end after 1475-76 there was a sharp decline in • 1 the cloth trade at Ipswich. The annuel averaGe slipped to 645 cloths between 1475-76 and 1481-82, a decrease of 64 % from thnt of the pre-war periode ~he Hanse now accounted for on1y 23.8 % of the port's c10th trade, and the volu'1le of Hanseatic " exports wes a mere 10 ~ of what it had been before the war. ( " Even though it was severely reduced t the nu~ber or cloths ex ported from Ipswich still exceeded that of 30ston and Lynn. However, the cloth trade Dt Ipswicn, and the HanS€Dtic share in i t, always had been much lèlr[jer than in any other east coast ci ty between Hull and the ri ver Thames, and so i ts demi se is 81] the more significant. London 1 3 cloth exports fur surpe.33ed those of the other ports, 9nd incI'eased dramat:ica11y 1n 141'\7-6.0" Thf' ?5,921 clotl-)s shipped that year exceeded b,y a large ';larcin the annuel 3verage of 16,523 during the previous six yeaTs. Prior to the 'verdict' in 1168 HansaI'ds in London, wIlong who") the merchnnt3 of Co"] ogne , were the most conspic\Jol~3 clculer3 ln woo1ens, norrn311y would export an average of 6, :JO:} c] oths per yeèlr, and thus account for about 33.3 % of the trade. 1 1 l 11 80 In 1468-69, when merchants of the Hanse were imprisoned ( and the status of Cologners both within the Hanse and in England WaB the subject of controversy, Hanseatic shipments of cloth from London constit ut ed only 2.5 % of the ci ty 1 S 1 total. Yet thro\.lghout the ensuing six year per::'od, which incldcted a Hanseatic boycott of Eng1 i sh goods, Cologne' s expulsion from the Hanse, persistent attempté to disrupt mari Bme commerce, and prolonged negotiations at Utrecht, the merchants of (;ologne, who were the oruy Eansards free in England, con sistently managed ta export an average of 3,211 cloths each year from London. This represented about half the annual average for the pre-war periode Moreover, total cloth shipments fro!IJ the capi ta1 increased twofold in 1472-73, beginning a surge which would see annual exports reach 40,000 cloths or more wi thin hal f a decade. In 1475-76 Hanseatic traders appear to have re-established their business at Boston, Lyr.n, and Hull much more promptly ( than they were able to do in the :Snglish capital. Co1ogners were obliged to vacate the London Steelyard depot, and 1lansards --{ sent or..2y 80 c1oth0 ove:rsea from London that year. lut total ... annual :::loth exports fro'Tl London èurir:g tl>e first six years after 1~75-7B Dveraced more than do~~le what they had been in a similar six year span prior to 14~~-~? ~he average annual volume for the Hanse did not quite keep pace. Nevcrtheless, it now stood at 10,424 cloths, a 73.6 6 increase over the pre war fIgure of h, 0')5. It rose to doLlbl e the pre-war vol urn€ not until t he mi d-14W) 1 s when export atior. of woo ~ cns :'rorr :?oston and Lynn declined correspondincly. 1 Hence, the ~ight with the Hanse did not have an identical or aIl prevasive c:'fect in each of the ports where tlur.snrès traded. PriaI' to the W3r Tpswich was the on1y port in south Eastern Ene] ar:d, aside :rom London, wi t 1-] a cloth C'xport trade of any nat1ùflnl sienificDTH'c, ,~lîÏppinc 8r; (JVI rD.[,e of 1,800 cloths Yl'I.Jr l.v. Ibwcver, when t fit" A!JiTl o-JI;)r'~3c[l ti c ','i~lI' vi rt ua11 y ( shut the llansurdG out of the tovn" [llel iSlI produccr::\ nnè midù1 e men continued the trend of di.::;tl'i~utlr:; "DOre Dnd more clotl-. r 81 from nearby London. Likewise, when the Germans were readrni tted into England, their participation in the crippled woolen trade out of Ipswich never again approached i ts pre-war l evel. Enticed by new custOTIlS pd viJè'gen awarded to them in 1474, they did make a brief appearance immediately after the war. But before the decade was over, large nU'Ilbers of them ei ther had di verted their cloth exports to London or were shipping out of Boston or Lynn. :!:n Lynn they revi ved exports to their former levels, while in Boston they sustained the city's meagre cloth trade for another decade before London again drai ned off a significant share. Nei ther the Anglo-Hanseatic :'Jar nor the increased con centration of the cloth trade in London chased the Hansards permnnently from England's east coast. Ind~ed,they were not nearly so hast y as their English counterparts in forsaklng the export trade of ports such GS ~oston and Lynn. They had, ai'ter all, demanded and recei ved property in each of these cities,whose attraction lay not in a thriving cloth trade. Both ci ties 'Nere well wi thin Lond::m's 3;J1)'ere,so far as the distribution 0:' cloth to foreign mr.rkets was concerned, but were distant enough from tho capi tal to necessitate their maintenance as distribution centres for bulky raw products provided by the Hanse. This 1s exempl ified further "Jy the Hanseati c pres ence i Tl the north enst of' I:ngl and, 5 peci fi ca11y in Hull and Newcastle. At least two Hanseatic ships with cargoes of considerable worth were scized in each o~ these ports in 1468. Yet, exccpt for 1462-63 Dnd J.1ôr:.-66,. the Hanse' s share in Hul ~ 's c10th trade never exceeded 14 lj of thE total in ar.y river. year, and t'ewcBstlc's trade in \'loolons wao who11y iDcleniflcant. Therefore n true 8SS€33'Tlent of the charDcter and i"l1portance of the HGn3e"C trade to .t:n!3"l<.md conr'ot bc bDsed entircl.y or. fluctuations in Ene;liGh cl:Jlh cxports, which irnply that London's expandinc t 1'1)(3e encroûched on the mcrC:1n: il e prosp<: ri ty 0 f the eastern end nOl'thcrr. P0l'L[,. ~loth oxports werc bGt one: facet of a lurgt-r and more inlric3lc systclJJ 0:' 1rade. 0versca commerce WGS not 50 vi tal lo England 1 s east coast ports as the flourishing L 82 and cxpanding coastal traffic. t'ewcastle, ,for example, sent coal, salt and salmon southward ta London and the East Anglian ports whence i t rnight be reshipped. '!'~e ports 0::- Yarmouth and Lynn sent grain and herring to the north-cast. Ir. a study of east coast'shipping,G.V. Scam~ell conclu~es that the coal trade in particular "was of irn:nense importanc(' in compensating ~or the decline in provincial overseas cOTJJ!Derce, and in stimu lating the growth of shipping". 35 Moreover, the increased foreign trade of London created a demand for extra tonnage, and thus proiided employment for coastal vessels. ~he herring fisheries o~ Yorkshire, South Lincolnshire, and ~orfolk continued ta prosper a1so. 36 The Hanseatic role in England becomes clearer then if the distinction 13 èra'NTl between the local economies of the other coastal ci ties and that of London, whi ch now co:nmanded the greater share 01.' England's trade ta foreign markets. As English ~erchants cor.centrated more and ~ore of their cloth tracte in the capitsl, Hanserds wou!d follow in arder to purchase and export the texti les. Sut their Lc:siness of irnportir.