Under It Were Hamburgh, Rostok, Wismar,
And Other Nine Towns Situated In The North Of Germany.
Cologne was the
chief city of the second class, with twenty-nine towns under it, lying in
that part of Germany.
Brunswick was the capital of the third class, having
under it twelve towns, farther to the south than those under Lubeck.
Dantzic was at the head of the fourth class, having under it eight towns in
its vicinity, besides some smaller ones more remote. The four chief
factories of the League were Novogorod in Russia, London, Bruges, and
Bergen.
From this period till the middle of the sixteenth century, their power,
though sometimes formidable, and their commerce, though sometimes
flourishing, were both on the decline. Several causes contributed to this:
they were often engaged in disputes, and not unfrequently in wars, with the
northern powers. That civilization, knowledge, and wealth, to which, as we
have remarked, they contributed so essentially, though indirectly, and
without having these objects in view, disposed and enabled other powers to
participate in the commerce which they had hitherto exclusively carried on.
It was not indeed to be supposed, that either the monarchs or the subjects
would willingly and cheerfully submit to have all their own trade in the
very heart of their own country conducted, and the fruit of it reaped by
foreign merchants. They, therefore, first used their efforts to gain
possession of their own commerce, and then aspired to participate in the
trade of other countries; succeeding by degrees, and after a length of
time, in both these objects, the Hanseatic League was necessarily depressed
in the same proportion.
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