<h1>XXVI <br/> GREAT BEGINNINGS OF MODERN COMMERCE.</h1>
<p>For our present eminently commercial age nothing of all the
accomplishment of the Thirteenth Century will probably possess
livelier interest than the fact that, in spite of what must have
seemed insuperable difficulties to a less enterprising generation, the
men of that time succeeded in making such business combinations and
municipal affiliations, besides arranging various trade facilities
among distant, different peoples, that not only was commerce rendered
possible and even easy, but some of the most modern developments of
the facilitation of international intercourse were anticipated. The
story of the rise of this combination of many men of different
nations, of many cities whose inhabitants were of different races and
of different languages, of commercial enterprise that carried men
comparatively much farther than they now go on trade expeditions,
though we have thought that our age had exhausted the possibilities of
progress in this matter, cannot fail to have an interest for everyone
whose attention has been attracted to the people of this time and must
be taken as a symbol of the all-pervading initiative of the
generations, which allowed no obstacle to hinder their progress and
thought no difficulty too great to be surmounted.</p>
<p>In beginning the history of the great commercial league which in the
Thirteenth Century first opened men's minds to the possibilities of
peace and commerce among the nations and alas! that it should be said,
did more perhaps than any other agent except Christianity to awaken in
different races the sense of the brotherhood of man, the English
historian of the Hanseatic League, Miss Zimmern in the Stories of the
Nations, said:</p>
<p>"There is scarcely a more remarkable chapter in history than that
which deals with the trading alliance or association known as the
Hanseatic League. The league has long since passed away having
served its time and fulfilled its purpose. The needs and circumstances
of mankind have changed, and new methods and new instruments have been
devised for carrying on the commerce of the world. Yet, if the league
has disappeared, the beneficial results of its action survive to
Europe though they have become so completely a part of our daily life
that we accept them as matters of course, and do not stop to inquire
into their origin." This last declaration may seem surprising for
comparatively few know anything about this medieval commercial league,
yet the effects claimed for it are only what we have seen to be true
with regard to most of the important institutions of the period—they
were the origins of what is best in our modern life.</p>
<p>Like many of the great movements of the Thirteenth Century the origin
of the Hanseatic League is clouded somewhat by the obscurity of the
times and the lack of definite historical documents. [Footnote 35]
There is no doubt, however, that just before the middle of the century
it was in flourishing existence, and that by the end of the century it
had reached that acme of its power and influence which it was to
maintain for several centuries in spite of the jealousy of the
nobility, of certain towns that did not have the same privileges, and
even of the authorities of the various countries who resented more and
more as time went on the growing freedom and independence of these
wealthy cities. The impetus for the formation of the League seems to
have been given during the Crusades. Like so many other of the
important movements of the time commerce was greatly influenced by
these expeditions, and the commercial spirit not only aroused but
shown the possibility of accomplishing hitherto impossible
results in the matter of transportation and exchange. The returning
crusaders brought back with them many precious Eastern objects whose
possession was a source of envy to others and whose value was rated so
high as to make even distant travel for them well worth while. The
returning crusaders also knew how cheaply objects considered very
precious in the West might be purchased in the East, and they told the
stories of their own acquisition of them to willing listeners, who
were stimulated to try their fortunes in expeditions that promised
such rich rewards.</p>
<p class="footnote">
[Footnote 35: Perhaps no better idea of the obscurity of the origin of
the Hansa confederation can be given, than is to be derived from the
fact that even the derivation of the word Hansa is not very clear.
Bishop Ulfilas in his old Gothic translation of the Scriptures used
the word "hansa" to designate the mob of soldiers and servants of
the High Priest who came to take Christ prisoner in the Garden.
Later on the word Hansa was used to mean a tax or a contribution.
This term was originally employed to designate the sum of money
which each of the cities was compelled to pay on becoming a member
of the league, and it is thought to be from this that the terms
Hansa and Hanseatic League were eventually derived.]</p>
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PALAZZO DEI CONSOLI (GUBBIO)</p>
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PALAZZO ZABARELLA (PADUA)</p>
<p>Besides the crusaders on their return through Italy had observed what
was accomplished by the League of the Lombard cities which had been in
existence in a more or less imperfect way for more than a century, and
at the end of the Twelfth and the beginning of the Thirteenth Century
had begun to provide an example of the strength there is in union, and
of the power for good there is in properly regulated combinations of
commercial interests with due regard for civic rights and privileges.
