The Hanseatic League (; , , ; ; ; ; ) was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwestern and Central Europe. Growing from a few North German towns in the late 1100s, the league came to dominate Baltic maritime trade for three centuries along the coasts of Northern Europe. Hansa territories stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages, and diminished slowly after 1450. Merchant circles established the league to protect the guilds' economic interests and diplomatic privileges in their affiliated cities and countries, as well as along the trade routes which the merchants used.
Introduction
Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League | Introduction
It was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwestern and Central Europe. It was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwestern and Central Europe. The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwestern and Central Europe. The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwestern and Central Europe.
what does the red on the german flag represent
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Red and white were also colours of the Hanseatic League (13th–17th century). Hanseatic trading ships were identifiable by their red-white pennants, and most Hanseatic cities adopted red and white as their city colours (see Hanseatic flags)
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when was it accepted as the national flag?
user
1848
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what are napoleonic wars?
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The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I.
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what is the league mentioned above?
user
The Hanseatic League was a trading alliance in northern Europe in existence between the 13th and 17th centuries. Hanseatic may also refer to:
Hanseatic (disambiguation) | Introduction
In the spring of 1805 he was appointed French Consul to the free city of Hamburg, the leading city of the Hanseatic League. He was supposed to enforce the measures for the commercial war against England, known as the Continental System, but was convinced that cutting off trade hurt Europe more than Britain. His unanswered letters did not persuade the Emperor Napoleon to change his policy. In the early spring of 1807, when directed to provide a large number of military cloaks for the army in East Prussia, he procured them secretly and expeditiously from England. He was recalled to France in 1810 when, to his regret, the Hanseatic towns were incorporated into the Empire.
Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne | The Hanseatic League
In 1686 the League of Augsburg was formed by the emperor and the imperial princes, to preserve the terms of the treaties of Westphalia and of Nijmegen. The whole European position was now bound up with events in England, and the tension lasted until 1688, when William III of Orange won the English crown through the Glorious Revolution and Louis invaded Germany. In May 1689, the Grand Alliance was formed, including the emperor, the kings of England, Spain and Denmark, the elector of Brandenburg and others, and a fierce struggle against France was waged throughout almost the whole of western Europe.
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor | Wars against France
The League took advantage of the Prussian expansion and the 1804 collapse of Austria to take back many Italian territories from other European powers. Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III in our time line) was elected president of the Republique of France in 1866, not 1848 as in our timeline.
Dystopian Wars | Background
He aspired to forge it into a kingdom of his own between France and Germany, stretching between the North Sea on the north and the Jura Mountains on the south; and from the Somme River on the west to the Moselle River on the east. This kingdom would restore the ancient kingdom of Lotharingia—approximating the former domains of the Frankish Emperor Lothair I.
League of the Public Weal | Background
In the 12th century the Hanseatic League established itself as a commercial and defensive alliance of the merchant guilds of towns and cities in the empire and all over northern and central Europe. It dominated marine trade in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and along the connected navigable rivers. Each of the affiliated cities retained the legal system of its sovereign and, with the exception of the Free imperial cities, had only a limited degree of political autonomy. By the late 14th century the powerful league enforced its interests with military means, if necessary. This culminated in a war with the sovereign Kingdom of Denmark from 1361 to 1370.
Holy Roman Empire | Changes in political structure
He had made a fortune in Hamburg.
Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne | The Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League (; , , ; ; ; ; ) was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwestern and Central Europe. Growing from a few North German towns in the late 1100s, the league came to dominate Baltic maritime trade for three centuries along the coasts of Northern Europe. Hansa territories stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages, and diminished slowly after 1450. Merchant circles established the league to protect the guilds' economic interests and diplomatic privileges in their affiliated cities and countries, as well as along the trade routes which the merchants used.
Hanseatic League | Introduction
The names of the Quarters have been abbreviated in the following table: Kontor: The Kontore were foreign trading posts of the League, not cities that were Hanseatic members, and are set apart in a separate table below. The remaining column headings are as follows:
Hanseatic League | Lists of former Hansa cities
The Hanseatic cities had their own legal system and operated their own armies for mutual protection and aid. Despite this, the organization was not a state, nor could it be called a confederation of city-states; only a very small number of the cities within the league enjoyed autonomy and liberties comparable to those of a free imperial city.
Hanseatic League | Introduction
There were several wars of the Holy League in European history:
War of the Holy League | Introduction
In the wake of the Burgundian Wars, Basel became a full member of the Swiss Confederacy, while collaboration between the Swiss and the cities of Strasbourg, Colmar and Sélestat would not be resumed.
Lower League | Introduction
The League was later resurrected by Napoleon as the Confederation of the Rhine, which gave the final death-blow to the Holy Roman Empire.
League of the Rhine | Existence and legacy
The Peace of Prague largely ended conflict between members of the Holy Roman Empire, and the League was dissolved. However, fighting in Germany continued until 1648, much of it driven by foreign powers including France, Sweden, the Dutch Republic and Spain.
Heilbronn League | Introduction
The Three Leagues were normally allied with the Old Swiss Confederacy. Initially this was a response to the expansion of the Habsburgs. The Musso war against the Duchy of Milan in 1520 pushed the League closer to the Swiss Confederacy. The League would remain an associate to the Swiss until the Napoleonic Wars, when it was absorbed into the Helvetic Republic. After the Napoleonic Act of Mediation, the Three Leagues became the canton of Graubünden.
