Forces of the Hanseatic League: 13th-15th Centuries

by David Nicolle, Gerry Embleton (Illustrator)

Overview

The famous but largely unchronicled Hanseatic League (or simple "the Hanse/Hansa") was a Tuetonic German commercial and defensive federation of merchant guilds based in harbor towns along the North Sea and Baltic coasts of what are now Germany and her neighbors, which eventually dominated maritime trade in Northern Europe and spread its influence much further afield. The League was formed to protect the economic and political interests of member cities throughout a vast and complex trading network. While most members remained basically subject to the local rulers who profited from their prosperity, in a sense the League might be seen as foreshadowing today's ambiguous relationship between global corporations and political nation states.

The League continued to operate well into the 17th century, but its golden age was between c. 1200 and c. 1500; thereafter it failed to take full advantage of the wave of maritime exploration to the west, south and east of Europe. During its 300 years of dominance the League's large ships - called "cogs" - were at the forefront of maritime technology, were early users of cannon, and were manned by strong fighting crews to defend them from pirates in both open-sea and river warfare. The home cities raised their own armies for mutual defence, and their riches both allowed them, and required them, to invest in fortifications and gunpowder weapons, since as very attractive targets they were subjected to sieges at various times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782007791
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	04/22/2014
Series:	Men-at-Arms , #494
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	827,431
Product dimensions:	7.37(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.13(d)

About the Author

David Nicolle, born in 1944, worked in the BBC's Arabic service for a number of years before gaining an MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and a doctorate from Edinburgh University. He has written numerous books and articles on medieval and Islamic warfare, and has been a prolific author of Osprey titles for many years. The author lives in Leicestershire, UK.

Table of Contents

Historical Background 3

Germans and Slavs - 12th-century Wendish and Northern Crusades - emergence of powerful towns: Lübeck - Danish expansion

Chronology 6

Evolution of the Hanseatic League 8

Danish-German rivalry - the 13th-century 'proto-Hanse': Lübeck, Hamburg & Osnabrück - maturity of the League: Confederation of Cologne, 1367 - organization and structure

Land Warfare, c.1250-c. 1425 12

Urban society: ruling classes - milities - merchants and artisans - organization

Princely armies: knights and militia - mercenaries in Hanseatic service

Crossbows and other weapons

Maritime Warfare 18

Regulations - ship types - assembly and command - seamen and soldiers

Sea battles - river operations

Siege warfare & Firearms 33

Early tradition of fortification - defence and display - independent towns versus territorial princes - security overseas

Crossbows in siege warfare

Firearms: hand guns - cannon on land and shipboard - manufacturing

The 15th Century: The Costs of Competition 37

Expansion - expense and taxation - co-operative voyages - piracy and privateering

Rivalry with Denmark & the Union of Kalmar - relations with Holstcin and Mecklenburg - conflict with Castile

Rivalry with the Dutch - rivalry with England

Further Reading 43

Plate Commentaries 44

Index 48