Idea #599 – Visiting the Dutch cities of the Hanseatic League
In the Middle Ages, a hanse shew traders’ professional association, exercising a common activity. The “Hanse”, also known under the name of Hanseatic League, Germanic Hanse or Teutonic Hanse consisted of a federation of trade cities of the Northern Europe, concentrated around the Sea by the North and by the Baltic Sea. This federation distinguished itself from others by commercial privileges which had been granted to them by diverse European sovereigns, and which offered them certain advantage. Active from the XIIth century to XVIIth century, this Hanse played a dominating role at the commercial level, then political, in Europe. In 1648, the signature of the treaties of Westphalia, meaning the end of the Thirty Years War and the war of Eighty Years, marked the decline of the Hanseatic League and its quasi-disappearance.
In the Netherlands, several cities were a part of the Hanse. Let us quote in particular Kampen, Elburg, Zwolle, Hattem, who present even today remarkable remains, including old houses, ramparts, monumental tower-gates, churches, belfries and city halls…
Some Pictures
Where is it ?
Zwolle, Netherlands