Grey League | Three Leagues
Although the Hanseatic League sympathized with the Prussian cities, the league backed the Teutonic Knights because the order granted them extra privileges. The Livonian Order had problems with Denmark and was unable to help the Teutonic Knights in Prussia. Because of conflict between Sweden and Denmark, both sides stayed more or less neutral in the upcoming conflict. France and England were too weakened after the Hundred Years' War, and England was also embroiled in civil war, the Wars of the Roses. The Duke of Burgundy, Flanders, and the Netherlands, Philip the Good, was more interested in creating an independent Kingdom of Burgundy.
Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) | International situation
From 1554, the division into "Drittel" was modified to reduce the circles' heterogeneity, to enhance the collaboration of the members on a local level and thus to make the league's decision-making process more efficient. The number of circles rose to four, so they were called "Quartiere" (quarters): This division was however not adopted by the "Kontore", who, for their purposes (like "Ältermänner" elections), grouped the league members in different ways (e.g., the division adopted by the Stahlhof in London in 1554 grouped the league members into "Dritteln", whereby Lübeck merchants represented the Wendish, Pomeranian Saxon and several Westphalian towns, Cologne merchants represented the Cleves, Mark, Berg and Dutch towns, while Danzig merchants represented the Prussian and Livonian towns).
Hanseatic League | Quarters
Francis I of France, in an effort to limit the power of the Habsburgs, allied with Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire, forming a Franco-Ottoman alliance. The Italian War of 1536–38 between France and the Holy Roman Empire ended in 1538 with the Truce of Nice.
Schmalkaldic League | Political environment
Initially this was a response to the expansion of the Habsburgs. The Musso war against the Duchy of Milan in 1520 pushed the League closer to the Swiss Confederacy. The League remained in association with the Swiss until the Napoleonic Wars, when it was absorbed into the Swiss Helvetic Republic founded in 1798. After the Napoleonic Act of Mediation in 1803, the Three Leagues became the canton of Graubünden. The League of God's House remained a distinct part of the political organization of the canton from 1803 until 1854.
League of God's House | Three Leagues
Principal city of the Hanseatic League remained Lübeck, where in 1356 the first general diet was held and its official structure was announced. The league declined after 1450 due to a number of factors, such as the 15th-century crisis, the territorial lords' shifting policies towards greater commercial control, the silver crisis and marginalization in the wider Eurasian trade network, among others.
History of Germany | Hanseatic League
The Three Leagues were normally allied with the Old Swiss Confederacy. Initially this was a response to the expansion of the Habsburgs. The Musso war against the Duchy of Milan in 1520 pushed the League closer to the Swiss Confederacy. The League would remain an associate to the Swiss until the Napoleonic Wars, when it was absorbed into the Helvetic Republic. After the Napoleonic Act of Mediation, the Three Leagues became the canton of Graubünden.
League of the Ten Jurisdictions | Three Leagues
As a result of the Treaty of Pressburg, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved.
19th century | Napoleonic Wars
Some have expressed fears the New Hanseatic League could exacerbate existing north-south political divides in Europe by grouping northern European countries too closely. A more recent fiscally conservative group of EU nations exists in an informal setting, dubbed the Frugal Four. It consists of some of the New Hanseatic League member nations plus Austria.
New Hanseatic League | Introduction
The merchants from their respective "Drittel" would then each choose two "Ältermänner" and six members of the Eighteen Men's Council ("Achtzehnmännerrat") to administer the "Kontor" for a set period of time. In 1356, during a Hanseatic meeting in preparation of the first "Tagfahrt", the league confirmed this statute. The league in general gradually adopted and institutionalized the division into "Drittel" (see table).
Hanseatic League | Organization
The so-called "Continental System" formed a league of armed neutrality to disrupt the blockade and enforce free trade with France. The British responded by capturing the Danish fleet, breaking up the league, and later secured dominance over the seas, allowing it to freely continue its strategy. Napoleon won the War of the Third Coalition at Austerlitz, forcing the Austrian Empire out of the war and formally dissolving the Holy Roman Empire. Within months, Prussia declared war, triggering a War of the Fourth Coalition. This war ended disastrously for Prussia, defeated and occupied within 19 days of the beginning of the campaign.
Napoleonic Wars | Overview
The league had a fluid structure, but its members shared some characteristics; most of the Hansa cities either started as independent cities or gained independence through the collective bargaining power of the league, though such independence remained limited. The Hanseatic free cities owed allegiance directly to the Holy Roman Emperor, without any intermediate family tie of obligation to the local nobility. Another similarity involved the cities' strategic locations along trade routes. At the height of their power in the late-14th century, the merchants of the Hanseatic League succeeded in using their economic power and, sometimes, their military might—trade routes required protection and the league's ships sailed well-armed—to influence imperial policy.
Hanseatic League | Zenith
The Swabian League ("Schwäbischer Bund") was a mutual defence and peace keeping association of Imperial Estates – free Imperial cities, prelates, principalities and knights – principally in the territory of the early medieval stem duchy of Swabia established in 1488. The religious revolution of the Protestant Reformation divided its members, and the Swabian League disbanded in 1534.