This League of the Lombard cities was encouraged by the popes
especially by Innocent III. and his successors who are usually said to
have given it their approbation for their own purposes, though this is
to look at but one side of the case. The German Emperors endeavored to
assert their rights over Italian territory and in so doing came into
collision with the popes not only in temporal matters but also in
spiritual things. As we have noted in the short sketch of the popes of
the century, Innocent III. was the first great Italian patriot and
original advocate of Italy for the Italians. He constantly opposed the
influence of the German Emperor in Italian politics, mainly, of
course, because this interfered with the power of the Church, but to a
very great degree also because it proved a source of manifold
political evil for the Italian cities.</p>
<p>The Germans then, who in the train of the Emperor went down into Italy
saw the working of this League of Lombard cities, talked about it on
their return, and were naturally tempted to essay what might be
accomplished by the same means on German territory. These two
elements, the incentive of the crusades and the stimulus of the
example of the Italians, must be considered as at the basis of
Hansa, though these were only seeds, and it was the nurture and
fostering care of the German mind which ever since the days of Tacitus
had been noted as the freest in Europe, that gave the League its
wonderful development.</p>
<p>It is difficult to tell how many towns belonged to the Hanseatic
League during the Thirteenth Century but at the end of this period,
Hansa, as it came to be called, was, as we have said, in its most
flourishing condition and we know something definite of its numbers a
little more than half a century later. In 1367 deputies from all the
towns met in the large council chamber of the famous town hall at
Cologne to discuss certain injustices that had been committed against
the members of the League, or as the document set forth "against the
free German merchants," in order to determine some way of preventing
further injuries and inflict due punishment. Altogether the deputies
of 77 towns were present and declared most solemnly "that because of
the wrongs and the injuries done by the King of Denmark to the common
German merchant the cities would be his enemies and help one another
faithfully." The distant and smaller cities were not expected to send
troops or even naval forces but promised to give contributions in
money. Such cities as did not take part in this movement were to be
considered as having forfeited their membership and would no longer be
permitted to trade with the members of Hansa.</p>
<p>Lest it should be thought that the cities were incapable of enforcing
any such boycott with effect, the story of the town of Lübeck must be
recalled. Lübeck on one occasion refused to join with the other Hansa
towns in a boycott of certain places in Flanders which had refused to
observe the regulations as to trading. One of these was to the effect
that such vessels as were lost on a coast did not become the property
of the people of the neighborhood, though they had a right to a due
share for salvage, but a fair proportion must be returned to the
citizens of the town that suffered the loss. Lübeck was at the moment
one of the most powerful commercial cities in Germany, and her
citizens seemed to think that they could violate the Hansa regulation
with impunity. For 30 years. however, the Hansa boycott was
maintained and so little trading was done in the city that according
to one old writer "the people starved, the markets were deserted,
grass grew in the street and the inhabitants left in large numbers."
