A former Hanse trading post in Symbister, Shetland, now a museum, pictured in 2017 at the height of the Brexit debate. ‘From a time’ muses the photographer ‘when trade links with Europe didn’t generate so much hot air.’ Indeed: it generated a lot more. The ‘odious monopoly’ of the bloc (to borrow a phrase from nineteenth-century Russian scientist Joseph Hamel), and England’s attempts to break free of it, precipitated the Anglo-Hanseatic War of 1468-1474 and pushed a Tudor ‘Brexit’ noisily to the top of the political agenda. Finding new markets, especially in Russia, India, the Far East and North America meant that the tensions (and the League) faded away without the resumption of hostilities.
THE tale of their privileges is staggering to consider. They had their fortified Guildhall with its wharves and store-houses on the riverside;* they were free of most, if not all, English taxes, both municipal and national, and paid less in customs than native Englishmen; they had not only their own court and aldermen for the government of their own affairs, but had special judges to settle their disputes with natives; they were above English juries and English law; they were exempt especially from that ancient custom of “hosting”* which prevailed not only in England but throughout at least Northern Europe; they held their houses in London and other ports in freehold; they had control of one of the gates of the City of London, and were free to go out and in without paying municipal duties; they dealt not only “in gross” but in retail, in defiance of English custom.*
They were thus favoured not only over other foreigners, but over Englishmen. Their advantage over other foreigners was so overwhelming that even the trade of the Venetians with England languished and dwindled almost to nothing, and their advantage over Englishmen was substantial enough to make the determination to end it one of the chief forces in our mediaeval politics.*
From ‘The Germans in England’ (1915) by Ian Colvin (1877-1938). Further information from ‘The Unseen Hand in English History’ (1917), also by Ian Colvin.
* This Guildhall was known as the Steelyard. In 1281, Edward I recognised a self-governing community, the Hanse of Almain, in London, and granted them a Carta Mercatoria in 1303. Resentments flared in 1469. The Steelyard was destroyed, plunging the country into the Anglo-Hanseatic War of 1470–74; but after Edward IV signed the Treaty of Utrecht the bloc regained the Steelyard, and from 1475 enjoyed the rights enumerated by Colvin, which were not reciprocated in the towns of the Hanse.
* The league also attempted to manipulate civic and diplomatic policy for its own benefit. As William Harborne (?1542-1617), Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, travelled through Gdansk, Lübeck and Hamburg he was showered with congratulations on England’s deliverance from the Spanish Armanda of 1588; but he learnt too that down on the docks labourers were busily loading ships bound for Spain with “great provisions of corn, cables, ropes, powder, saltpetre, harquebusses, armour, iron, lead, copper, and all other munitions serving for the war”. On June 30th, 1589, Sir Francis Drake impounded sixty Hanse ships, laden with military supplies, during a raid on Lisbon.
* By legal custom reaching back to Anglo-Saxon times, foreigners were not permitted to live in the City of London except as paying guests of the citizens, who were entitled to claim commission on their guests’ sales. The privilege was jealously guarded, and exemptions consequently resented. King Ethelred (r. 978-1016) got round it by hosting foreigners aboard ship.
* The League’s grip weakened when English merchants began to look for alternative trading parters. William Adams established links with Japan, but the heaviest blow was the Fellowship of Merchant Adventurers or Muscovy Company, which capitalised on Richard Chancellor’s breakthrough journey to Russia in 1553. “How abominable that such a Company could suppress the Hanse,” grumbled the Alderman of the Steelyard in 1581, “considering that at other times a few Hanse towns have kept the whole kingdom of England under their thumbs.” Elizabeth’s refusal to release the ships impounded by Drake confirmed that the Hanse was powerless in the face of English defiance, and the Queen rescinded the bloc’s City privileges in 1598. The Steelyard was reopened a few years later under James I, but England had become a trading power in her own right and was now looking towards India and North America.
Questions for Critics
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Précis
From their base in the heart of London, the Steelyard, the Hanse merchants conducted their profitable trade largely free from taxes and even the jurisdiction of English courts. The Germans demanded such exclusivity that English trade with southern Europe was almost extinguished, and breaking free from the Hanse became Tudor England’s a matter of urgency. (55 / 60 words)
From their base in the heart of London, the Steelyard, the Hanse merchants conducted their profitable trade largely free from taxes and even the jurisdiction of English courts. The Germans demanded such exclusivity that English trade with southern Europe was almost extinguished, and breaking free from the Hanse became Tudor England’s a matter of urgency.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, because, just, not, or, ought, whereas, who.
Archive
Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Add. Establish. Themselves.
2 But. Power. Without.
3 Little. Pitch. Recognize.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Opposites Find in Think and Speak
Suggest words or phrases that seem opposite in meaning to each of the words below. We have suggested some possible answers; see if you can find any others.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1.
Best.
2.
Centre.
3.
Command.
4.
Enough.
5.
Full.
6.
Lit.
7.
More.
8.
Nothing.
9.
Retail.
Variations: 1.instead of opposites, suggest words of similar meaning (synonyms). 2.use a word and its opposite in the same sentence. 3.suggest any 5 opposites formed by adding un-.
Confusables Find in Think and Speak
In each group below, you will find words that are similar to one another, but not exactly the same. Compose your own sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between them, whether in meaning, grammar or use.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1.
Command.
Commend.
2.
Custom.
Customs.
3.
Door.
Gate.
4.
Forbid.
Bid for.
5.
Lamp.
Light.
6.
Tail.
Tale.
7.
Their.
They’re.
8.
Torch.
Light.
9.
Worth.
Value.
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
bgs (7)
bags. begs. bogies. bogs. bogus. boogies. bugs.
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