The Hanseatic League and the European Union
Introduction
On 25 March 2017, the European Union will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its existence. Nevertheless, the European Council and the presidents of the twenty seven member states are aware that it is not a perfect union.
The Hanseatic League is probably the oldest trace of city alliances in Europe that actually started as a merchant’s society in the Middle Ages.
The main interest of this work is to analyse this trade alliance from three different points of view to outline the similarities and differences in contrast to the European Union. To figure out about the initially mentioned question it is planned to start with the economic point of view in the first part. The second part will deal with the political aspects whilst the third part finally will get into the social facets with respect to the Hanseatic League, also called “Hanse”. Therefore it is necessary to briefly define this merchants association to begin with. The Hanseatic League can be seen as a merchant league that spread “from England across Germany into the Baltic Sea and beyond” (McCarthy 2006, p 65), hence mainly the northern half of Europe. Their development is by virtue of the conditions in die Middle Ages: There were only some emerging nation states such as England and France (McCarthy 2006) whereas Germany consisted in small communities and principalities ruled by noblemen or other sovereigns. Continental trade had to face many obstacles back then, such as different local moneys, tariffs, and laws. Thus, the merchant league can be seen as one solution to standardize exchange and develop an international commercial law (McCarthy 2006). Though there has never been an official document that had to be signed by the members the “Hanseatic traders” became Hanseatic Cities later on, and built some kind of formal and international organisation (McCarthy 2006).
1 Economical Aspects
From “Hanse Traders” to Hanse Cities
As already mentioned, the Hanse was under the authority of
On 25 March 2017, the European Union will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its existence. Nevertheless, the European Council and the presidents of the twenty seven member states are aware that it is not a perfect union.
The Hanseatic League is probably the oldest trace of city alliances in Europe that actually started as a merchant’s society in the Middle Ages.
The main interest of this work is to analyse this trade alliance from three different points of view to outline the similarities and differences in contrast to the European Union. To figure out about the initially mentioned question it is planned to start with the economic point of view in the first part. The second part will deal with the political aspects whilst the third part finally will get into the social facets with respect to the Hanseatic League, also called “Hanse”. Therefore it is necessary to briefly define this merchants association to begin with. The Hanseatic League can be seen as a merchant league that spread “from England across Germany into the Baltic Sea and beyond” (McCarthy 2006, p 65), hence mainly the northern half of Europe. Their development is by virtue of the conditions in die Middle Ages: There were only some emerging nation states such as England and France (McCarthy 2006) whereas Germany consisted in small communities and principalities ruled by noblemen or other sovereigns. Continental trade had to face many obstacles back then, such as different local moneys, tariffs, and laws. Thus, the merchant league can be seen as one solution to standardize exchange and develop an international commercial law (McCarthy 2006). Though there has never been an official document that had to be signed by the members the “Hanseatic traders” became Hanseatic Cities later on, and built some kind of formal and international organisation (McCarthy 2006).
1 Economical Aspects
From “Hanse Traders” to Hanse Cities
As already mentioned, the Hanse was under the authority of