[; proèucts into other parts of Engl and was not lJcarly so strongly affected by this trend. In East Angl ia anè por: s ta t ne nort h, 1 i ke Eup and Newcastle. the exportation of :Sng1 ish woo~ ens by !lunsea:ic merchents wes incidentel ta thcir importotioL of cOTmodities from the 3al tic. The Esterlinls8 carne to tbese areas net primarily as buyers of cloth, but ralher as the sellers oi' the timoer, iron, and novaI supplies ess~ntia: to eastern ( Englar.d 's i'ishing and ship-'::Juilding industriES end the coa3tal trade. \ ':'he Hanse's presence in eaSl(:rrJ Er;g}and and tl-Je efrects of the war on the foreign t rade of these major c08stal ci ties 1s illustrated by the 'volue of mer:~rlDnchse payinc the 'pet+y custom' of 3d. on the pound. This 'ud valere"!]' tax did not di 3 tingu i ;3h bet ween importe and cxport.3, but oside fro'Tl cloth and waal which wcrc su:~jcct ta di~'~\:rl:nt l'3tes, England eXj.JClrted ( little e13e save 311011 quo.ntitü.3 of tin, leed, hides, and ::!OI'fI • ., r 93 The rate did apply to aIl of the principal Haneeatic importe · 37 except wax an d w~ne. From 1461-62 to 1~66-67 the value of alien merchandise paying the petty custom in the city of :'ynn averaged .l698 year1y. For the subsequent seven year period, when the Hanseati c trade wes eliminated from\the town, the average was .i389, a drop of 54.5 %. It rebounded to about /876 annual1y between 1474-75 4 and 1481-82. In Boston,dependence on the :2sterlings ..... as even '!lore evident. Aliena acqlÜred the Hanse' s share of the cloth trade during the war, yet were unable to import the cOllmodi ties essential to Boston 1 s trade in miscellaneous '!lerchandise, the annual val ue of whi ch averaged /052 in the six years prior to 1467-68. Tnis declined by a full 7S % during :he war years ta an average of L 275 per year, and recovered to only.i 714 for the post-war period. From these fluctuations, it is apparent that the Hansards were indispensabl e to 30stor.· s tr'ade. mhe rather sudden and unusual appearance of al i ens deali ng in c1 otl1 during the war, and the regul ari ty wi th which Ea::sards seern to have violated thcir own boycott of Eng1ish wares, also points to the pose i bU i ty that the Ester1 i ngs continued to shi p texti les froll Boston through non-3errnan agents. Already Hollanders were important carriers for +.nt= channel tra:,e to the Low1ar.ds. During and after the ..... ar, thoy d-:d bring 2a1 tic goods to Antwerp where they could be purchased t,y Engl ish ml'rchantn. :rom r,':3rch to Dccem'Jer' lV:'~J, GeventE:cr, of t'r.irty four ships calling at Boston :"ere :rorn Bolland or Zea18:1d. Twenty shipe CDm~ to Boston betwcen June 1471 and May 1472, and of theGe, sevcntecn aGain came :rom Ho21and or Zeeland. 28 In the abc.cnce of direct trndc Lo the :381 tic, the importancE: of the LowlDnd ports Dnd Lheir Glüpper~), particularly ~or the distri but i on of Eng.1ish clot 11 to cûntinen ta1 ':lélrkets, wes enhanced. Yel after 117·1-7.">, the 811en3 in Boston's c1o~h trade vani3hed al''1ost [1S ::JulL3uTlly I.J thc:; r,ad appcnred a h'Jlf decade carl ier. Regard1ess of who actual1y owned the cloth sent oversea from Boston during thE- war, the fl œ~t uations :ion l ," 94 the value of goods paying the 3d. custom confir~ the Integral importance of the Hansards in Boston, and the extent to which the Anglo-Hanseatic \Var disrupted commerce there. Following the war, the value of the'· rniscel1aneous goods traded by Hsnsards and other aliens in, the ci ty of Hull averaged ~2,580 pér year, or double what it had been in the six yeors before 1467-68. In the interim, with Hensards excluded from the trade, it had slipped ta ~838 annually. ~he trade in iron was parti cul arly noteworthy hl:re. Hull was eastern Eng1and t s busiest port for the importation of iron, and o~r ha1f of i t was osmund from the Ba1tic. Imports lnto Ipswich, Yarmouth, and Lynn were ~odest by comparison, end 95 % of the iran brought J into London came from Spain. Prior ta the war Hnnseatic ship- ments of osmund into Hull were very regular. 39 not surprisingly, the quarrel wi th th,e !fanse, and London 's growing predominance as England's trode capital, precipitated a decline in the foreign trode of Ipswich. From l461-~2 to 1466-67 the value of misce1laneous Co~~od1ties exchanged et Ipswi ch averaeed "::1,022, though in ] 46.')-1')6, when the Hanse also was responsible for 95 ~ of the city's cloth exports, merchandise paying the petty custom wes worth .f3,148. The average of'[ 620 for the years 141')7-'3,0 through 1473-74 represents a decrease of more than two thirds that Of the pre-war level. A post-war recovery never mnterinlized. ~he Hansards, like the Enelish cloth merchants, took their trade to London, and from the ~ar's end until l~R]_D2 Ipswich's trade in miscellaneous commodities stru[';f'"] ed to averf3ee .z913 annually, despi +,., t~e figure of Ll,9ô8 for 147-1-7,,) when they returncd briefly. By contn.lst, London, centre of court Dnd commerce, beneficiary or the deni Zén exodus from the erlst C083t ports, and Ene] 18h home 0 f the merchants of Co] o("ne, actuaI1y saw a 5 % increase ln the value of Goods payine th0 3d. custom during the Anr,lo-Hanseatic ·,"or. After i ts conel usion, when trnde wi th the Hanse Dnd U]on wi tt1 :"rnncc W/l" rl'Gtored, the ( increase was even more su~stantial, and London's ascendency r' 85 as England's trade capital.was assured. Although the fluctuations in trade indicated by the customs records shed considerable light on commodity ftructures and the importance of the Hanse to England's !'oreign trade, it remains ~o be determined whether the fundamental co~ercial relationships between the Hansards and England had been al tered to any appreciable degree. It is qui te evident that merchants of the Hanse began to concentrate their cloth trade in London after the war, continuing a trend started by thei: English co~petitors sorne years earlier. Their absence from the ports of south eastern England between 1468 and 147~ undoubtedly served ta accelerate this general shift. 