Organization
The members of the Hanseatic League were Low German merchants as well as the towns where, with the exception of Dinant, these merchants held citizenship. Not all towns with Low German merchant communities were members of the league, e.g., Emden, Memel (Klaipėda), Vyborg and Narva never joined. On the other hand, Hanseatic merchants could also come from settlements without German town law—the premise for league membership was birth to German parents, subjection to German law, and a commercial education. The league served to further and defend the common interests of its heterogeneous members: commercial ambitions such as enhancement of trade, and political ambitions such as ensuring maximum independence from the noble territorial rulers.
Decisions and actions of the Hanseatic League were the consequence of a consensus-based procedure. If an issue arose, the league's members were invited to participate in a central meeting, the Tagfahrt (lit. "meeting ride," sometimes also referred to as Hansetag, since 1358). The member communities then chose envoys (Ratssendeboten) to represent their local consensus on the issue at the Tagfahrt. Not every community sent an own envoy, delegates were often entitled to represent a set of communities. Consensus-building on local and Tagfahrt levels followed the Low Saxon tradition of Einung, where consensus was defined as absence of protest: after a discussion, the proposals which gained sufficient support were dictated aloud to the scribe and passed as binding Rezess if the attendees did not object; those favouring alternative proposals unlikely to get sufficient support were obliged to remain silent during this procedure. If consensus could not be established on a certain issue, consensus was established instead on the appointment of a number of league members who were then empowered to work out a solution.
The Hanseatic kontors each had an own treasury, court and seal. Like the guilds, the kontors were led by Ältermänner (sing. Ältermann, lit. "elderman," cf. English aldermen). The Stalhof kontor, as a special case, had a Hanseatic and an English Ältermann. In 1347, the kontor of Brussels modified its statute to ensure an equal representation of the league's members. To that end, member communities from different regions were pooled into three circles (Drittel, lit. "third "): the Wendish and Saxon Drittel, the Westphalian and Prussian Drittel as well as the Gothlandian, Livonian and Swedish Drittel. The merchants from the respective Drittel would then each choose two Ältermänner and six members of the Eighteen Men's Council (Achtzehnmännerrat) to administer the kontor for a set period of time. In 1356, during a Hanseatic meeting in preparation of the first Tagfahrt, the league confirmed this statute. The division into Drittel was gradually adopted and institutionalized by the league in general (see table).
| Drittel (1356–1554) | Regions | Chief city (Vorort) |
|---|---|---|
| Wendish-Saxon | Holstein, Saxony, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Brandenburg | Lübeck |
| Westphalian-Prussian | Westphalia, Rhineland, Prussia | Dortmund, later Cologne |
| Gothlandian-Livonian-Swedish | Gothland, Livonia, Sweden | Visby, later Rīga |
The Tagfahrt or Hansetag was the only central institution of the Hanseatic league. However, with the division in Drittel, the members of the respective subdivisions frequently held Dritteltage (lit. "Drittel meeting") to work out common positions which could then be presented at a Tagfahrt. On a more local level, league members also met, and while such regional meetings were never formalized into a Hanseatic institution, they gradually gained importance in the process of preparing and implementing Tagfahrt decisions.
Since 1554, the division into Drittel was modified to reduce the circles' heterogeneity, enhance the collaboration of the members on a local level and thus make the league's decision making process more efficient. The number of circles rose to four, accordingly they were called Quartiere (quarters):
| Quartier (since 1554) | Chief city (Vorort) |
|---|---|
| Wendish and Pomeranian | Lübeck |
| Saxon, Thuringian and Brandenburg | Brunswick, Magdeburg |
| Prussia, Livonia and Sweden—or East Baltic | Danzig (now Gdańsk) |
| Rhine, Westphalia and Netherlands | Cologne |
This division was however not adopted by the depots (Kontore), who for their purposes (like Ältermänner elections) grouped the league members in different ways; e.g., the division adopted by the Stahlhof in London in 1554 grouped the league members into Drittel, whereby Lübeck merchants represented the Wendish, Pomeranian Saxon and several Westphalian towns, Cologne merchants represented the Cleves, Mark, Berg and Dutch towns, while Danzig merchants represented the Prussian and Livonian towns.
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