Such a lesson as this was enough to make the Hanseatic decrees be
observed with scrupulous care and shows the perfection of the
organization.</p>
<p>The outcome of the war with Denmark demonstrates the power of the
league. The King of Denmark is said to have scorned their declaration
of war, and making an untranslatable pun on the word "Hansa" called
the members of the League "geese who cackled much but need not be
feared." The fleet of the League, however, succeeded in shutting off
all the commerce of the coast of Denmark and though there was a truce
each winter the war was renewed vigorously, and with summer many of
the Danish cities were ransacked and plundered. At the end of the
second year Denmark was exhausted and the people so weary of war that
they pleaded for peace, and Valdemar had to accept the terms which the
"geese" were willing to offer him. This triumph of the common people
over a reigning monarch is one of the most striking passages in
medieval history. It comes about a half century after the close of the
Thirteenth, and is evidently the direct result of the great practical
forces that were set in movement during that wonderful period, when
the mighty heart of humanity was everywhere bestirring men to deeds of
high purpose and far-reaching significance.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, Hansa became, very early in its career, one of
the firmest authorities in the midst of these troubled times and meted
out unfailingly the sternest justice against those who infringed its
rights if they were outsiders, or broke the rules of the League if
they were its members. It was ever ready to send its ships against
offenders and while it soon came to be feared, this fear was mingled
with respect, and its regulations were seldom infringed. It is a most
interesting reflection, that as its English Historian says, "never
once in the whole course of its history did it draw the sword
aggressively or against its own members." While it was ever on the
look-out to increase its power by adding new cities to the League,
cities were not forced to join and when it meted out punishments
to its members this was not by the levying of war but by fines, the
refusal to pay these being followed by the "declaration of boycott,"
which soon brought the offender to terms. War was only declared in all
cases as a last resort, and the ships of the League were constantly
spoken of and designated in all documents as "peace ships," and even
the forts which the League built for the protection of its towns, or
as places where its members might be sure of protection, were
described as "Peace Burgs."</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the lessons of peace that were thus taught by commerce
were not to bear fruit abundantly for many centuries after the
Thirteenth. It is practically only in our own time that they have been
renewed, and the last generation or two, has rather plumed itself over
the fact that trade was doing so much to prevent war. Evidently this
is no guarantee of the perpetuation of such an improvement in national
or international morals, for the influence of Hansa for peace came to
be lost entirely, after a few centuries. The cities themselves,
however, that belonged to the League gradually became more and more
free, and more independent of their rulers. It was thus, in fact, that
the free cities of Germany had their origin, and in them much more of
modern liberty was born than has ever been appreciated, except by
those whose studies have brought them close to these marvelous
medieval manifestations of the old spirit of Teutonic freedom.</p>
<p>The names of most of the cities that were members of the Hansa League
are well known, though it is not easy to understand in the decrepitude
that has come over many of them, how they could have been of so much
importance as has been claimed for them in the Middle Ages. All the
cities of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea were united together, and
while we think of these as German, many of them really belonged to
Slav people at this time, so that the membership of a number of
Russian cities is not surprising. While the Rhenish cities were
important factors in the League, Cologne indeed being one of the most
important, Bremen and Hamburg and both the Frankforts, and Rostock,
and Lübeck and Stralsund, and Tangermünde and Warnemunde, were
important members. Novgorod was founded by Hansa for the purpose of
trading with the Orientals, and the Volga, the Dnieper, the
Dwina, and the Oder were extensively used for the purpose of
transporting goods here and there in central Europe. One of their most
famous towns, Winetha in German, Julin in Danish, disappeared beneath
the waters of the Baltic Sea and gave rise to many legends of its
reappearance. It is hard to realize that it was so important that it
was called the Venice of the North, and was seriously compared with
its great southern rival.</p>
<p>A good idea of the intimate relations of the Hansa towns to England
and the English people can be obtained from the article on the subject
written by Richard Lodge for the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopedia
Britannica. A single paragraph of this compresses much of the external
and internal history of the "Rise and Development of Hansa." It was
rather to be expected that the commercial relations between England
and the various cities situated along the North Sea, as well as the
Baltic and up the Rhine, would be active and would have to be
submitted to careful regulation. Unless the modern mind is actually
brought directly in touch, however, with the complex yet very
practical state of affairs, which actually existed, it will utterly
fail to appreciate how thoroughly progressive and enterprising were
these medieval peoples. Enterprise and practicalness we are apt to
think of as the exclusive possession of much more modern generations.
