| The Hanseatic League (German: die Hanse, Dutch: de Hanze, Polish: Hanza, Swedish: Hansan) comprised an alliance of trading guilds that established and maintained a trade monopoly over the Baltic Sea and most of Northern Europe for a time in the later Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, between the 13th and 17th centuries. The Carta marina of the Baltic Sea region of the fourteenth century. The Confederation of Cinque Ports (cinque is the French for five) was formed probably in the early 11th century. Its ‘head of state’ was the Lord Warden. The founding Members (‘head ports), later joined by Rye and Winchelsea, were Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich. Each town recruited as ‘limbs’ other ports which could help it raise the requisite number of vessels and crews. |  |
Dover recruited Faversham, probably when the Confederation was formed. Till the 15th century England had no permanent navy to defend it from sea-borne aggression. Instead five ports in the South East - the region most vulnerable to invasion - contracted with the Crown to provide a defensive fleet when required. In return they enjoyed extensive privileges, rather like those of the Hanseatic Ports. The Ports fleet fended off many threats of invasion. One of its great admirals - and a career corsair - was Henry Pay, from Faversham. Based originally in Poole (Dorset), which had links with Winchelsea, he made life difficult for Spain and France. With his own fleet he scoured the Straits of Dover in such strength that no vessel could escape without being captured. He plundered the coast of Castile. In 1404 when he was on board the big ship which belonged to the Lord Warden of the Ports she was captured by the French. When they went below in search of booty, Pay’s war-cry was heard, and he and his fellow-prisoners overpowered their guards and recaptured the vessel. He then seized two French ships and, flying the French flag, sailed up the Seine, plundering with impunity. In the following yeare he was one of the captains in an English fleet which burnt 40 towns and villages in Normandy. In 1406 he took a vessel laden with wine, but had to hand it back as it belonged to a London owner. In 1407, off the coast of Brittany, he captured no less than 120 ships laden with iron, salt and oil.
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The origins of the League to the foundation of the town of Lübeck, established in 1158/1159 after the capture of the area from the Count of Schauenburg and Holstein by Henry the Lion, the Duke of Saxony. Lübeck became a base for northern German merchants from Saxony and Westphalia to spread east and north. Before the term Hanse appeared in a document (1267), merchants in a given city began to form guilds or Hansa with the intention of trading with towns overseas, especially in the less-developed eastern Baltic area, a source of timber, wax, resins, furs, even rye and wheat brought down on barges from the hinterland to port markets. Lübeck, which had access to the Baltic and North Sea fishing grounds, formed an alliance in 1241 with Hamburg, another trading city, which controlled access to salt-trade routes from Lüneburg. Lübeck's location on the Baltic provided access for trade with Scandinavia and Russia, putting it in direct competition with the Scandinavians who had previously controlled most of the Baltic trade routes. A treaty with the Visby Hansa put an end to competition: through this treaty the Lübeck merchants also gained access to the inland Russian port of Novgorod, where they built a trading post or Kontor. Other such alliances formed throughout the Holy Roman Empire.
By the 12th Century the peoples inhabiting the lands now known as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania formed a pagan wedge between increasingly powerful Christian states. During a period of more than 150 years leading up to the arrival of German crusaders in the region, Estonia was attacked thirteen times by Russian Principalities and by Denmark and Sweden as well. Estonians for their part made viking raids on Denmark and Sweden. The Northern Crusades, or Baltic Crusades, were undertaken by Christian leaders of Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and their allies against the "still heathen" (i.e., non-Christian) people of Northern Europe around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. The official starting point for the Northern Crusades was Pope Celestine III's call in 1193; The non-Christian peoples who were of the campaigns at various dates included: the Wends and Rugians, of Rügen, Pomerania and Mecklenburg (in 1147 by the Danes, later also by Saxons and Poles), the peoples of (present-day) Finland in 1154 (Finland Proper; disputed), 1249? (Tavastia) and 1293 (Karelia) (by the Swedes, although christianization from Novgorod had started earlier), Estonians, Latgalians and Livonians (by the Germans and Danes, 1193–1227), Lithuanians (by the Germans, unsuccessfully), early 13th century-1316), Curonians and Semigallians, Old Prussians, Polabian Wends and Abotrites (between Elbe and Oder). The first campaigns were launched in parallel with the Second Crusade to the Holy Land in the mid-1100s, and continued irregularly right up until the 16th century.
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