Swabian League | Introduction
The Hanseatic cities each had its own legal system and a degree of political autonomy. The Hanseatic League was an alliance of North German and Baltic cities during the Middle Ages. The Hanseatic League was founded for the purpose of joining forces for promoting mercantile interests, defensive strength and political influence. By the 14th century, the Hanseatic League held a near-monopoly on trade in the Baltic, especially with Novgorod and Scandinavia.
Economic History of Europe (1000 AD — Present) | Hanseatic League
The Second French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.
List of Major League Baseball players from Europe | Second French Empire
The earliest extant documentary mention, although without a name, of a specific German commercial federation dates from 1157 in London. That year, the merchants of the Hansa in Cologne convinced King Henry II of England to exempt them from all tolls in London and allow them to trade at fairs throughout England. The "Queen of the Hansa", Lübeck, where traders were required to trans-ship goods between the North Sea and the Baltic, gained imperial privileges to become a free imperial city in 1226, as had Hamburg in 1189.
Hanseatic League | Foundation and formation
At the start of the 16th century, the league found itself in a weaker position than it had known for many years. The rising Swedish Empire had taken control of much of the Baltic Sea. Denmark had regained control over its own trade, the "Kontor" in Novgorod had closed, and the "Kontor" in Bruges had become effectively moribund. The individual cities making up the league had also started to put self-interest before their common Hanseatic interests. Finally, the political authority of the German princes had started to grow, constraining the independence of the merchants and Hanseatic towns. The league attempted to deal with some of these issues: it created the post of Syndic in 1556 and elected Heinrich Sudermann as a permanent official with legal training, who worked to protect and extend the diplomatic agreements of the member towns.
Hanseatic League | End of the Hansa
The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive alliance of the merchant guilds of towns and cities in northern and central Europe that dominated marine trade in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and along the connected navigable rivers during the Late Middle Ages ( 12th to 15th centuries ). Each of the affiliated cities retained the legal system of its sovereign and, with the exception of the Free imperial cities, had only a limited degree of political autonomy. Beginning with an agreement of the cities of Lübeck and Hamburg, guilds cooperated in order to strengthen and combine their economic assets, like securing trading routes and tax privileges, to control prices and better protect and market their local commodities.
History of Germany | Hanseatic League
The events to the League's creation and the 1683 Battle of Vienna are fictionalized in the film "".
Holy League (1684) | Introduction
In the Napoleonic Wars, an army corps under General Jourdan on a retreat overran the Franconian Switzerland. French military police rode through the villages and extorted protection money from the peasants – sometimes many times in quick succession.
Heiligenstadt in Oberfranken | Napoleonic Wars (1796)
Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, died in 1804, leading to a collapse of the French Empire into civil war. The Prussian Empire was strong enough at this point to launch an aggressive campaign of expansion, analogous to the Napoleonic Wars, that ended in defeat at the hands of the British Army at Waterloo in 1815. Despite this defeat, where the first landships (massive tanks) were used in battle, the Prussian Empire remained strong and forged a united Germany sooner than occurred in our timeline (including Austria). Italy, whilst not unified, is a similarly powerful League dominated by the 'Tetrarchy of Princes': the Doge of the Republic of Venice, and the Kings of the three Kingdoms, Sardinia, Lombardy and Sicily.
Dystopian Wars | Background
The League of the Ten Jurisdictions was the last of the Three Leagues founded during the Middle Ages in what is now Canton Graubünden of Switzerland. The League was created in the County of Toggenburg after the counts of Toggenburg died out. The League initially existed to resist the power of the House of Habsburg, and quickly allied with the Grey League and the League of God's House. In 1524 the three leagues joined together to become the Free State of the Three Leagues, which existed until the Napoleonic dissolution of the Free State.
League of the Ten Jurisdictions | Introduction
If consensus could not be established on a certain issue, it was found instead in the appointment of a number of league members who were then empowered to work out a compromise. The Hanseatic "Kontore", which operated like an early stock exchange, each had their own treasury, court and seal. Like the guilds, the "Kontore" were led by "Ältermänner" ("eldermen", or English aldermen). The Stalhof "Kontor", as a special case, had a Hanseatic and an English "Ältermann". In 1347 the "Kontor" of Brussels modified its statute to ensure an equal representation of the league's members. To that end, member communities from different regions were pooled into three circles ("Drittel" ("third [part]"): the Wendish and Saxon Drittel, the Westphalian and Prussian Drittel as well as the Gothlandian, Livonian and Swedish Drittel.
Hanseatic League | Organization
Because the Leagues were very decentralized, conflicts over religion and foreign policy broke out during the war (known as the "Bündner Wirren" or Confusion of the Leagues). Following the war the League took steps to strengthen itself. The Valtellina, which had broken from the Three Leagues, became a dependency once again after the Treaty and remained so until the founding of the Cisalpine Republic by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797.