0n the other hanè, their import trade in thes e same ports fI ouri shed as ever, throughout the • post-war period. But the conflict affected more than ships, cargoes, and, customs privileges. This also was a time :fraught with peril for those Hansards closest to the tracte. What were the con sequences for them and their links with tne Realrn? Further understanding of the Hansards' trare to Lng~and and the economic and pol i tical stresses caused by toc conf} i ct is afforè ed "Jy a look at some 0 f the indi vid ua 18, aside frorp the merchants of Cologne, who were di rectly invol veè in the Anglo-Hanseatic trade both before and after the war. '!'hey ranged from Ghips' captaimi ta weal thy Danzig p3.triciuns, Dut partici pation in sorne aspect of the trade to I:nglanè was CO'TlffiOn ta E-ach 0: them. Of the thirty-two lbnDards ro\..:]j j up by the Englis'1 authorities ir:. London in ";u}.v' l/lG3, sl 1eélst fourteen were citizens of Colo{;nc, [ind,as suell, wuc' àctoincd for only a short time. ::'he hi[';fl pércen:age 0:' Co~ogm.rs, as wcll as the arrest of two G1erchants f'rolll Dinèlnt, c1orÎ:.:; '"!'ack from Duisburg, and two more from Ni jmegcn, again ir.di CG te3 London' Q heavy dependence on tradinG links wi th tr,p ..: owe1' Rhineland. 40 . Among thooe arrt:st éd unl1 not rd cO:3cd werc four Danzigers. 1 For one, Albert Val and , this was nol the fi rst Ume that the 1 1 mlschief of Danzig's pirates had caused considerable inconvenience. 1 j 86 In 1466 he and a fellow Danziger happened ta be in Bremen ( when cargoes belonging to merchants of that North Sea port allegedly were pirated by corsairs :-rorn Danzig. '!'hough not impli cated di rectly, Val and and his colleague were arrested and detained until Danzig satisfied the injured parties. Correspondence relating ta the incident shows that a fair degree of animosi ty existed between the two ci tics, wi th Danzig reminèing Bremen that in tirnes past merchants of Prussi a had suffered at the hands of Brernen' s pi rates. 41 Valand' s fate illustrates one of the numerous hazards to which a tra"'eling businessman might 'Je exposed, and the import.ance a-:tached to a merchant's civic affiliations. Two years after his confinement in 3re~er, the unfort'Jnate Valanè was a resièent of Ludgate Prison in London, where 'le re!Daineè throughout the wi nter of 146P-69. ':'he extent o~ hi s business connections in Eng1and are reveal cd in part by his later appeal :or compensation. Of the sum 'loaned' ta King Edward by the Hansards in 1468, '/aland' 3 coniri8ution had 'Jeen .t30. '/8riOU3 other losses iL London, Lynn, and i:ewcastle, inc2uding the rnnso:nir.g of his :::>rothe!"', to:~ü le::: a :urther 42 .f.90. -:'hc fact that he clai.med }OG3eS in LondoIl and was arrested thcrc:, os weIl as his substan:iûl loan ta the King, -' sugges t thnt t'le English capital city was the cer. tre for 'faland 's trnd l ng ventures. A2. bert "/éJ} and claimed eXe'Dptions fror;J royùl customs in each year fro'Tl 2473 to 1481), Howcver, he àid sa in no fewcr thnn fi ve di !'''erent ports: Lordon, Lynn, Bos ton, l psv:i ch, 43 and Hul1. ~"Ü8 pOlnts to an éJctive p.:::lrtr.er or pDrtner:) irl the ea3tern COGS t.a 1 tü't.Tl::, ] i k ___ 1,'1 n '~t:l'11il i uncesellschaft 1 involvi:;g Danzic councillDr rr.f,'!enan Valnnd, who vms shippice C English cloth ta Do.fJzi[" via AmG~ercllJfIl Dlld LUbeck aS early as 1463. He irnrJortcd OélnlUnc1 and vDrio ü :3 oLLer goods into 4ull, and, in the ExchcqucY' yom 1!"f)6-P'7, Gllarec1 wi :r: aI,other i'"'1portant ci vic figure, councillor del'Ding :3urj ne of H:l'ubuIT, a ~Qrgo ( of lU'11ber, ~ur, iron, fish nnd 1inen broUC;'lt l:JLo t.hE:: port of' t:..---/ r \ 87 Iv'nn. 44 The 'verdict' of 1468 cost both of these men heavily, and eaeh had a role to play in the war that ensued. Tydeman Valand eventually became part owner of the t Grosse Kraweel', and Buring represented Barnburg nt the U'trech t peae e negot iaU ons. 45 Albert Valand's buniness cor.nections were extensive and \.' fairly widely disperGed priaI' to, and following the Anglo Hanseatic War. He wns involved in mercantile transactions in every ffi3jor port froT. Loncon te ~:ewc8:::;tle. !Ils mobili ty, imprisonment, élnd the wide distributior: of his business contacts in Engl and Dod on the cont i ne nt reflce t sorne of the common chsrncteristics 0:' the Anglo-llélnSeatic traàe, in addition to the day ta dey peri:' s encoW1tered by Hanseati c merehants in an era Wht-D they ~1nd become pri rpe ta l'G(:ts for nnti-al i en resent'Ilent, ~:md vulnerable to aroi trary arrest for the 'T1isdemeanors of others. One fir.31 anecdote illustrates, however, Hlnt the callous civic \particulerism which had done so rnuch to corroèe 10yalties wi thin t.he Hanse, had not èestroyed cO"Tlpletely the cornmon mercanti l e bond between the German rner2tlClnts, which informer ti mes had becn tl1e corrers tone 0: the ~anso. Hims E-lf twi ce "victirüzed, A1':Jert 'lalünd WQS ODe of severnl H3nsards who veuchf?d ïor :?redrich :3ncp;:;el, a fellow merch.9nt who hnd l cft EDgland in Apri1 146~, Gut"found himself undt:'r arrest iD 46 Antwerp in 1473. ':'he rnovC:'Ilent of Gnother one of Al lJert Va} [Jnd' s assoc i ates furthH cX€'!1p1i fies the 3tr~.lcturl Dnd ir:ternFltional ~haracter of the lhnseü.ti C [Je:J ~ raùe in i he 1 ilter fi fteenth century and Engl nnd' G rolc' tl1CI'r'1.r.. In 1482 'lalnr:ë ~3hared in a cargo 47 plundered h.y :.'rcnch pirates on itG wO'y ta Dipppe. One oi' his partnerG was shippf>I' Hans Stu:te o:~ ~:1I1zi ,r; who hnd conducted transactions in rit 1eo.3t :ive EIlglish ports - Lynn, Ipswich, Hull, SDndwlch, ~Hld Yormouth - between 1,175 Dnd 1-1,Sl, und was acti vely emploYt'd in Lnul inc: 3a1 t frorn the Gay of DOL1rrne'Jf. 48 Captaim; likP ::;tutte uroueht iron, ~um:_(;'r, anà osnorted o-:her product3 frOID Donzig or 1~beck to cos II rn Enelond. TI)eoc cargoes could be diGposed 01 rend i ly by resid E'nt Hansards l ike L~ r 88 Val and or his partners. In ports such as Lynn, Hu11, or London,a ship could he refreighted with English cloth destined for the Lowlands -and the Bruges staple or French ports like Dieppe. Hans Stutte then could foJlow the French coast to the Bay, and then take on salt for the long return journey to his home port in the Baltic. l, Another Hansard whorwas apprehended and spent the winter of 1468-69 with Albert Valand in the English capital, and whose voluminous correspondence apparently roused the Gloucester shire clothiers, was Joris Tack. After the war he submitted one of the-more detailed appeals for compensation, and touched specifically on the money extorted from the Hansards by King Edward: dat wii hem lennen mosten L484 daerto i ck gesat inde gedrongen wart to lennen ~40 ..• icy. weder ontfangen heb van den here konynge, aIs der vrede gemackt was inde weder int lant quam ~32 15s ••.