The Major Wars and Conflicts of the League

The Hanseatic League was not a pacifist organisation. It fought four major wars during its history, and it was involved in numerous minor conflicts, embargoes, and confrontations. The League’s military power was, in the first instance, naval: the cities of the Baltic built and maintained the largest merchant fleet in northern Europe, and they could convert it into a war fleet at need. The League also had the power to levy embargoes, the Verhansungen, which were a particularly effective form of economic warfare, and the embargo of Novgorod in 1474, which cut off the Russian fur trade, was one of the most severe in medieval history.

This article describes the major wars and conflicts of the League, beginning with the war of 1284–85 against the pirates of the Baltic, continuing with the wars of 1367–70, 1390s, 1426–35, and 1460s–70s, and ending with the numerous minor conflicts that punctuated the League’s history.

An overview of the major wars

The standard treatment is in Philippe Dollinger, The German Hansa (Stanford, 1970), pp. 230–280. The standard German treatment is in the relevant chapters of Rolf Hammel-Kiesow, Die Hanse (4th ed., 2011).

The war against the pirates (1284–85)

The first major war of the League was the war of 1284–85 against the pirates of the Baltic, in which the cities of the Wendish district organised a fleet to suppress the pirates preying on Hanseatic shipping. The pirates had established their bases on the island of Rügen and along the Pomeranian coast, and they had been disrupting the trade of the Baltic for several years.

The League’s response was characteristic: rather than engage the pirates at sea, the cities organised a combined fleet, sailed to the pirate bases, and destroyed them. The fleet was successful, and the pirate nests on Rügen and along the Pomeranian coast were destroyed. The war demonstrated that the cities could organise military action on a large scale, and it marked the beginning of the League’s military power.

A useful note: the pirates of Rügen and Pomerania were not unrelated to the Slavic polities of the southern Baltic — in particular the Rani, the Slavic principality on the island of Rügen. The 1284–85 campaign should be read in the context of the broader German-Slavic frontier conflicts of the 12th–13th centuries.

The first war against Denmark (1367–70)

The second major war of the League was the war of 1367–70 against the king of Denmark, a conflict known as the first war of the cities, or in German Erster Städtekrieg. The war was the result of the Danish king Valdemar IV’s attempt to reimpose control over the herring fisheries of the Sound and to revoke the privileges of the Hanseatic merchants in Scandinavia.

The League’s response was decisive. The League’s fleet, under the command of the Bürgermeister of Lübeck, sailed into the Sound, blockaded Copenhagen, and forced King Valdemar to sign the Treaty of Stralsund in 1370. The treaty was, by any measure, the high point of Hanseatic power, and it remained the foundation of the League’s commercial dominance of the Baltic until well into the fifteenth century.

The treaty was a remarkable document. It guaranteed the privileges of the Hanseatic merchants in Scandinavia for the next two centuries, it gave the League a substantial role in the governance of the herring fisheries of the Sound, and it required the Danish king to consult the League on matters of commerce. The treaty was, in effect, a capitulation by the Danish crown to the League, and it was a turning point in the history of northern Europe.

The war against the Victual Brothers (1390s)

The third major war of the League was the war of the 1390s against the Victual Brothers, a band of privateers who had seized the island of Gotland and used it as a base to prey on Hanseatic shipping. The Victual Brothers were, in many ways, the most formidable enemies the League had ever faced, and the war against them was the most difficult of the League’s military campaigns.

The League’s response was, again, characteristic. The League blockaded Gotland, starved the pirates out, and then sent a fleet to recover the island. The campaign was successful, and by 1398 the Victual Brothers had been destroyed, and the League had reasserted its monopoly of Baltic shipping. The war demonstrated the League’s ability to project military power over long distances, and it confirmed the League’s control of the Baltic.

A useful corrective: the Victual Brothers were not random pirates. They were a combination of German mercenaries left unemployed by the end of the Danish war of 1367–70, and the Teutonic Order’s forces during the conflict with Poland-Lithuania. The League’s victory in 1398 was, in part, a victory over the remains of an earlier conflict the League itself had helped to start.