Early Modern Switzerland | Treaty of Westphalia
Its intended aim was to weaken the position of the Holy Roman Emperor (then Leopold I) and to marginalise the Austrian House of Habsburg. Louis XIV had wished to be elected emperor himself, but had failed, despite the French victory at the Battle of the Dunes. The new confederation allied itself to France, swearing not to let any anti-French troops (marching to attack France in the Spanish Netherlands or elsewhere) pass through their territory, thus protecting France's eastern frontier with a "military border" running along the Rhine and cutting Austria off from the Spanish Netherlands. Sweden was guaranteed its German possessions in Bremen-Verden, and later also those in Swedish Pomerania.
League of the Rhine | Aims
After the Napoleonic Wars, a Concert of Europe was set up to create a forum for discussion rather than create shifting alliance patterns, which had a tendency to cause major wars. This was successful through most of the 19th century, until World War I collapsed the post-Napoleonic system amid increasingly acute nationalist tensions, which led to the formation of Germany and the collapse of the Austrian, Russian, and Ottoman empires.
Stately quadrille | Decline
The result of this clause was the end of the Catholic League, a now prohibited alliance between states of the Empire.
Catholic League (German) | Decline of importance and dissolution
In Northern Europe, the Hanseatic League was founded in the 12th century, with the foundation of the city of Lübeck in 1158–1159. Many northern cities of the Holy Roman Empire became Hanseatic cities, including Hamburg, Stettin, Bremen and Rostock. Hanseatic cities outside the Holy Roman Empire were, for instance, Bruges, London and the Polish city of Danzig (Gdańsk). In Bergen and Novgorod the league had factories and middlemen. In this period the Germans started colonizing Eastern Europe beyond the Empire, into Prussia and Silesia. The era of the Crusades brought large groups of Europeans into contact with the technologies and luxuries of Byzantium for the first time in many centuries.
Renaissance of the 12th century | Trade and commerce
After about 1471 the three separate Leagues were allied together as the Three Leagues. The "Bundesbrief" of September 23, 1524 created a constitution for the Three Leagues that would remain until the Napoleonic dissolution of the League. However the League was not a unified state in the modern sense. The Three Leagues worked together as a federation of three states and virtually all affairs of the League were settled by referendum. The Three Leagues were also unique in early modern Europe for practicing a form of communalism, in which each League was founded, governed and defended through collective decisions. The Three Leagues were normally allied with the Old Swiss Confederacy.
League of God's House | Three Leagues
During the late 16th century and early 17th century, the League fell apart, as it was unable to deal with its own internal struggles, the rise of Swedish, Dutch and English merchants, and the social and political changes that accompanied the Reformation. Although a tight-fisted monopoly, the League’s need for more cargo space led to new designs in shipbuilding, and its free association of about 160 towns and villages was a historically unique economic alliance that showed the benefits of well-regulated commerce.
Maritime history of Europe | The Hanseatic League
Important centers of commerce within the empire, such as Cologne on the Rhine river and Bremen on the North Sea joined the union, which resulted in greater diplomatic esteem. Recognized by the various regional princes for the great economic potential, favorable charters for, often exclusive, commercial operations were granted. During its zenith the alliance maintained trading posts and "kontors" in virtually all cities between London and Edinburgh in the west to Novgorod in the east and Bergen in Norway. By the late 14th century the powerful league enforced its interests with military means, if necessary. This culminated in a war with the sovereign Kingdom of Denmark from 1361 to 1370.
History of Germany | Hanseatic League
Over the period, a network of alliances grew to include a flexible roster of 70 to 170 cities. The league succeeded in establishing additional "Kontors" in Bruges (Flanders), Bergen (Norway), and London (England). These trading posts became significant enclaves. The London "Kontor", first alluded to by crusaders from Lübeck for whom the Kontor arranged the purchase of a replacement cog-ship in Summer 1189, formally established in 1320, stood west of London Bridge near Upper Thames Street, on the site now occupied by Cannon Street station. It grew into a significant walled community with its own warehouses, weighhouse, church, offices and houses, reflecting the importance and scale of trading activity on the premises.
Hanseatic League | Commercial expansion
In total, the party had obtained 27,881 votes (35.51% of the votes cast). Following the 1932 Landtag election, the party supported the NSDAP (Nazi party) in the assembly.
Hanseatic People's League | Introduction
The League of Torgau () was an alliance of Lutheran princes, including Philip of Hesse and John of Saxony, which was formed 27 February 1526 to oppose the terms set forth in the Edict of Worms. Because it had no substantial military, it was unable to achieve religious or political influence. In 1531, the Schmalkaldic League, a similar alliance that included an army of 10,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry, was formed. It lasted for sixteen years and was more successful in reaching its demands. The League of Torgau was set up soon after the 1526 Imperial Diet of Speyer.
League of Torgau | Introduction
The League of God's House (German: "Gotteshausbund", Italian: "Lega Caddea", ) was formed in what is now Switzerland on January 29, 1367 to resist the rising power of the Bishopric of Chur and the House of Habsburg. The League allied with the Grey League and the League of the Ten Jurisdictions in 1471 to form the Three Leagues. The League of God's House, together with the two other Leagues, was allied with the Old Swiss Confederacy throughout the 15th and 16th centuries. After the Napoleonic wars the League of God's House became a part of the Swiss canton of Graubünden.