Least of all would we be apt to consider them as likely to be found in
the Thirteenth Century, yet here they are, and the commercial
arrangements which were made are as absolute premonitions of our
modern thought as were the literature and architecture, the painting,
even the teachings of science at the same period.</p>
<p>"The members of this League (Hanseatic) came to England mostly from
Cologne, the first German town which obtained great importance both at
home and abroad. Its citizens possessed at an early date a guild-hall
of their own (in London), and all Germans who wished to trade with
England had to join their guild. This soon included merchants from
Dortmund, Soest and Munster, in Westphalia; from Utrecht, Stavern and
Groningen, in the Netherlands, and from Bremen and Hamburg on the
North Sea. But, when at the beginning of the Thirteenth Century, the
rapidly rising town of Lübeck wished to be admitted into the
guild, every effort was made to keep her out. The intervention of
Frederick II. was powerless to overcome the dread felt by Cologne
towards a possible rival to its supremacy. But this obstacle to the
extension of the League was soon overcome. In 1260 a charter of Henry
III. assured protection to all German merchants. A few years later
Hamburg and Lübeck also were allowed to form their own guilds. The
Hansa of Cologne, which had long been the only guild, now sinks to the
position of a branch Hansa, and has to endure others with equal
privileges. Over all the branch Hansas rises the "Hansa Alamanniae,"
first mentioned in 1282.</p>
<p>This article gives additional information with regard to the many and
varied influences at work at the end of the Thirteenth Century. It
furnishes in brief, moreover, an excellent picture of the activity of
mind and power of organization so frequently displayed during this
period in every branch of life. This is after all the highest quality
of man. The development of associations of various kinds, especially
such as are helpfully purposive, are the outcome of that social
quality in man's mind which is the surest index of his rational
quality. Succeeding centuries lost for some almost unaccountable
reason much of this faculty of organization and the result was a
lamentable retrogression from the advances made by older generations,
so that it was only in quite recent years that anything like this old
international comity was reestablished.</p>
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RATHHAUS (LÜBECK)</p>
<p>The extent and very natural development of this community of interests
must ever attract attention. It is the first time in our modern
history that it occurs and men of some seven different races and
tongues were at last drawn into it. In this it represents the greatest
advance of history, for it led to assimilation of laws and of
liberties, with some of the best features of each nation's old-time
customs preserved in the new codes. Its extension even to Novgorod, in
what is now the heart of Russia is a surprising demonstration of
successful enterprise and spread of influence almost incredible. The
settling of the trade disputes of this distant Russian City in the
courts of a North Sea town, is an evidence of advance in commercial
relations emphasized by the writer in the Britannica, that deserves to
be well weighed as a manifestation of what is often thought to
be the exclusively modern recognition of the rights of commerce and
the claims of justice over even national feelings.</p>
<p>"The league between Lübeck and Hamburg was not the only, and possibly
not the first, league among the German towns. But it gradually
absorbed all others. Besides the influence of foreign commercial
interests there were other motives which compelled the towns to union.
The chief of these were the protection of commercial routes both by
sea and land, and the vindication of town independence as opposed to
claims of the landed aristocracy. The first to join the League were
the Wendish towns to the East, Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund, etc., which
had always been intimately connected with Lübeck, and were united by a
common system of laws known as the 'Lübisches Recht' (Lübeck Laws).
The Saxon and Westphalian towns had long possessed a league among
themselves; they also joined themselves to Lübeck. Lübeck now became
the most important town in Germany. It had already surpassed Cologne
both in London and Bruges. It soon gained a similar victory over
Wisby. At a great convention in which twenty-four towns from Cologne
to Revel took part, it was decided that appeals from Novgorod which
had hitherto been decided at Wisby should henceforth be brought to
Lübeck."</p>
<p>After much travail and vexation of spirit, after much diplomacy and
political and parliamentary discussion, after much striving on the
part of the men in all nations, who have the great cause of universal
peace for mankind at heart, we have reached a position where at least
commercial difficulties can be referred to a sort of international
court for adjudication. The standing of this court is not very clear
as yet. Special arrangements at least are required, if not special
treaties in many cases, even for the reference of such merely
commercial difficulties as debt-collecting to it. In the last quarter
of the Nineteenth Century special tribunals had to be erected for the
settlement of such difficulties between nations. In the Twentieth
Century the outlook is more hopeful and the actual accomplishment is
indeed encouraging. In the Thirteenth Century with the absence of the
telegraph and the cable, with the slowness of sailing vessels and the
distance of towns emphasizing all the difficulties of the
situation, the Hanseatic League succeeded in obtaining an
international tribunal, whose judgments with regard to commercial
difficulties were final and were accepted by men of many different
races and habits and customs, and to which causes were referred
without any of the immense machinery apparently required at the
present time.</p>
<p>This is the real triumph of the commercial development of the
Thirteenth Century. While it may be astonishing to many modern people
to learn how much was accomplished in this utterly unexpected quarter,
it will not be a surprise to those who realize the thoroughly
practical character of the century and the perfectly matter of fact
way in which it went about settling all the difficulties that
presented themselves; and how often they succeeded in reaching a very
practical if not always ideal solution. The sad feature of the case is
to think that most of this coming together of nations was lost by the
gradual development of national feeling, much of benefit as there may
have been in that for the human race, and by the drawing of the
language lines between nations more closely than they had been before,
for the next three centuries saw the development of modern tongues
into the form which they have held ever since.</p>
<p>Hansa did more than almost any other institution in northern Europe to
establish the reign of Law. If it had accomplished no other purpose,
this would make it eminently worthy of the study of those who are
interested in sociology and social evolution. Before the time of Hansa
the merchant by sea or land was liable to all sorts of impositions,
arbitrary taxes, injustices, and even the loss of life as well of his
goods. As Hansa gained in power however, these abuses disappeared.