• 49 ( Tack's other claims indicate that his business interests were concentrated in and arouhd London and focused pri~arily o~ the cloth industry. He was 3 resi~ent of the L~ndon Steel yard, and in near~y Col chester, where ds orothE-r Fredrich al so wa~ jailed, he clai!Ded lasses in excess of ":J5Cl for cloth, ashes, and madder. Addi tional expenses were ; ncurrc ~ "or ·,'1"'3t PO à0U~'+ wa9 a thoroughly unpleasant confineTent unttl s~ring 14~0. Joris Tack rejoined t~e Hansoatie fel1ows~ip in ~ondon rive year::; Inter. to coll eet most 0: tne SU'TI owed, him 'Jy the Eng] ish sovereign, and wns a:nong those exe'TIpted from eus toms charges at London and Sandwich. 50 ' Away from London, but also acti ve in the trade wi th Engl and prior to 1468,was Kersten ~iscel, a merchant fro'TI Stralsu~J whose servant Gerard was a~o~g those Hancards specifical1y a,ccused in the Sound controver:::;y. 51 Curiously 1 N'issel hi msel f apparently did not appe8.1 :~r cornpensati on af .... tT the sea war ended. This suggests toat he avoided arrest in 1468, tr.oügh a London Steelyard account shows that Lin Apri L 1469, snortly l 1 . 89 after the Hanseatic hostages in England were releRsed, ~!issel ( was given a sum of money .•• 'wylck hey vertert hadde van syme eygen gelde in der reyse, in ~E gemeyn eouprnan oystwart gesant hadde .••• 5 " In any case, it i8 certain that he was trading in England as êarly as 1464, when he was listed on a eustoms certificate as 53 being a member of the Hanseatic fellowshi~.at Lynn. During his lengthy stay in England, Kersten }:issel' s trading aetivi ty, unlike that 0: Albert "'aland, was confined to the ports of the Wash, Lynn and Boston. In ]406 he and sever~l other merchants ffom Stralsund and Lübeck,tradlng to England and Bergen, encountered extreme difficulty aboard the "shi p 'Gabriel' o:f Lyr:n. ~he llen pI'ayed for de::!.. i verance and pledged a substantial donat i or. ta the ch-..:rch 0: St. ra cholas in Stralsund. Evident~y they l'eD~).-led port sa:ely, t'or t~n years later, Whifst ~issel was ta~ing advan1age of eusto~s ( exemptions in Lynn and Boston, the cus:odi. ans of St. Cl av t s Al t'sr in the rJick01iaki rche at ~traJ. sU!1d 3ckDowl eèged recei pt of two hundred rr:arks :rom t::e 'Bergen - ED[;lar.dfahrer' at "4 Boston. v Hissel's car:~:r.ueè preseDce in Lnglano duri:-J.Ç t:.e 1470's ls apparent from his exe~p:io~ ~rom customG dues nt Lynn in 1474-75 and arain at '::ostor. in 1477-7° 55 By 14.76 he .1)- had assumed 8 posi tion of sorne resporlsibi 1i ty, for the Hanseatic secretary'in London nut~orized hi~ to oversee the iT.mediate repair of the 3aston 3teelyard. ;~i.3cel arld o:he1's 81 so were given joint responsibility :or ma::'r.:enar..:e of the seven hoù.ses of the depot at Lynn, where t~e c0urty~rd was to be we11 kept and the Quay improved. rissel and r.ls company recei ved a 'rewurde' Îor their efforts. 56 ~Jissel' s harrowir,g encour.tcr at sea in 11G6 affards a glimpse of his spiri tuaI and psycho1ogi cal make-up, therehy adding another ~le!Ilent of detüil to tre portrai t 0: the Ennseatic merchant in England. Off the ccact of :::33t AngliD,8 friehteneO co~püny of ~erman merch3nts huddled ir: prayer on the dect cf , r 90 a storm-battered kog. Duly reprieved, they undertook ta raise ( a donation for their church and the glorification of God. A decade later, despite a conflict which S8W their livelihood severely thrc8tened by the arrests 0: Germ~ms in Enel and and the s 'lspensi on of di rect trade for a peri od 0: fi ve yC8rs, t hey fulfill ed th ei r pl ede;e. AppD rC'ntJ y undaunted by the dan[';ers of the North Sea or by the disruption of the Anelo-Henseatic trade, Kersten tassel resumed his mercûnti.le career. '1'houp;r- et 1 cast indirectJy ifTlplicated in the ir,cioer.t which had tri!,:[:ered the hostilities, he returned ta the same EneJish ports where he had done business prevj ousJy, benefi ted from newly won custorns exemptions, and rose to prominence within the Hanseatic fel10w ship nt Boston and Lynn. After their re1e3se froT English [aols in spring 1160, Hansards had returned to the continent to reconstruct and reèirect their trade as best t hey could. :<'or Danzig s'1ipper, Eler Boke1mar.,the continuance of his mercantile vocation entailed active participation in the sea war against Eneland. In early 1470 he was authorized by Danzig's civil authortties to at:ack El!glish shipping. rie survived one skirnish, and was still wi th Pawest and the 'Grosse }~raweel' the foll owi ng 57 year. For Bokelman,there was no shortage of ~ncentive to pIunder English shippinp,. He had been houline SaItlc products into Scarborough, Grimsby, and :-IuI ~ in the rnid-141l0 '8, And was arrested and imprisoned .3t !Iull in } ~C~ ..')Q :::n adsi tion to the ship he cartained and was on nt owner 0:, Bokelmsn 81so was rel1eved oi a slzobl e carr;o 1f; which at l cast a dozen other Hansaràs, includlnc :1enn:'c,.g UUI'J.nG, I1E:ld S~iares. Ypt Eler Bokelman lS not 11stcd as belnc amonc t~ose exempted from custorns charges in any EnC1 i sn port èUrln[~ trIe pos t-wor peri od. 59 -, "T'hus it rernains uncerto.in if he resumed r_ls forrner trading connections wi th England. He did not disappeêJ.r cornpl eteIy, though, for in 1~8l hie snip was pirated in the Saltic neer ....171b' lng. 60 l 91 Another colleague of Sokelrpan who shippcd "to Ene1 and and ( Scotland pri or to the Ar.gl o-i1anseat i c 'Nar was Peter rossel er, also :rom Danzig.!)l At Lynn and ~-luI1, he tao w~s de.pri ved of payment. for morchandise typical of that nor~a11y brought ta England by the Esterlings: int Jar 68 veI'KO:fte ick in EneeJandt in der stadt Kantelbergc ..• ~illm Brcibrock, borger in Linden, l sc~ip mast - unde segel10s, dar hadde i ck 'TIi t !I1ynE:m 8W;-~,,'3E:r Hoppen:-!ruwer 16 schepes1ast thc-r, ~: :;c~;'--VS~èl,~t plck, 7 schepes last assché, 1 ,()!)) w{j['t~n:3:::ot(':;, l'Y] clQpholtes, l last OS 8'llunt. .. :J.L III :;é~l!ip ":li t èat C'.jcH Gaf ick VOl' ~-:.lOO, dura";:' l!;"t::'H~Lt· ick /30, 30 wart dnt g'Jth [~\:'ro.Gtcrct Ly '::ll1:n 3rayurock, so dat ick de L7(î no.latcr. :lù:::; :'e. :::tern 80 ne'TI~-'rJ se 'Ily, det Hinn c}: 1iLh>LOI:U Ti: sick to ~luJ le hadèe in s cr,i ppcr Eler"':: -;. 2 er; sc:redem gel de, dG t he 'Hld":e c::;e':1.':11<:ct v:'lI-<.,::;l Dc:-'.téuècl als unèc l8 tunr:en tb'...:er •••• 0,-, Kossel CT, tl"lough, rEct\.lrr.€:'è to '2!lgl30è, und fro1l J.~7ô to 1-178 he traded in Lynn but di d r.ot pay CUS:Ol1S -t here. =-n l~ 7e ( he also was bJsj as an envoy of the Po~ish King, carrying a warnlPg te t~e Ving of 3cotl~Gd ~~3t unless tne hara3STent of 'less'el s :ro1l Danzig by 3co:. tl S~ pi:'3 ~ es was re"'-,edi e:, re;::-ri s31s COUl'd De expec t e d • 63 ~o m'aintain nis '2r:.glis'l tradi;-:,; cor.nections, Kossel~I' went "ta considera~le risk B',è eXDer:.::;e in subsequent years. In Ju~y 14'32 ne was beint.; SCUb~lt :')c;t '::;Y' a Jun-:':ee sl:.ipDer, !;ichol:ls .?Jeiser. Kosseler aCiJo.rer,'_Jy ;18d o:::.