League of God's House | Introduction
The game's theme centers around the Hanseatic League, a group of German cities that formed a trading area in the Middle Ages, and the merchants who traded among them. The object of the game is to have the largest number of victory points at game's end; these can be obtained through a variety of methods. Each player must strike a balance between attaining these points and enhancing their own ability to secure additional points at a later stage in the game.
Hansa Teutonica | Gameplay
The conduct of the Union in the Jülich dispute and the warlike operations of the Union army in Alsace seemed to make a battle between League and Union inevitable.
Catholic League (German) | War of the Jülich Succession
The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive alliance of the merchant guilds of towns and cities in northern and central Europe, that dominated marine trade in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and along the connected navigable rivers during the Late Middle Ages ( 12th to 15th centuries ). Each of the affiliated cities retained the legal system of its sovereign and, with the exception of the Free imperial cities, had only a limited degree of political autonomy. Beginning with an agreement of the cities of Lübeck and Hamburg, guilds cooperated in order to strengthen and combine their economic assets, like securing trading routes and tax privileges, to control prices and better protect and market their local commodities.
Economic history of Germany | Hanseatic League
In 1557 and 1579 revised agreements spelled out the duties of towns and some progress was made. The Bruges "Kontor" moved to Antwerp and the Hansa attempted to pioneer new routes. However the league proved unable to prevent the growing mercantile competition, and so a long decline commenced. The Antwerp "Kontor" closed in 1593, followed by the London "Kontor" in 1598. The Bergen "Kontor" continued until 1754; of all the "Kontore", only its buildings, the "Bryggen", survive. The gigantic warship "Adler von Lübeck" was constructed for military use against Sweden during the Northern Seven Years' War (1563–70) but was never put to military use, epitomizing the vain attempts of Lübeck to uphold its long-privileged commercial position in a changing economic and political climate.
Hanseatic League | End of the Hansa
After about 1471 the three separate Leagues were allied together as the Three Leagues. The "Bundesbrief" of September 23, 1524, created a constitution for the Three Leagues that would remain until the Napoleonic dissolution of the League. However the League was not a unified state in the modern sense. The Three Leagues worked together as a federation of three states and virtually all affairs of the League were settled by referendum. The Three Leagues were also unique in early modern Europe in that it was the only territory where all decisions were made by communalism, with the Leagues founded, governed and defended by cooperative decisions.
Grey League | Three Leagues
While the first two could shake off the rule of the Habsburgs as count of Tyrol, in 1618, Untercalven was separated from the League as the last part of the Vinschgau.
Three Leagues | League of God's House
Under the rule of the Emperor Charles IV (reigned 1355–1378), the lesser Swabian nobles began to combine against the cities, and formed the "Schleglerbund" (from "Schlegel", a maul). With civil war ensuing in 1367, the emperor, jealous of the growing power of the cities, endeavoured to set up a league under his own control for the maintenance of public peace ("Landfriedensbund", 1370).
Swabian League of Cities | Conflict and renewal
The three separate Leagues initially worked together informally, such as in 1450, in the "", a conflict with the house of Werdenberg-Sargans, during which the League of the Ten Jurisdictions allied with the League of God's House. Joint meetings of the three Leagues are evidenced from 1461; closer links date to 1471, when the two leagues allied with the Grey League, but there is no documentary proof of this date. In 1497 and 1498 the Leagues allied with the Old Swiss Confederacy after the Habsburgs acquired the possessions of the extinct Toggenburg dynasty in 1496, siding with the Confederacy in the Swabian War three years later.
Three Leagues | Union of the leagues
Advisors urged Ferdinand to take advantage of this and reverse the 1629 Edict, but he saw a chance to recoup his losses by military means and missed the opportunity. In March, Oxenstierna invited members of the Upper Rhenish, Lower Rhenish–Westphalian, Swabian and Franconian Circles to Heilbronn. Although efforts to recruit the Hansa cities failed, the League was formed on 27 April 1633.
Heilbronn League | Formation and objectives
Other knights continued their rampaging in the company of Thomas of Absberg, so that, even in 1527, various communities established mounted patrols in order to guard against the raids.
Franconian War | Destruction by the Swabian League in 1523
The Gauliga Westphalia was the highest football league in the Prussian province of Westphalia and the small Free State of Lippe from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the "Gaue" "Westphalia-North" and "Westphalia-South" replaced the Prussian province and the Free State.
Gauliga Westfalen | Introduction
Several leagues of cities (in German: "Städtebünde", singular "Städtebund") became influential in the history of the Holy Roman Empire. Military alliance and mutual assistance strengthened the position of imperial cities, especially during the interregnum period of the 13th to 14th century.
League of cities | Introduction
At the end of 1618, the position of the Emperor in Bohemia as in Lower and Upper Austria gradually became critical. Searching for help, the Emperor tried to restore the League. A meeting of several of the ecclesiastical Princes decided to reconstruct the League on its original basis. It would consist of two groups: the Rhenish district under the presidency of Mainz, and the Oberland district, presided by Bavaria; the treasury and the military command were to be considered separate. Maximilian could only lead the whole of the troops when he had to appear in the Rhenish district. On 31 May, the Oberland both groups were established and bound themselves to render mutual help for six years.