Perhaps the most noteworthy improvement came with regard to
navigation. There is a story told of a famous rock in Brittany on
which many ships were wrecked during the Middle Ages. Even as late as
the Thirteenth Century sometimes false lights were displayed on this
rock with the idea of tempting vessels to their destruction on it.
Everything that was thrown ashore in the neighborhood was considered
to be the property of the people who gathered it, except that a
certain portion of its value had to be paid to the Lord of the Manor.
This worthy representative of the upper classes is said to have
pointed out the rock to some visiting nobleman friends one day, and
declared that it was more precious to him than the most precious stone
in the diadem of any ruling monarch in Europe. This represents the
state of feeling with regard to such subjects when Hansa started in to
correct the abuses.</p>
<p>It may be looked upon as a serious disgrace to the Thirteenth Century
that such a low state of ethical feeling should have existed, but it
is the amelioration of conditions which obliterated such false
sentiments that constitutes the triumph of the period. On the other
hand we must not with smug self-complacency think that our generation
is so much better than those of the past. It is easy to be pharisaical
while we forget that many a fortune in modern times suffers shipwreck
on the coasts of business and investment, because the false lights of
advertising intended to deceive, are displayed very prominently, for
those who are only anxious as were the mariners of the olden times to
make their fortunes. Doubtless too the proprietors of many of the
papers which display such advertisements, and it is nonsense to say
that they are unconscious of the harm they do, are quite as proud of
the magnificent revenue that their advertising columns bring to them
as was the Breton noble of the Thirteenth Century. Man has not changed
much in the interval.</p>
<p>Lest it should be thought that even the present-day initiation into
secret societies of various kinds is the invention of modern times, it
seems well to give some of the details of the tests through which
those seeking to be members of the Hanseatic League were subjected, by
those who were already initiated. It may possibly seem that some of
these customs were too barbarous to mention in the same breath with
the present-day initiations, but if it is recalled that at least once
a year some serious accident is reported as the result of the
thoughtless fooling of "frat" students at our universities, this
opinion may be withdrawn. Miss Helen Zimmern in her story of the Hansa
Towns already quoted several times, has a paragraph or two of
descriptions of these that we shall quote. It may be well to remember
that these tests were not entirely without a serious significance for
the members of the Hansa. Much was expected of those who
belonged to the Hansa Guild. A number of precious trade secrets were
entrusted them, and they alone knew the methods and mysteries of
Hansa. In order that these might not by any possibility be betrayed,
the members of Hansa who lived in foreign countries were forbidden to
marry while abroad and were bound under the severest penalties to live
a life of celibacy. They were not supposed to be absent from the
houses assigned to them during the night, and their factories so
called, or common-places of residence, were guarded by night watchman
and fierce dogs in order to secure the keeping of these rules.</p>
<p>Besides torture was a very common thing in those times and a man who
belonged to a country that happened to be at war for the moment, might
very easily be subjected to torture for some reason or another with
the idea of securing important information from him. If the members of
Hansa wanted to be reasonably assured that new members would not give
up their secrets without a brave struggle, they had no better way than
by these tests, for which there was therefore some excuse. As to the
brutality of the tests perhaps Miss Zimmern in maidenly way has said
too much. We commend her paragraphs to the modern committees of
reception of college secret societies, because here as elsewhere this
generation may get points from the Thirteenth Century.</p>
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MINSTER (CHORIN, GERMANY)</p>
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CITY GATE (NEUBRANDENBURG)</p>
<p>"We cannot sully our pages by detailing the thirteen different games
or modes of martyrdom that were in use at Bergen. Our more civilized
age could not tolerate the recital. In those days they attracted a
crowd of eager spectators who applauded the more vociferously the more
cruel and barbarous the tortures. The most popular were those
practices known as the smoke, water and flogging games; mad, cruel
pranks calculated to cause a freshman to lose health and reason. Truly
Dantesque hell tortures were these initiations into Hansa mysteries.