The second war against Denmark (1426–35)

The fourth major war of the League was the war of 1426–35 against the king of Denmark-Holstein, a conflict known as the second war of the cities, or in German Zweiter Städtekrieg. The war was the result of the Danish king Eric of Pomerania’s attempt to reimpose control over the herring fisheries of the Sound and to revoke the privileges of the Hanseatic merchants.

The League’s response was, again, decisive. The League’s fleet blockaded the Sound, attacked the Danish herring fisheries, and forced King Eric to sign the Treaty of Vordingborg in 1435. The treaty was a confirmation of the Treaty of Stralsund, and it marked the beginning of the golden age of the League, the period from roughly 1440 to 1470 when Hanseatic commerce reached its greatest extent and the League’s political influence was at its peak.

The war against Burgundy (1460s–70s)

The fifth major war of the League was the war of the 1460s and 1470s against the duke of Burgundy, a conflict that marked the beginning of the end of the League’s commercial dominance. The war began as a dispute over the herring trade and the privileges of Hanseatic merchants in Bruges, and it escalated into a full-scale war between the League and the duke of Burgundy.

The League’s response was, for the first time, unsuccessful. The League’s fleet was defeated for the first time in a major naval engagement at the Battle of Reimerswaal in 1473, and the Peace of Cadzand in 1477 — although not catastrophic in its terms — marked the end of the League’s commercial dominance in the West.

A note on historiographical position: the Burgundian war is sometimes read as a turning point, sometimes as the end of a long decline that was already under way by 1470. The standard account is in Philippe Dollinger, The German Hansa (Stanford, 1970), pp. 252–266; the standard German account is in the relevant chapter of Rolf Hammel-Kiesow, Die Hanse (4th ed., 2011).

The minor conflicts

In addition to the four major wars, the League was involved in numerous minor conflicts, embargoes, and confrontations. The principal of these were:

• The embargo of Flanders in 1280–81, in which the Wendish towns closed their markets to the merchants of Flanders in retaliation for attacks on Hanseatic merchants.
• The embargo of Magdeburg in 1284, in which the Wendish towns closed their markets to the merchants of the archbishopric of Magdeburg.
• The embargo of Flanders in 1358–60, in which the League closed its markets to the merchants of Flanders in retaliation for the count’s revocation of Hanseatic privileges.
• The embargo of Novgorod in 1474, in which the League closed the Peterhof in retaliation for the Russians’ attacks on Hanseatic merchants.
• The conflicts with the Teutonic Order in the 1400s–1450s, in which the Prussian cities clashed with the Order.
• The conflicts with Sweden in the 1500s–1560s.
• The conflicts with the Dutch in the 1500s–1640s, in which the Dutch gradually took over much of the carrying trade of the Baltic.

The military organisation of the League

The League’s military power was, in the first instance, the power of the cities. Each city maintained a militia, equipped with arms and armour, and each city was responsible for the defence of its own territory. The cities also maintained fleets, equipped with warships, and the cities’ fleets were the backbone of the League’s naval power.

The League’s military campaigns were usually organised by a coalition of the willing cities, and the coalition was usually led by Lübeck. The coalition would appoint a commander, who would be responsible for the conduct of the campaign, and the coalition would agree on the contribution of each city to the campaign. The contribution was usually in ships, men, and money, and the contribution was usually proportional to the size and wealth of the city.

A useful note: the League had no standing army and no professional navy. The fleets were crewed by merchant sailors and, in some cases, by mercenaries. The commanders were usually Bürgermeister or senior councilors, not professional admirals. The victories of the 1370s and 1430s were remarkable precisely because they demonstrated that merchant sailors could defeat professional fleets.

Related pages

• The history of the Hanseatic League
• The golden age of the League
• The late period and the crisis of the League
• The Hansetag: the Hanseatic Diet
• Treaties and alliances of the League
• Ships and the Hanseatic merchant fleet
• The decline of the League