Catholic League (German) | Catholic League reestablished
The first Treaty of Prenzlau in 1448 set the border south of Pasewalk.
Duchy of Pomerania | War with Brandenburg and the Hanseatic League (1423–1448)
To make ships faster, more masts and sails were fitted. The Hanseatic League was an alliance of trading guilds that established and maintained a trade monopoly over the Baltic Sea and to a certain extent the North Sea in the Late Middle Ages, starting in the 13th century. Protection for the league was given in England in 1157. Warehouses belonging to the league were set up in eight English ports and one Scottish port. By the 16th century the league imploded and there was a rise of Dutch and English merchants.
Maritime history of England | Later Middle Ages
The Hansa-dominated maritime grain trade made Poland one of the main areas of its activity, helping Danzig to become the Hansa's largest city.
Hanseatic League | Rise of rival powers
The league declined after 1450.
Holy Roman Empire | Changes in political structure
On August 14, 1658, the League of the Rhine was formed by: The League fielded a force of 6000 to fight on the side of France and the Empire against the Ottomans, seeing action in the 1664 Battle of Saint Gotthard. The League was promulgated to last for three years, which was later twice extended. It officially ended in August 1667, but its end should in fact be dated to 1668 since French diplomacy succeeded in negotiating a further extension of the alliance as the Rheinbundrat, made up only of the main members of the League, which lasted to 1688.
League of the Rhine | Existence and legacy
This led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, which was divided between France and the newly-formed Austrian Empire, leading to the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine. The Confederation was dissolved following Napoleon's defeat at the hands of the Sixth Coalition, which included Austria. Fighting between the two Empires resumed during the Hundred Days, which saw the seventh and final coalition emerge victorious over the French and an end to the Coalition Wars
French–Habsburg rivalry | Coalition Wars
In Germany and Poland, new Napoleonic client states, such as the Kingdom of Westphalia, Duchy of Warsaw, and Republic of Danzig, were established.
Napoleonic Wars | War of the Fourth Coalition 1806–1807
The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive alliance of the merchant guilds of towns and cities in northern and central Europe that established and maintained a trade monopoly over the Baltic Sea and most of Northern Europe between the 13th and 17th centuries. Although trading alliances in the region were forming as early as 1157, the town of Lübeck did not form an alliance with Hamburg (which controlled access to salt routes from Lüneburg), until 1241. Trade was carried on chiefly by sea in order to escape tolls and political barriers, and at the end of the 15th century the Hanseatic League controlled some 60,000 tons of shipping.
Maritime history of Europe | The Hanseatic League
These are areas that begin as constituent regions of their respective powers, but can be separated to form a separate minor country upon the major country's conquest by the French player. This feature adds some historical accuracy because in the real Napoleonic Wars, France did form minor countries allied to it from these areas of Austria and Prussia. However, in reality, Saxony was not part of Prussia, but was only heavily influenced by it. Furthermore, the area detached by Napoleon to form the Duchy of Warsaw included areas of both Austria and Prussia, but this is not reflected in the game.
Age of Napoleon (board game) | The map
In Northern Europe, the Hanseatic League, a federation of free cities to advance trade by sea, was founded in the 12th century, with the foundation of the city of Lübeck, which would later dominate the League, in 1158–1159. Many northern cities of the Holy Roman Empire became hanseatic cities, including Amsterdam, Cologne, Bremen, Hanover and Berlin. Hanseatic cities outside the Holy Roman Empire were, for instance, Bruges and the Polish city of Gdańsk (Danzig), as well as Königsberg, capital of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. In Bergen, Norway and Veliky Novgorod, Russia the league had factories and middlemen.
High Middle Ages | Trade and commerce
She became idealized for her feminine virtues, her determination and her love for her country, as well as for her beauty and the fact that Napoleon, portrayed as an "enemy of everything German", hated her. The league's ideals were distilled into a booklet named "ABC für unsere Arbeit" (ABC for our Work) which every member had to know by heart. Like many of the emergent nationalistic movements of the time, this organization was highly structured, with local branches all over Germany.
Queen Louise League | Introduction
The economic crises of the late 15th century did not spare the Hansa. Nevertheless, its eventual rivals emerged in the form of the territorial states, whether new or revived, and not just in the west: Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow, ended the entrepreneurial independence of Hansa's Novgorod "Kontor" in 1478—it closed completely and finally in 1494. New vehicles of credit were imported from Italy, where double-entry book-keeping was invented in 1492, and outpaced the Hansa economy, in which silver coins changed hands rather than bills of exchange. In the 15th century, tensions between the Prussian region and the "Wendish" cities (Lübeck and its eastern neighbours) increased.
Hanseatic League | Rise of rival powers
[[Category:Napoleon] [[Category:First French Empire]] [[Category:French Revolution]] [[Category:Modern history of France]] [[Category:Historical eras]]
Napoleonic era | References
While in the case of the post riders the shift from royal messenger to public courier must be seen as evolutionary, there were some notable early examples. The Hanseatic League had a regular mounted service as early as the year 1274 between the principal towns of the League as well as the fortified castles which protected the merchants in their commerce. Business and diplomatic messages were handled by the service equally. Well organised, it had its own post-horses that were used exclusively for the letter service; at each stop the time of the receipt and dispatch of the post-bag was written upon the face of each letter.