~ered :?leiser ":::41J ta 8.ITo.L[~C for the ré~ èJ3C- 0: :o~r ir:1 pr:.30LE:G Ene:: iS'~I'T1en, Dr:d ~~~,;·::~t€è tr:at it v:a3 up "':.0 '1 ?leiser to deal wi th 1~os3c2lr or h:s Ceods '\,[-;.=,n and \V'Jc'reveY' he could, 'but f]':;': in Danzi,::;. :Sven:~;Q11.y he 8id catch u") w:th Kosse::er's captair" Martir, ;:ienf.Lr~:, at llelsi:-:cor, anè ~H'oubht hirn beforc the Janish 'Reic l JI'3t' ut ':::openhager;. r;ie:Jkir~:'s promise t,o pay PiC 140 f3i>~ to 33ti"':;:J i:.r,f:' plaintif"f, so a second :Janzicer corJsenteJ :0 ":F-P0S. t t'Je r.:aTJ(;y at :;,c l· J.:-'G€r- 92 meister's house in Helsingor, and Fleiser would haveJuntil the following Easter to co; lect i t. 64 The Dones again were at odd.s wi th England, and a few weeks after his initial appearance in Copenhügen, ~ienkirk was back in HelsinBor Dccused of tryinc to smuggle English merchants unù wares through the Sound. Whcn questi oned by Danish official::;, he declnY'cd that "cynen loszrran, eynen armen scamel s chi piIlo.n , eync hal·..;e los t pekes, eyne ki sir? mi t =lasle • 1 und twc hevekc deme loszrnan tobehorcnde" wcre nboard, but that otherwise he cnrried no English rnCrCflo.nts or l3oods. GEl However, the "armen scamel schipmnn" wns recocni zed OS Dn Englisn trader, and further inspection of the cnrl30 revealed three 'Stro' wax and variou::; other chests benrinc Peter Kosseler's mark on top, but that of L'nglishrnen on the ba t tom. It i S not di ffi cul t to imagine a rüther nervous ::':'enki rk prevaricatin8 before the 'Reichsrat 1 Eor a second time wi thin two months. 80th the ship and the cnrgo were impounded, and two ycars Iater Kosseler 6e still was trying ta get them back. In the meantime,Fleiser, the Scots'Ilan who deli vered Engl i shmen from capti vi ty for a fee, authorized twa of his col ~ eagues ta collect KO'sseler's 67 debt at Helsingor. Al ways one st ep nhcad of hi s credi tors and government authori ties, Peter Kosseler was still in business t'ive years later and exposed, LIS ever, to the dangers of oversea trade" In 1487 four ships from Ha~burg and Danzig were attacked, and their cD.I'c;oe~ taken to Frélnce by pirates. ~ax, a3hes, and herring wcrc nbonrd, but there wns also wool and cloth, indicating Umt the ships :DEly have called. at SJrne Eng1ish port prior to the irlC'idcnt. Tt was D. particularly brutol nttack, and the damor:€'ô :::;hips wcre lcft ta drift helplcs:;]y on \he open sea after \Jei ng pl undcr(:d. Thi rte(~n DElnzigerG besoupht the King of France to sei ze und ret urn the pi rnted rncrchand:' se. Among them was the pnrt-time envoJ of King Kûsi'llir Gnd occasion ally devious Eanscatic entrepreneur, Peter I<"osseler of Danzig. 68 ) ,. '. 93. Like his colleagues, who also had been victimized previously by the di spute wi th England, Peter Kosseler had rejoined the Hanseatic trade to England. Despi te noticeable adjustments ,in the redistribution of Engl ish woo] ens to i'oreign markets, the Hansards ;were not eliminated from the cloth tracle. They maintained a sub!Jtantial share in i t, even though the trace now was centred in London, where the Hansards had been the 0 bject of so "!luch resentment. In the east coast ports north of the Tha!TIes, the importation of Bal tic goods had resumed, and trade n ouri shed once again. Moreover, this trade waB reintroduced by TTJony of the same entrepreneurs who had participated before the war. Kosseler, Valand, ra asel and the others had not forfei ted thei r share in the trade to England or abandoned i t to the Hollanders or Hanseati c neWCO'1lers. '!'hough certain) y not unaffect ed, the Hanseatic trade to England hDd weathered the rnost serious disruption of Anglo-Hanseatic rel ations during the :fifteenth century. 'Ni thin the Hanse, however, the restoration of poli tical cohesion would prove not so easy. lt ,. ( 1 c r REFERENCES CHAPI'ER IiI, , l ~ . ) J • M. ;1,appe\nberg, op. ci t., p. 138; CPR. 1467-1477 p. 494. -----r- 2 CPR. 1467-1477 p.445; HUE. X no. 257, 368-:69; HR. (2) VII no. 211,279-80. 3 J • M. Lappenberg, op. ci t., pp.. 141-45; also CLE. (L) Edward IV - Henry Vlr pp. 127~9; ~PR. 14:66-1~ 77 p. 509; Rot. ParI. VI p. 123-24. 4 / J • M. Lappenberg, op. ci t., pp. 209-1? j CPR. 1466-1477 pp. 51?,540. E. ,VI. Carus-Wil son, "':'he tfJedieval Trade of the Port s of the Yiash", Medieval Archaeology, VI-VII (l'?i)2) p. 1913. The physi cal characteristi cs a:' the London 3teelyard are docu:I!ented in ~. 0. :Verner, "Der Stalhof der deutseher. !-:a:1se' in London in wi rtsehaÎts-ur.è i-:uns thistari schen 3ildwerken", Seri pta Mercaturae, :::I (1073) p. 1 27 fi'. 6 D. Purcell, "Der hansische Steelyard Lyr::-:, Norfolk", Hanse in Lura 12.- 17. C"ahrh.undert. K~1n, 7 !{1}3. X no. 477. "'his 1et:er also describes the Har.s€at:'~ hOllse nt Boston as quite o-:'d, and cansist1ng oi' ten hauses with seven chimneys. 8 :!J. Purcell, op. cit •• p. 11J, and '.'l.A. Pantin, I·~r.. e Mere hants' Houses and '.','areho uses of King' s Lyr.n", Medi eva~ Archaeolog,y, VI-VII (1062) p. 179. 9 H. Sameonawicz, l'ntersuci'Ju:lr;en über da's Ilanziger BUr erkn i tt:ll in der zwci ten H!:1lfte des 15. Jahrhunderts. 1 Abhandl uneen zur HandE.'l :--und Sozia l [ESC hi cht e 'IITI "lei mar\ 1969) pp. 45-46. Most of DaTlzll3's ships were owneè jointly by a3soci3tions of up to tw(:lve pnrtners. 10 Li belle of Engl'ystle pOl,ycye. cd. G. 'tlarner (London, 1~35) p;;. 1~-1:. . ... m ~ / ../ " . .. 95 / ~ 11 'V/. Stark, oQ'~ . ci t. , pp. 87-93 ; H. Sp.'tls"pnowi c z, 012· ci t., /( p. 35. )\\ 1" 1 12 \; W. Stark, 0Q. ci t., pp. 88-94. ft 13 Ibi d., pp. 99~1 05. .. ,.- 14 Ibid., pp. 06-98. l" 15. \11 ',I{. Millack, tlDanzigs Handelsbeziehungen zu England", J Danzi s Handel in Ver "n enhei t und Ge enwart. ed. H. Bauer and W. MilJ.ack (Danzig 1925 p. 81; E.M. Carus-','/i1son, ";'he Oversea Trade of late medieval 8over,try", fcono~ies et Soci étés au Mo~en Age. Mélanges o:'ferts a f,jouard Perry (Paris, 1973) '. p. 37 • l ". 16 W. Stark, op. cit., pp. 113-14.. J , 17 Ibid., pp. 118-21. , ( 18 Ibid., pp. 124-26. 19 Ibid.; pp. 137-10; H. Sa':lso~o'Nicz, 0 cit., pp. 26-37. See a1so F. Irsigler, "Eansischer l"upi'erhanèe im 15~ und in der ersten Hl:l.lfte des 16. Jahrhunderts", PGb1:'., XCVII on??) pp. 15-35. ~ O. Lienau, op. ci t., p. 72, ar.à '::. Stieda, "3chi:'~ahrts regi s ter" 1 E'Jbl1., 1834 (1885) pp. 77-1:!. 5. 21 0. Lienau, op. cit., PI->- ?4-~.