Last modified: 2006-11-19 by jarig bakker
Keywords: hanseatic league | hansa |
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Netherlands: Deventer, Zutphen, Arnhem, Harderwijk, Elburg, Nijmegen,
Kampen, Zwolle, Stavoren, Bolsward, Groningen. Oldenzaal was not a member
(possibly confused with Osnabrück)
Belgium: Dinant
Germany: Münster, Bremen, Dortmund, Köln, Braunschweig, Osnabrück,
Lübeck, Wismar, Greifswald, Rostock, Magdeburg, Berlin, Berlin-Kölln, Emden,
Stralsund, Anklam
Sweden: Visby
Poland: Kolberg/Kolobrzeg, Stettin/Szczecin, Danzig/Gdansk,
Elbing/Elblag, Marienburg/Malbork
Russia: Königsberg/Kaliningrad, Novgorod
Lithuania: Memel/Klaipeda
Latvia: Riga
Estonia: Pernau/Pärnu, Reval/Tallinn, Narva, Dorpat/Tartu
Furthermore there were offices in a lot of cities, like Brugge and
Antwerpen (Belgium) and Bergen (Norway).
Jarig Bakker, 28 Mar 2001
The Hansa existed for some centuries. Originally it was an organisation
of merchants, but as their guilds were connected to the towns where they
lived, it soon became an organisation for towns. The towns which were members
of the Hansa were not the same the whole time.
Visby is nowadays a part of the municipality of Gotland
(...). Stockholm and Calmar
(Kalmar) are thought to have been members of the Hansa for short periods,
because in some sources they are mentioned as Hanseatic towns, but it could
also be because the Hansa had offices there.
Elias Granqvist, 28 Mar 2001
John Ayer pointed out a list of Hanseatic cities, however this does not discriminate between Hansa-cities proper and cities with Hansa offices - Auswürtige Kontore (AK), cities where the Hansa had special privileges. The following list is based on Putzger's Historischer Schulatlas, 1936, and Westermann Grosser Atlas zur Weltgeschichte, 1972:
Great Britain: AK: York, Hull, Yarmouth, Ipswich, London
Belgium: Dinant, AK: Brugge, Antwerpen
Netherlands: Deventer, Zutphen, Arnhem, Harderwijk, Elburg,
Nijmegen, Kampen, Zwolle, Stavoren, Bolsward, Groningen, Venlo, Roermond;
AK: Dordrecht (if Brugge could not be reached)
Denmark: Copenhagen; AK: Aalborg
Norway: AK: Bergen, Tönsberg, Oslo
Sweden: AK: Malmö, Falsterbo, Skanör, Kalmar, Wisby, Stockholm
Russia: Königsberg/Kaliningrad, AK: Naugart/Novgorod
Estonia: Reval/Tallinn, Pernau/Pärnu, Fellin/Viljandi, Dorpat/Tartu,
AK: Narwa/Narva
Latvia: Lemsal/Limbaz^i, Wolmar/Valmiera, Wenden/Ce^sis, Kokenhusen/Koknese,
Riga, Windau/Ventspils, Goldingen/Kuldiga
Lithuania: Memel/Klaipéda, AK: Kauen/Kaunas
Belarus: Polozk/Polotsk
Poland: Braunsberg/Braniewo, Elbing/Elblag, Danzig/Gdansk, Kulm/Chelmno,
Thorn/Torún, Marienburg/Malbork, Krakau/Krakow, Breslau/Wroclaw, Stolp/Slupsk,
Rügenwalde/Darlowo, Kolberg/Kolobrzeg, Kammin/Kamien, Gollnow/Goleniow,
Stettin/Szczecin, Stargard/Stargard Szczecinski,
Germany: Bremen, Minden, Osnabrück,
Herford, Coesfeld, Münster, Bielefeld, Lemgo, Wesel, Dortmund, Duisburg,
Neuss, Köln, Paderborn, Höxter, Warburg, Soest, Stade, Buxtehude, Lüneburg,
Uelzen, Seehausen, Salzwedel, Stendal, Hannover, Braunschweig, Hameln,
Hildesheim, Goslar, Helmstedt, Einbeck, Erfurt, Mühlhausen, Naumburg, Merseburg,
Halle, Göttingen, Nordhausen, Aschersleben, Northeim, Halberstadt,
Kiel, Lübeck, Hamburg,
Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund, Greifswald, Wolgast, Demmin, Schwerin, Anklam,
Pritzwalk, Prenzlau, Kyritz, Havelberg, Berlin, (Berlin-)Kölln, Tangerm(ünde?),
Brandenburg, Frankfurt/Oder.
Actually Westermann has a lot more, but judging from the Dutch plain
wrong entries I have followed mainly Putzger.
Jarig Bakker, 28 Mar 2001
Today, the following nine cities call themselves Hansestadt as
part of their official name: Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck, Wismar, Rostock,
Greifswald, Stralsund, Anklam, Demmin.
Stefan Schwoon, 28 Mar 2001
Norie and Hobbs 1848 shows under "150:
Hanse Towns" a red flag, upper half white but leaving a narrow border of
red along the top and fly. The German editors comment, "The hanseatic
colours white and red never appeared in a common flag like no. 150. It
could only represent some smaller Dutch cities which used to belong to
the Hansa". They are not saying there never was such a common flag,
which leaves room for the story that ships of Hansa-members raised a red
pennant when entering a member-town or a town where the Hansa had privileges.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 12 Nov 2001
The word "Hansa" is the shortened form of the Lower German expression
der blanke Hans / de blank haans ("blowing Hans") meaning "withstand
the wind".
Jens Pattke, 22 Dec 2001
H. Zimmern, The Hansa Towns, 1889, p. 46, says: "The origin of
the name of Hansa is wrapped in some mystery. The word is found in Ulfila's
Gothic translation of the Bible, as signifying a society, a union of men,
particularly in the sense of combatants. He applies it to the band of men
who came to capture Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Later on Hansa occurs
as a tax on commercial transactions, and also as the sum, a very low one,
which the various cities paid as their entrance fee into the association.
The league acquired its name after its first great war with Waldemar of
Denmark and the peace of Stralsund (1370).
I didn't encounter "der blanke Hans", but he may well be part
of popular etymology.
Jarig Bakker, 22 Dec 2001