Post riders | The Hanseatic League
After about 1471 the three separate Leagues were allied together as the Three Leagues. The "Bundesbrief" of September 23, 1524 created a constitution for the Three Leagues that would remain until the Napoleonic dissolution of the League. However the League was not a unified state in the modern sense. The Three Leagues worked together as a federation of three states and virtually all affairs of the League were settled by referendum. The Three Leagues were also unique in early modern Europe in that it was the only territory were all decisions were made by communalism, with the Leagues founded, governed and defended by cooperative decisions.
League of the Ten Jurisdictions | Three Leagues
Important centers of commerce within the empire, such as Cologne on the Rhine river and Bremen on the North Sea joined the union, which resulted in greater diplomatic esteem. Recognized by the various regional princes for the great economic potential, favorable charters for, often exclusive, commercial operations were granted. During its zenith the alliance maintained trading posts and "kontors" in virtually all cities between London and Edinburgh in the west to Novgorod in the east and Bergen in Norway. By the late 14th century the powerful league enforced its interests with military means, if necessary. This culminated in a war with the sovereign Kingdom of Denmark from 1361 to 1370.
Economic history of Germany | Hanseatic League
According to Roth von Schreckenstein, members of the Swabian League included the following Bavarian, Franconian and Swabian noble families: Seckendorff, Stain, Reischach, Wellwart, Schwendi, Echter, Torringer, Seibolstorff, Nothaft, Preysing, Nußberg, Hundt, Freiberg, Auer, Löffelholz, Ehingen, Hürnheim, Sotzingen, Thumb, Gültlingen, Rieringen, Ow zu Wachendorf, and Knoringen. In addition they were joined by various counts of Oettingen. An exact contemporary listing is found in the Bamburg Castle Book.
Franconian War | Starting position of the Swabian League
The complete list of all clubs participating in the league:
Gauliga Mittelrhein | Placings in the league 1933-44
Hinrichs was promoted to Generalleutnant before his death in 1834.
Johann von Hinrichs | Napoleonic Wars
The Swabian League, which can be viewed as a first attempt at a peacekeeping force, was asked for help by the Imperial City of Nuremberg. The alliance had been created in order to assist its members in the preservation of the "Landfriede". The Swabian League, which as its name suggests, had its roots in Swabia was made up of Swabian and Franconian Imperial Circles, as well as various Franconian Imperial Cities and territorial lords, for example, the Bishopric of Würzburg. Under the leadership of Nuremberg, the League began to raise a powerful army comprising contingents of its member states. The list of castles that Nuremberg wanted to have destroyed was long - in negotiations among the members of the League, agreement was finally reached in 1522 on the castles that were then to be attacked.
Franconian War | Starting position of the Swabian League
The Lower League ("Niedere Vereinigung, inferiores confederati") was a union of the four imperial cities Strasbourg, Basel, Colmar and Sélestat, formed in 1473, joined by the bishops of Basel and Strasbourg, Sigismund of Habsburg and by the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1474. The name of the league is intended to distinguish it from the "upper" (highland) league of the Swiss Confederacy. The league formed an anti-Burgundian pact, led by Strasbourg, Basel, Berne and Lucerne, in April 1474. This collaboration led contributed to the final defeat of Charles the Bold and the conclusion of the Burgundian Wars at the Battle of Nancy in 1477.
Lower League | Introduction
The Napoleonic era ended the Holy Roman Empire and created new German-speaking states that would eventually form modern Germany. Napoleon I of France reorganized many of the smaller German-speaking states into the Confederation of the Rhine following the battle of Austerlitz in 1805. Essentially this enlarged the more powerful states of the region by absorbing the smaller ones, creating a set of buffer states for France and a source of army conscripts. Neither of the two largest German-speaking states were part of this confederation: the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire remained outside it. King Frederick William III of Prussia viewed the Confederation of the Rhine as a threat to Prussian interests and allied against Napoleon.
Military history of Germany | Napoleonic Wars (1805–15)
The Treaty of Stralsund (24 May 1370) ended the war between the Hanseatic League and the kingdom of Denmark. The Hanseatic League reached the peak of its power by the conditions of this treaty. The war began in 1361, when Danish king Valdemar Atterdag conquered Scania, Öland, and Gotland with the major Hanseatic town Visby. In 1362, a Hanseatic counterstrike was repelled by the Danish fleet at Helsingborg, which led Hansa to accept a truce culminating in the unfavourable Treaty of Vordingborg (1365), depriving the league of much of its privileges. Unwilling to accept the treaty, the Hanseatic League, which used to be a trade league rather than a political union, raised a fleet through the Confederation of Cologne in 1367 and renewed their Swedish alliances.
Treaty of Stralsund (1370) | Introduction
The League lost its dominance in the 16th century, as neighbouring states took control of former Hanseatic cities and outposts. Their internal conflict prevented effective cooperation and defence. As the League lost control of its maritime cities, new trade routes emerged that provided Europe with Asian, American, and African goods.