Merely to indicate their nature we will mention that for the smoke
game the victim was pulled up the big chimney of the Schutting while
there burned beneath him the most filthy materials, sending up a most
nauseous stench and choking wreaths of smoke. While in this position
he was asked a number of questions, to which he was forced, under yet
more terrible penalties, to reply. If he survived his torture he
was taken out into the yard and plied under the pump with six tons of
water." (Even the "Water Cure" is not new).</p>
<p>There was a variety about the tests at different times and places that
show no lack of invention on the part of the members of Hansa. With
regard to other water tests Miss Zimmern has furnished some
interesting details:</p>
<p>"The 'water' game that took place at Whitsuntide consisted in first
treating the probationer to food, and then taking him out to sea in a
boat. Here he was stripped thrown into the ocean, ducked three times,
made to swallow much sea-water, and thereafter mercilessly flogged by
all the inmates of the boats. The third chief game was no less
dangerous to life and limb. It took place a few days after, and was a
rude perversion of the May games. The victims had first to go out into
the woods to gather the branches with which later they were to be
birched. Returned to the factory, rough horse play pranks were
practised upon them. Then followed an ample dinner, which was
succeeded by mock combats, and ended in the victims being led into the
so-called Paradise, where twenty-four disguised men whipped them till
they drew blood, while outside this black hole another party made
hellish music with pipes, drums and triangles to deafen the screams of
the tortured. The 'game' as considered ended when the shrieks of the
victims were sufficiently loud to overcome the pandemonic music." Some
of the extreme physical cruelties of the initiations our modern
fraternities have eliminated, but the whole story has a much more
familiar air than we might have expected.</p>
<p>Probably the most interesting feature of the history of the Hanseatic
League is the fact that this great combination for purposes of trade
and commerce proved a source of liberty for the citizens of the
various towns, and enabled them to improve their political status
better than any other single means at this precious time of
development of legal and social rights. This is all the more
interesting because great commercial combinations with similar
purposes in modern times have usually proved fruitful rather of
opposite results. A few persons have been very much benefited by them,
or at least have made much money by them, which is quite another
thing, though money is supposed to represent power and
influence, but the great mass of the people have been deprived of
opportunities to rise and have had taken from them many chances for
the exercise of initiative that existed before.</p>
<p>There is a curious effect of Hansa upon the political fortunes of the
people of the cities that were members of the League which deserves to
be carefully studied. As with regard to so many other improvements
that have come in the history of the race, it was not a question so
much of the recognition of great principles as of money and revenues
that proved the origin of amelioration of civic conditions. These
commercial cities accumulated wealth. Money was necessary for their
rulers for the maintenance of their power and above all for the waging
of war. In return for moneys given for such purposes the cities
claimed for the inhabitants and were granted many privileges. These
became perpetuated and as time went on were added to as new
opportunities for the collection of additional revenues occurred,
until finally an important set of fundamental rights with documentary
confirmation were in the hands of the city authorities. One would like
to think that this state of affairs developed as the result of the
recognition on the part of the ruling sovereign, of the benefits that
were conferred on his realm by having in it, or associated with it, an
important trading city whose enterprising citizens gave occupation to
many hands. This was very rarely the case, however, but as was true of
the legal rights obtained by England's citizens during the Thirteenth
Century, it was largely a question of the coordination of taxation and
legislative representation and the consequent attainment of
privileges.</p>