~,; ? Hir1sch, op. cit., pp. 2033-64; E. Daene11, ""he Policy 0:' t~c -::'2r'Tlarl J!anseatic League", op. c::.t., pp. 50-51; H. :I;inter, Das l1anseschiff i~ aüsgehenden 15. ";nhrht.:ndert. (Rostock, :;. 91=':1) pp. 1 ... 33. 22 ~. 3a~sonowicz, op. clt., ~p. ~3-34, ~~-4~, and M. Biskup, "Di e rol ni Gch-preus si scr,~:l :~Bndelsl;;ezi ehungcn in der ers-:en Hglftc des }[",. J8hrr'L.:.r:dlrtc", !lansische Studien. ed. G. Heitz and :1.. VnGer (Eer1in, 10Gl) pp. 1-6. ( 23 E. Power, "The En(l i sr. ·'lao:!. Tr~;je i 1': the reign of f'!t. ~ ___ _ ------~"-- ,. If ., . r. , 96 " of Edward IV", Cambridge Historieal Journal, II (926) pp. - 17-35; E.M. Carus-Wilson, Englandls Export ~rade 1275-1547. (Oxford, 1963) pp. 12-13. ~ 24 S. Samsonowicz, op. cit., pp. 33-34. 25 w. Stark, op. cit., pp. 41-43. 25 E.M. Carus-Wilson, England's Export Trade 1275-1547. pp. 14-15. i· 27 Ibid. 28 /' , E.M. Carus-WU son, t'The Oversea Trade of' late medieval Coventry", op. ci t., pp. 371-76. However, 'N. 1. Haward dismisses Doston's role in the cloth traèe, c1ai;ning t.hE: port was not a natural outlet for Eng1ish woolens, "The Trade of Boston in the 15th Century", Lincal nshi re Archi tE ct urel aLd Archaeologi cal Society Reports and Papers, XLI (193f) pp. lê9-7~. ( . F. Hirsch, op. ciL, pp. 2bl-;:)3. 30 -. H.L. ~ray, "Eng1ish ?oreign rT'Irade .:~ro':l 14~2 to 14S2", Studies in En"'1 iah '!'rade in the 7ifteenth Centur . ed. E. Power and M.IIJ. Postan London, 1933 pp. 7-} 2. 31 Ibid. and E.M. Carus-Wil son, E:1g1 ard 1 s Export Trade 1275io.1547. , 32 H.L. Gray, op. cit., pp" 24-2'7. 33 1 E. M. Carus-':,'i1 80:1, Entc:;lsTJd 1::; EXJort ~raèe 12'75-1547. and H.L. :Jruy, op. cit. ~he stotis:ica::" ar.ai;ys1s whieh fo11ows is based or. t~bles of enrolled CUGto~s found i~ :bese two publi cati. ons. The figures are not represen: a ti. ve of cal ender years but rather of Exchequer years runniIlg f:--om f,iichae1'Ilas to Michaellles CSeptember 29). 34 !Î ':'he ta bl es for enroll ed custo;"s aCCO'JIl:S -;. ndt c~ te t !lat during 14.74-75, 349 c10ths were sent abroad :'ro'Il !pswich. 'T'he receipt of the custorns conecters in the por:: indicates that o~ly sever:. Hnnseatic llcrc~ants weI~ in volve j, and hence were exe!llpted from custOI'!1S cltarges. teB. X r:o. 432. ", 97 35 1..., 1 / ( c G. V. Sca'llmel, "Engl ish Merchant Shi pping et the end of the Middl e Ages: So;ne East CQast Evidence", EcHR., 2~d series XIII (l96~) pp. 328-31. 36 Ibid. Also H. Clarke, "Kine's Lynn "and east Coast trade in the Middle Ages", Medieval Archaeolof.,Yo ed. D.J. Blackman (London, 1973) pp. 277-90; P. Heath, "North Sea ?ishing in the Fifteenth Cent ury: the Scarborough Fl€:'et", Northern History, III (1968) pp. 53-69; }T.J.M. Kerling, op. cit., ,p. 122; and D. Burwash, Eng1ish Merchant Shi poing 1,~60-154J. (':'oron~o, 1947) pp. 151-58. 37 The tables of envolled customs printed in Studies in En lish Trade in'the Fifteenth 8entur • ed. Eo Power and M.M. Postao London, 1933 also show the value of goods paying the pet~ custom. The foJ10wing statistics are taken from these c'hàrts. 38 N.J.M. Kerling, op. cit., pp. 222. 39 '.'1. Childs, flEngland's Iron '!'rade in the Fifteenth Century", EcHR., 2nd series XXXIV (109-1) pp. 25-47; PRO. ( E 122 62/4, 62/5, 62/6, -:)2/70 Et.12. IX no! 482. Severs1 ';lore Coloe~ers nor'Il.:3lly resident-rn-London alreaèy r.ad departed Eneland temporarily in order to attend the 'Aachener ~eiltu'Ilsfehrt'. 41 HUE. IX no. ~7(). 42 Hœ. IX no. 541 #9. 7 v 43 ,A3Q #3 r: ,'') 15 0 °4 "B, X no. -1 ~ , ,), l ~, " 10~"c .... c.." ~ , '- • 1 4~ HUS. IX no. 39; FRO. E l?~ f2/7, 97/7. ~he particu1ars of custorns for Lynn 1166-67 are printed in !T .S.B. Gras, op. ci t., pp. 607-24. Burin~ also had shipped os~und to Lynn in the previou3 yeor, and wos invo] ved i Ti the trade at Ipswi. ch. PRO. E 122 ~2/17, ;)2/48, 97/4. His'cloi11 f'or comper.sation fO,r merchandise 10st in Encland in 14'<)c] exceeded "-:24"';. IJ.side :!'ro'll the eest COl8st ports he a1so list'~d the 'T18nufact'.Jring C€iltres of t\orwi ch, St ratford, and Cc 1 chester ns pl aces W\lcre riE was deprived of [joods or pay~ents owed to him. He wes exerop~ed from payinf customs at Lynn, 1475-76. m"B. 'X no. 43R. 0, r~ r 98 45 ( HR. (2) VI no. 642, 543 ; 'VII no.' 17, 34 1;8 and 114, 250. 46 HUB. IX no. 541 #4; X no. 221. 47 !!illh X no. 983. 48 HUB. no. 438, 1250; XI no. 427, 529, 840, ô69~ 671; 754; HR. ~VII no. 311; (3) l no. 255. 49 , HUB. IX no. 541 #5. Tack was not repaid immediately, however, for in October 14.75 the Hanserds in London reported that the Coîogners were still in Eng1and and that the King had not yet gi ven back the .t484. HR. (2) VII no. 311. 50 -HUE. X no. 438 #3. 51 HUB. IX no. 519, 523 #1. ,\ 52 'HUE. IX no, 638 #15. 53 PRO. E 122 97/4. .' 54 HUE. X no. 599. 55 HUB. X no. 438. 56 Hl~. no. 477 ~56-58; 57 HR. (2) VI no. 314, 529, 539. 58 PRO. E 122 '32/7 j 111JB. IX no. 541. 59 HUB. X no. 438. 60 HUB. X no. 1000. t 51 HUE. IX no. 303, 539. L , , . 99 62 ( !:llm.:.. IX no ... 541 #9,10. \ 63 HUE. X no. 438 #14,22, 482; HR. (2) VIT no. 311. 64 HUE. X no. 985. 65 HUB. X no. 1003. 56 • HUB. X no. 997, 1003, 1036. Also "Caspe'r Weinreichs F Danziger'C'Fi"roni k" , op. cit., p.745j HR. (3) l no •. 547 #38, 55€) #20. 67 HUB. X no •. 1047 •. 68 ~XI no. 153. .-- ~ 1 1. li!1 t ! 1 ~ .: d ~ . ~. 1.: bit dU et le 4"_h~L ..._.~ " dt '------ • ~ A Bruges: The Town Hall 1376-1420. 1 t.' ~. CONCLUSION t ~~ .( ,,'.... 1 • There were other developments aside from the peace aeree ' .. ment at Utrecht which obvious1y helped facilitate the full resurnption of trade in northern Europe in the ~id-1470ts. Cordial relations between the Hanse and France a1so were re-established. Moreover, the grand schemes of the Ang1o Bur~dian a11iance never ca~e to fruition. Charles the Bold was slain at Nancy in 1477, and by 1482 the cloth manufacturing towns of Picardy were subject• to French rul e. '/li th French and English privateers less active in the Channel, the Hangard~ were able to reintroduce their trade in England prornptly. Their ships were attacked by English pirates frorn time to time, but incidents were infrequent.l The Hansards resurned ship~ents to England's east coast P9rts, even though the woolen trade now was centred firmly in London. For cloth export the short Channel crossing to the ( continent had assurned a greater i:nportance during the war yeers,' and such c10th as now reached the Baltie arrived in the ships o~ Hol1and or the Hanse, or came overland via the Lowlands and . . Lübeck. Again direct English trade to the Bal tic 'Nas restricted. In the first two years fo1lowing the war, only nine English ships ca~e to Danzig. Twelve more arrived in 1476, but four of them brought no cargo. 