North Sea | Early history
The complete list of all clubs participating in the league:
Gauliga Hessen | Placings in the Gauliga Hessen and Kurhessen 1933-44
In the year 1613 at Regensburg (Ratisbon), the Austrian Habsburgs joined the League. The assembly now appointed no less than three war-directors: Duke Maximilian, and Archdukes Albert and Maximilian of Austria. The object of the League was now declared "a Christian legal defense". The membership of the Habsburg monarchy made the League part of the struggles between the emperor and his Protestant vassals in Bohemia and Lower Austria, that would lead to the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. The first half of the war would see the emperor using the Catholic League forces as the most important part of his Imperial army.
Catholic League (German) | House Habsburg joins
Hansa Rostock; Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, Netherlands; Hanze oil production platform, Netherlands; the Hansa Brewery in Bergen and the Hanse Sail in Rostock. DDG Hansa was a major German shipping company from 1881 until its bankruptcy in 1980. Hansabank in the Baltic states, which has been rebranded into Swedbank. Hansa-Park, one of the biggest theme parks in Germany.
Hanseatic League | Legacy Hanseatic connections
For 15 years, the League was able to exist without opposition because Charles was busy fighting wars with France and the Ottoman Empire. Overall, the Ottoman–Habsburg Wars lasted from 1526 to 1571. In 1535, Francis I of France, who vigorously persecuted Protestants at home, supported the Protestant princes in their struggle against their common foe. The tactical support ended in 1544 with the signing of the Treaty of Crépy, whereby the French king, who was fighting the Emperor in Italy, pledged to stop backing the Protestant princes and the League in Germany. In 1535, Charles led the Conquest of Tunis (1535).
Schmalkaldic League | Political environment
It also became part of the Hanseatic League, a group of towns with great wealth; this league was the economic centre in that part of Europe.
Zutphen | History
The Gauliga Niederrhein was the highest football league in the northern part of the Prussian Rhine Province from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the "Gaue" "Essen" and "Düsseldorf" replaced the Prussian province in the Lower Rhein (German: "Niederrhein") region.
Gauliga Niederrhein | Introduction
The League of Nymphenburg was an Anti-Austrian Alliance in the Silesian Wars. It included Prussia, Spain, Savoy, Saxony, France, and Bavaria. It was an important factor in the leadup to the First Silesian War. Its goal was to minimize Austrian power, especially in the German States of the Holy Roman Empire.
League of Nymphenburg | Introduction
Lübeck was dependent on its role as centre of the Hansa, being on the shore of the sea without a major river. It was on the entrance of the land route to Hamburg, but this land route could be bypassed by sea travel around Denmark and through the Kattegat. Prussia's main interest, on the other hand, was the export of bulk products like grain and timber, which were very important for England, the Low Countries, and, later on, also for Spain and Italy. In 1454, the year of the marriage of Elisabeth of Austria to the Jagiellonian king, the towns of the Prussian Confederation rose up against the dominance of the Teutonic Order and asked Casimir IV, King of Poland, for help.
Hanseatic League | Rise of rival powers
The League of the Rhine (also known as the Erste Rheinbund, First Rhine-Bund; or the Rheinische Allianz - Rhenish Alliance) was a defensive union of more than 50 German princes and their cities along the River Rhine, formed on 14 August 1658 by Louis XIV of France and negotiated by Cardinal Mazarin (the "de facto" prime minister of France), Hugues de Lionne and Johann Philipp von Schönborn (Elector of Mainz and Chancellor of the Empire).
League of the Rhine | Introduction
After Austerlitz, Napoleon established the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806. A collection of German states intended to serve as a buffer zone between France and Central Europe, the creation of the Confederation spelled the end of the Holy Roman Empire and significantly alarmed the Prussians. The brazen reorganization of German territory by the French risked threatening Prussian influence in the region, if not eliminating it outright. War fever in Berlin rose steadily throughout the summer of 1806. At the insistence of his court, especially his wife Queen Louise, Frederick William III decided to challenge the French domination of Central Europe by going to war.
Napoleon | War of the Fourth Coalition and Tilsit
When Philip William inherited the Palatinate in May 1685, Louis claimed half of it, based on the marriage of Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate to Philippe of Orléans, creating another crisis. Victory over the Ottomans at the Battle of Vienna in 1683 allowed Leopold to refocus on the western portions of the Empire. The League of Augsburg was formed in July 1686 by combining the Laxenburg Alliance with the Burgundian Circle, Swedish Pomerania and Bavaria. On 27 September 1688, French forces invaded the Rhineland and attacked Philippsburg, launching the Nine Years' War. The coalition was strengthened when the Glorious Revolution deposed James II in November 1688 and William of Orange became William III/II of England and Scotland.
Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg) | Formation
Maximilian "de facto" absorbed the former Free Imperial City, which was a violation of Imperial law as well.
Catholic League (German) | Donauwörth processions
As Napoleon waged war on Europe, between 1803 and 1806, the following changes to the Constitution of the Holy Roman Empire were attempted until the Empire's collapse:
Prince-elector | Napoleonic politics
The Anglo-Hanseatic War was a conflict fought between England and the Hanseatic League, led by the cities of Danzig (Gdańsk) and Lübeck, that lasted from 1469 to 1474. Causes of the war include increasing English pressure against the trade of the Hanseatic cities on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea.
Anglo-Hanseatic War | Introduction