<p>The most important effect on the life of Europe and the growth of
civilization that the Hanseatic League exerted, was its success in
showing that people of many different nations and races, living under
very different circumstances, might still be united under similar laws
that would enable them to accomplish certain objects which they had in
view. Germans, Slavs and English learned to live in one another's
towns and while observing the customs of these various places
maintained the privileges of their homes. The mutual influence of
these people on one another, many of them being the most practical and
enterprising individuals of the time, could scarcely fail to
produce noteworthy effects in broadening the minds of those with whom
they came in contact. It is to this period that we must trace the
beginnings of international law. Hansa showed the world how much
commercial relations were facilitated by uniform laws and by just
treatment of even the citizens of foreign countries. It is to commerce
that we owe the first recognition of the rights of the people of other
countries even in time of war. If the Hanseatic League had done
nothing else but this, it must be considered as an important factor in
the development of our modern civilization and an element of influence
great as any other in this wonderful century.</p>
<p class="image">
<ANTIMG alt="" src="images/i429.jpg" border=1><br/>
HINGE FROM CATHEDRAL, SCHLESTADT</p>
<h1>APPENDIX I</h1>
<h2>SO-CALLED HISTORY. <br/> RULERS.</h2>
<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="4" width="70%">
<col width="70%"><col width="30%">
<tbody>
<tr><td colspan="2">EMPERORS OF GERMANY.</td></tr>
<tr><td>Otho IV </td><td>1198-1218</td></tr>
<tr><td>Frederick II </td><td> 1212-1250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Conrad IV</td><td> 1250-1254</td></tr>
<tr><td>William of Holland </td><td> 1254-1256</td></tr>
<tr><td>Richard Earl of Cornwall </td><td> 1257-1273</td></tr>
<tr><td>Rudolph of Hapsburg </td><td>1273-1291</td></tr>
<tr><td>Adolph of Nassau </td><td> 1292-1298</td></tr>
<tr><td>Albert of Austria </td><td>1298-1308</td></tr>
<tr><td><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2">KINGS OF SCOTLAND</td></tr>
<tr><td>William </td><td> 1175-1214</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alexander II </td><td>1214-1249</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alexander III </td><td> 1249-1286</td></tr>
<tr><td>Margaret </td><td> 1286-1292</td></tr>
<tr><td>John Balliol </td><td> 1292-1296</td></tr>
<tr><td>Interregnum </td><td>1296-1306</td></tr>
<tr><td><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2">KINGS OF CASTILE AND LEON.</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alfonso IX </td><td> 1188-1214</td></tr>
<tr><td>Henry I </td><td> 1214-1217</td></tr>
<tr><td>St. Ferdinand III </td><td> 1217-1252</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alfonso X </td><td> 1252-1284</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sancho IV </td><td> 1284-1295</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ferdinand IV </td><td> 1295-1312</td></tr>
<tr><td><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2">KINGS OF ENGLAND.</td></tr>
<tr><td>John Lackland </td><td> 1199-1216</td></tr>
<tr><td>Henry III </td><td> 1216-1272</td></tr>
<tr><td>Edward I </td><td>1272-1307</td></tr>
<tr><td><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2">KINGS OF FRANCE.</td></tr>
<tr><td>Philip II </td><td>1180-1223</td></tr>
<tr><td>Louis VIII </td><td> 1223-1226</td></tr>
<tr><td>Louis IX </td><td> 1226-1270</td></tr>
<tr><td>Philip III </td><td> 1270-1285</td></tr>
<tr><td>Louis [Philip] IV</td><td> 1314-1316</td></tr>
<tr><td><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2">KINGS OF ARAGON.</td></tr>
<tr><td>Pedro II </td><td> 1196-1213</td></tr>
<tr><td>James I., the Conqueror </td><td> 1215-1276</td></tr>
<tr><td>Pedro III </td><td>1276-1285</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alfonso III </td><td> 1285-1291</td></tr>
<tr><td>James II </td><td> 1291-1327</td></tr>
<tr><td><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2">KINGS OF NAPLES.</td></tr>
<tr><td>Conrad </td><td>1250-1254</td></tr>
<tr><td>Conradin </td><td> 1254-1258</td></tr>
<tr><td>Manfred </td><td> 1258-1266</td></tr>
<tr><td>Charles of Anjou </td><td> 1266-1285</td></tr>
<tr><td>Charles </td><td>1285-1309</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br/>
EVENTS.