2 .1 The Hansards indeed had preserved their ancient liberties .' and had returned to reassume their integral place in both London's cloth trade and the local eeonomies. o~ the eoastal ci:ies. The war had mueh broader i~pllc8tions, o~ course, aJthouph ~odern English seholarship has devoteè seant attention ta the actual conflict, eoncentratinr- instead on related politic~l developrnents vnthin England and the Burfundian terri tories and relying, perhaps, on Professor Carus-~ilson's sUfgestion so~e years aga that the e;:1~p8if:n i tself VIas a "half-hearted" exercise. 3 In a more recent co~mentary on the keeping of the seas in the fifteenth centurY,C.F. Richmond coneurs, reasoning that prior .. to 1472 the Engl~sh were too p[eoecupied with domestic po1itical 'L r 1~2 4 intrigue to carry the war to the Hansards. In a somewhat si~lar vein, German scholars have, until quite recently, consistently emphasized whet they viewed as a unifying, and hence positive, effect o~ the war on the Hanseetic confederation. This interpretation was pioneered by 'Val ther Stein at the turn of the century. It was .. shared by his contemporary, Friedrich Schulz, and since then hAS attrected .. a nu~ber of edherents, including England's Michael Postan and the French historian of the Hanse, Philippe Dollinger. They aIl conclude, to a greate~ or lesser defree, that the quarrel strengthened Hanseatic resolve, resultinf in an aggreRsive and united camp~ign ageinst the English enemy.5 In view of the lengthy history o~ mariti~e violence prior to 1468, and the serious flaws in Hanseatic unit y which Anglo Hanseatic disputes already had revealed, a re-exemination o~ these interpretative issues is appropriate. There seems little doubt that the King of England acquiesced t.o the will of the rJevi 1le faction and the London merchant co~unity in 14~8. Yet it ~ust have been apparent at the ti~e , to aIl concerned that, given the record of piracy in peaceti~e, the verdict of the Co~ncil was- bound to provoke so~e sort of naval confrontation wi th the }-1anse. :!'he sDecial treatment accorded th~ merchants of Cologne v~rtually guaranteed it. However, insofar as Warwick a:;d his associates were concerned, it ls unlikely that there ever was r;>ny intention o~ challenging the Hanse in an alI-oct sea-w,ar. i\ather, the ~G:mci} • s verd i ct was intended to tri~rer n series o! essentipl1y predictahle punitive actions, which in t:Jrn would creste a state of nr''3rchy on the high seAS and destabilize thé ~eal~'s Doliticol re1ations with the northerr. continental powers. ~or the netivo ~prch9nts and influential royal advisors eng3sed in aversea trade t~e situation presented a lang-coveted ap?ortunity to curtni1 the activity of their principal business rivaIs and, if the ~3nserds felt oblif,ed to resist, en[aee in their favorite part-ti~e vocation of piracy. ! .' lQ3 The campaign of 1470 reflects Warwick's in\ent. The Neville faction held sway in ~ngland, and did not lack the resources for a major confrontation wi th the Har.snrds, yet none materialized. It 3ufficed thAt the se81anes \Vere disrupted and that the insecure ~onarehy co~ld not contemplate an o alliance with Burgundy. ~he native ~erchant co~munity; despite the lasses i t suf::'ered dûrinrr, 1470, seerned content enough to have the Ger~8ns out of Eng1nnd. But in the year following his return fro~ exile4 Edward IV was able to consolidate power within the Realm, and alter dramatically eovern~ent Doliey to~ard the Hanse. The King no loneer was entirely susceptible to the whims of baronial factions; and there was a conscious effort ta ~rinr the confl ict with the Hanse to a decisive conclusion. First, Howard's fleet drove the Hanseatic pirates fro~ the Flemish coast and eased the pressure on English ~ariti~e co~~erce. ~he English victory a1so caused so~e of the less militar.t elements within the Hanse ( ta become even more a~enable ta a peaceful sett1e~ent. Yet, although it strengthened England's bargaining Dosition, Howard's success was by no ~eDns decisive. Hanseatic privateers continued tO,operate with or withoüt t~e expressed consent o~ their ho~e ports, and so long as there was no 9~reeTent between Englend and the Hanse to end the piracy, harassment of En?~ish shi8Ding could go on al~ost indefinitely. j\';oreover, et ''/estr:Jinster, 7rance agein wes perceived as En~lend'3 rE81 ene~y, not the German Hanse. The Anf10-BurrJn~i8;' a:liô;.cc he: rce~erred as the overridinf priority of the Enflish ~overn~ent. Hence, aa Rjch~on~ has surgested, there was really no sustained 3tte~pt to CnfD[e the HanS2r~G at ~ea until 1472. On the other hand, Howard's efforts Bnd the subsequent négot lations at Vtrecht were anythinf but h81f-hearted. ~hey re~lected an eornest attempt to end the con::'lict cuickly and by whatever ~eans possible, either ~ilitarily or through negotiation. Professor Postan's conclusion that the Eanse's quarrel ~/~ r 104 wi th England was lia joint concern of aIl the Henseetic towns from ~\restphalia ta Livonia,,6 18 essentially a reiteretion of an int erpretation which has been part of Hanseati c historiofraohy sinee the early decades of this century. ~he sUDposition, however, i8 not confirmed by the evidence. By 1462 the major Ger~nn traèinG centres east 0: Danzig already had demonstrntcd their independence with Drotectionist legislation ref,arding foreiFn cont9ct with the Livonian hinter land. The important Hanseatic cities o~ Ri~a Bnd Reval were involved only nominalJy in direct trade with En~18nd, Dnd were largely una~:ected by the 3rrests there. Though reQuested by by Danzic to do sa, there is no indication that they sent any ships to fight the English, and their reDresentation at Dtrecht was negligible. 7 The Wendish sector's initial reluctance ta resort to military means stemmed in part fro~ the nature of its trade with England. LUbeckers were icnportant lliddlernen in the Icelandic fishing industry for which Encland rellained a key market, and in the distribution of EnG~ish c10tb ta the easter~ BalUe. A conf)ict w't!ich ,1eoprlrdizeè :'1e. -I:rD:fic in Enflis'l woolens necessarily woul d C3\1Se consiêernbl e anxi et y, in the Wendish cOôllunity, esrecially in view 0: t~e state of affairs which hod developcd in the early 11.'if) , s whcn Ulbeek' hod chaJ.len&"ed the Eng1ish openly. '.'/hen the new crisis arase, L!:heck :"r871 the :)\J+sdt nreferreè to nepoti~tE A resu~ption of ~r8je wit~~ut invEstlnr in another costly n3val strufflc. On the other hond, the Lübeck Datriciate must have rcnlized t~Dt unlos" they were rrennr0G ta 8bdicate their pretentionA to leadershiD 0: the Hansentic cO~Tunity, a resolute reSDonse ta the En~lish ~onnrch wnn 0ssentinl. It was difficult, indeeè, to co'oprollisp the clty'o own ecanoTlc interests by invokin~ ret~Jiatory lle~surcs n~einst D principal supplier of 1"3 cO'Tlllodi ty so :TTlDortpnt to J)lbeci:'s cOl'l1ercial prosperity. ~he conserv3tive, indpClsive ~iplo~3ti~ course, which the city did adopt,not ooly ~ailed to i~press the BS \ 105 yet unstable English govern~ent, but a1so drew contemptuous criticism fro~ the city's strong-wi11ed detractors within the Hanse. 8 The expanding North Sea ports oi' Brernen and Ha:rlburr carri ed the war ta the English wi th bel ligerent ·entl1usiasm. Bremen' s pirate fleets already wer-e notorious :or their indiscri~inate provocations. ~hnt they werc eo0cr to tnke on the Lng1ish 1s not surpri:3ÏD[',. Hamburp's proxlfJ]ity to the crowded ~orth ~e8 t trading routes olso rendered excellent the nrospects ~or 8 profitoble privatccrinc CD~pAipn. ~he city's ~erch8nts were active in Enflé:lIld [lnt.1 ~~tood to C::ifl ::urther i f ~n ndv9ntFlgeous o settl ernent eoul d be ilTJpOscd on the I::nfl i sh coverr.llent." Most severely a:rc~ted ~y thn nrrpsts ir En[land were tl1e rnerchants of "Janzi t. Howcvpr, unli kl? thei r coll eapues :rom Lübeck, whose prosneri ty rlepor:drd Si{'TI1:'i cantl y on t'Je supDl.y of finished textiles for redIstrljution, tho D3nZ]~ers sold commoè.i ties for whi ch thore vms ~1 C'onst'1!lt de'Dand. Even:i f ( they were 8uni shed "rom wF13nd, t ~(:,Y cou] d di.:; ;103 e eosily of their Pr'J3sÏ!=lD timber, Iron, l'md pT9in in the I0wlsnds and elsewhcre. Sa, sUDfortcn ':>.v the nC:f'l~ourir;f ci+>ies 0: Elbing and, ':'horn, the DGnZIpCrs :O\lt'lt resol 'J.tely ta reC01J;"i lasses and avenge the indi~nity 0: tbe 'verjict'. If Eansentic privateers could force ~nrlAnd to ner~tiate a renee, ~Qnzie eould we11 eY~ect to reC0ver the lucr3tive Enrlisl1 market for Baltie products, and still black o~y rccinroeol nrivi1eres for . . 10 Engl i 3 h r1 e rc h ') n t s t r Cl d in ï Ir. l'ru S S l [' • FinnJly, as ~ar ~s the ~iJit3ry asp~cts o~ ~he WBr ore concerned, DorticiD~tlOr. o~ the ~est~~alion clties, ffiAny of fi whieh h8d close tradinrr lJnl:s with Solorne, did flot extend beyond inter'Dittent finDne~Al surport for the sen wqr. If there WOG 1ittlo unrll'";irr.H.y witl1in the E{HlSe reP'Drding the use of force Dfsinst Enïl~nd, its 13ek W~R cYe~plified still further 8y the :Dilurc of the other stémèélrd Hanse ..~tic weapon, the boyeot t of EnL';l i sh vmres. Dort'fJunt.1 resi st eè i t outright, and there were wiè.espreaè accusations o~ violations 106 of the self-i'1lposed restrictions from ',Vestphalia to Danzig. Already by 1471 English cloth was fin jing its way to Nürnberg, 11 Breslau, and the eastern regions of the Hanse. This range of rcoponses) therefore, does not verify the heretofore widely accented view that by the sprint of 1469 the Hanse W8Ej "bis auf KtHn wieder einie". Nor does i t substBntiat~Professor Postpn's si~il3r clni~ that Solo8ne's defection and the subsequent controversy "rostored cohesion and unit y among the Hsnse's other parts".12 Actually nothing of this sort occurred. '.:'he :nerchants of COlOEfle had D-.:en aIL tao easily 'bought t off' by the Enr-1 i sh ["overnment. Yet, R 1 t hou,~h ~o 1 o,P'ne ' s decision WDS in itsel~ D b10w to Hansestic unit y, it did in fact B:ford Dn oDDort\Jn1 ty for the rest of the '}errnan tr3ding cO'TITIlunity to consolidatt' in tlJe f::Jce of EnF"ll"'nè's ch~11enF!e. The subsequent course of events ~erely exeTDlj~ted it~ insbility .ta do so. Apreement on 'Hnnseatlc' Do1ic,Y towBrd ':"'Tlf13nd was rendered l~cossible by civic pArticu18ris~, Dnd there could be no unified effort ta ~ven~c the trent~ont rncted out to Hensards by the Kinr's Council and rC3ccuire ancicnt prlvileres in Englend. Excer:t for L~bec \{ 1 s èi 28st raDS Ti~rti ct pot i or; in 1472, the seo-weI' was fou~ht by ~rivateers ~ro~ ~gn7if And the r~orth Sen ports, ns ']111c;l-J irltcnt on fl:-,ofi ti n" :rorr corernercial violence 8S T\:-estBhlishinf, the Prlnsentic trade with ~nrrlanè. Other H8nseotic towns wntched froT D dist9nce ~nd hclned underrnine the cffectiveness of t~e boycott. ','illen the war ended, the intJ:rmll divisions rwd becorne deeper, and the Hanse w~s powerl~3s to hp81 them. ~he independ ent :9Dnzi r:ers, for eX8m.pl p, conti nued ta i nhi bit English trDde in thp BDltic, Bnd refused ta r8ti~y the Utrecht agree~ent until 1476.1~ And whot of the contumacious'~alogners, whose defection was the most blntant ~onifestntion a~ p~rtic ularism and therefore of utmost importance ta the ~9nse? Despi te a11 the cOllrrünatory rr 1 €toric at TJtrecht, their Dunishn:ent WDS li[ht. Though disp1accd from their London enclave te~Dararily, L 107 they remained in England and were 'readrnitted to the Hanse ( within two years of the warls end.14 They again becarne part of a German Hanse where civic p,artieularisrn was no less evident than it had been throughout the preeeding dccades, and where attitudes were as diverse 8S ever. ~he verdict o~ the Counei1 and Coloene's abandon'llent of her Ger1lan colleepues haè preeipi tated yet another crisis within the Hanse, pushing it reluetar.tly into a war wi th England and, ul tirnately, one step further toward i ts final disintegration. f ( '- L r REFERENCES CONCLUSION \ 1 \, CPR. 1467-1477 p. 605; CPR. 1476-1485 pp. 23, 49. 2 V. Lauffer, op. cit., pp. 8-22; w~ Stieda, op. cit., pp. 85-88. 3 E.M. Carus-~Vilson, "The Iceland Trade", op. ci t., p. 180. However, the conflict has been ter'!led a "savage" sea sea war in a recent study ~y K.A. ?owler, 00. cit. 4 C.F. Richnond, Royal Administration. pp. 335-45. .. 5 .1 See W. Stein, "Die Hanse und England: Ein hansisch eng1ischer Seekrieg t'TI 15. Jélhrhur.dert" , op. cit., p. 29; F. SChulz, op. ci t., p. 113; M.M. Postan, op •.ci t., p. } 34; P. Do11inger, op. ci t., pp. 305-~ 0; and '.~'. Stark 1 s part laI reassess~ent o~ the Hanse8tic victory, 00. cit., pp. 182-211. 6 . M• M • Po s tan, aD • ci t., p. 134. 7 HR. (2) VI no. 435. 8 See W. Stark, aD. cit., p. 201; and in particular HR. ( 2) VI no. 283. 9 J. Müller, op. cit., p. 49, --.,HR. (2) VI no. 434, 467, 524, 526 and VII no. 34 #141,143. 10 More than h~.üf the Eansards who c1ai!IJed speci:'ic da!!lages as a resul t of the arrests in 1468 \Vere Danzigers. HUB. XI no. 541. For the Danzig counci] 's continued deter'TIination ta resist Eng1i sh intrusi on i nto the Bal tic, see HF. (2) 'fIr no. 44, 63, 131-133. I1HR • (2) VI no. 35~ #62,73, 118, 472, 483 ~l, 485 #1. 12 . F. Sc h u 1 z , 0 D • ci t., p. 11 8 ; M• M. Po s tan, 00. ci t. , p. 134. 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