<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="6" width="100%">
<col width="10%"><col width="90%">
<tbody>
<tr><td>1202</td><td>Fourth great crusade under Boniface, marquis of Montferrat.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1204</td><td>The English stripped of Normandy, etc., by Philip Augustus of France.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1206</td><td>Jenghis-Khan: foundation of the great empire of the Moguls.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1212</td><td>Battle of Ubeda: defeat and fall of Almohads of Africa.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1213</td><td>John Lackland acknowledges himself vassal of the pope.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1213</td><td>Battle of Bouvines won by Philip Augustus.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1215</td><td>Magna Charta. The palatinate of the Rhine goes to the house of Wittelsbach.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1217</td><td>Crusade of Andrew II., King of Hungary.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1218</td><td>Extinction of the dukes of Zarringuia: Switzerland becomes an immediate province of the empire.</td></tr>
<tr><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>1222</td><td>Charter or decree of Andrew II., basis of the Hungarian constitution.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1226</td><td>Renewal of the League of Lombardy to oppose the Emperor Frederick II.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1227</td><td>Battle of Bornhoeved in Holstein: Waldemar II., King of
Denmark, loses his conquests on the southern coast of the Baltic.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1228</td><td>Crusade of the Emperor Frederick II.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1230</td><td>The Teutonic order establishes itself in Prussia. Conquest of the Balearic islands by the King of Aragon.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1235</td><td>Formation of the Duchy of Brunswick in favor of the house of the Guelphs.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1236</td><td>Conquest of the Kingdoms of Cordova, Murcia and Seville by the Castilians.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1237</td><td>Conquest of Russia by Baton-Khan: origin of the Mogul or Tartar horde of Kaptschak.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1241</td><td>Invasion of Poland, Silesia, and Hungary by the Moguls.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1248</td><td>Crusade of St. Louis, King of France.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1250</td><td>Beginning of the great interregnum in Germany.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1254</td><td>Accessions of the emperors of different houses in Germany. End of
the dominion of the Agubites in Egypt and Syria; beginning of the empire
of the Mamelukes.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1256</td><td>Enfranchisement of the serfs at Bologna in Italy.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1261</td><td>Michel Paleologus, emperor of Nice, takes Constantinople; end of the empire of the Latins.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1265</td><td>Accession of the house of Anjou to the throne of the Two Sicilies.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1266</td><td>Admission of the Commons to the Parliament of England.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1268</td><td>Corradino decapitated at Naples; extinction of the house of
Hohenstaufen. Suabia and Franconia become immediate provinces of the
empire.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1271</td><td>The county of Toulouse passes to the King of France, and the Venaissin to the Pope.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1273</td><td>Accession of the Emperor Rudolph of Hapsburg to the throne of the empire: first election by the seven electors.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1282</td><td>Conquest of Wales by the King of England.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1282</td><td>The Sicilian Vespers, the kingdom of Sicily passes to the King of
Aragon. The Emperor Rudolph gives to his sons the duchies of Austria;
foundation of the house of Hapsburg.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1283</td><td>The Teutonic order completes the conquest of Prussia.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1289</td><td>Extinction of the male line of the old race of Scotch kings. Contest of Baliol and Bruce.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1290</td><td>Decline of the republic of Piza. Aggrandizement of that of Genoa.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1291</td><td>Taking of Ptolemais and Tyre by the Mamelukes. End of the crusades.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1294</td><td>Decline of the Mogul empire at the death of Kublai-Khan.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1298</td><td>Introduction of an hereditary aristocracy at Venice.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1300</td><td>Foundation of the modern Turkish empire by Ottoman I. First Jubilee proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br/>
<br/>
<h1>APPENDIX II.</h1>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />