[1] For others of the name see CARTHAGE; HANNIBAL; PUNIC WARS.
Smith's _Classical Dictionary_ has notices of some thirty of the
name.
HANOI, capital of Tongking and of French Indo-China, on the right bank
of the Song-koi or Red river, about 80 m. from its mouth in the Gulf of
Tongking. Taking in the suburban population the inhabitants numbered in
1905 about 110,000, including 103,000 Annamese, 2289 Chinese and 2665
French, exclusive of troops. Hanoi resembles a European city in the
possession of wide well-paved streets and promenades, systems of
electric light and drainage and a good water-supply. A crowded native
quarter built round a picturesque lake lies close to the river with the
European quarter to the south of it. The public buildings include the
palace of the governor-general, situated in a spacious botanical and
zoological garden, the large military hospital, the cathedral of St
Joseph, the Paul Bert college, and the theatre. The barracks and other
military buildings occupy the site of the old citadel, an area of over
300 acres, to the west of the native town. The so-called pagoda of the
Great Buddha is the chief native building. The river is embanked and is
crossed by the Pont Doumer, a fine railway bridge over 1 m. long.
Vessels drawing 8 or 9 ft. can reach the town. Hanoi is the seat of the
general government of Indo-China, of the resident-superior of Tongking,
and of a bishop, who is vicar-apostolic of central Tongking. It is
administered by an elective municipal council with a civil service
administrator as mayor. It has a chamber of commerce, the president of
which has a seat on the superior council of Indo-China; a chamber of the
court of appeal of Indo-China, a civil tribunal of the first order, and
is the seat of the chamber of agriculture of Tongking. Its industries
include cotton-spinning, brewing, distilling, and the manufacture of
tobacco, earthenware and matches; native industry produces carved and
inlaid furniture, bronzes and artistic metal-work, silk embroidery, &c.
Hanoi is the junction of railways to Hai-Phong, its seaport, Lao-Kay,
Vinh, and the Chinese frontier via Lang-Son. It is in frequent
communication with Hai-Phong by steamboat.
See C. Madrolle, _Tonkin du sud: Hanoi_ (Paris, 1907).
HANOTAUX, ALBERT AUGUSTE GABRIEL (1853- ), French statesman and
historian, was born at Beaurevoir in the department of Aisne. He
received his historical training in the Ecole des Chartes, and became
_maitre de conferences_ in the Ecole des Hautes Etudes. His political
career was rather that of a civil servant than of a party politician. In
1879 he entered the ministry of foreign affairs as a secretary, and rose
step by step through the diplomatic service. In 1886 he was elected
deputy for Aisne, but, defeated in 1889, he returned to his diplomatic
career, and on the 31st of May 1894 was chosen by Charles Dupuy to be
minister of foreign affairs. With one interruption (during the Ribot
ministry, from the 26th of January to the 2nd of November 1895) he held
this portfolio until the 14th of June 1898. During his ministry he
developed the _rapprochement_ of France with Russia--visiting St
Petersburg with the president, Felix Faure--and sent expeditions to
delimit the French colonies in Africa. The Fashoda incident of July 1898
was a result of this policy, and Hanotaux's distrust of England is
frankly stated in his literary works. As an historian he published
_Origines de l'institution des intendants de provinces_ (1884), which is
the authoritative study on the intendants; _Etudes historiques sur les
XVI^e et XVII^e siecles en France_ (1886); _Histoire de Richelieu_ (2
vols., 1888); and _Histoire de la Troisieme Republique (1904, &c.), the
standard history of contemporary France._ He also edited the
_Instructions des ambassadeurs de France a Rome, depuis les traites de
Westphalie_ (1888). He was elected a member of the French Academy on the
1st of April 1897.
HANOVER (Ger. _Hannover_), formerly an independent kingdom of Germany,
but since 1866 a province of Prussia. It is bounded on the N. by the
North Sea, Holstein, Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Schwerin, E. and S.E. by
Prussian Saxony and the duchy of Brunswick, S.W. by the Prussian
provinces of Hesse-Nassau and Westphalia, and W. by Holland. These
boundaries include the grand-duchy of Oldenburg and the free state of
Bremen, the former stretching southward from the North Sea nearly to the
southern boundary of Hanover. A small portion of the province in the
south is separated from Hanover proper by the interposition of part of
Brunswick. On the 23rd of March 1873 the province was increased by the
addition of the Jade territory (purchased by Prussia from Oldenburg),
lying south-west of the Elbe and containing the great naval station and
arsenal of Wilhelmshaven. The area of the province is 14,870 sq. m.
_Physical Features._--The greater part of Hanover is a plain with
sandhills, heath and moor. The most fertile districts lie on the banks
of the Elbe and near the North Sea, where, as in Holland, rich meadows
are preserved from encroachment of the sea by broad dikes and deep
ditches, kept in repair at great expense. The main feature of the
northern plain is the so-called _Luneburger Heide_, a vast expanse of
moor and fen, mainly covered with low brushwood (though here and there
are oases of fine beech and oak woods) and intersected by shallow
valleys, and extending almost due north from the city of Hanover to
the southern arm of the Elbe at Harburg. The southern portion of the
province is hilly, and in the district of Klausenburg, containing the
Harz, mountainous. The higher elevations are covered by dense forests
of fir and larch, and the lower slopes with deciduous trees. The
eastern portion of the northern plain is covered with forests of fir.
The whole of Hanover dips from the Harz Mountains to the north, and
the rivers consequently flow in that direction. The three chief rivers
of the province are the Elbe in the north-east, where it mainly forms
the boundary and receives the navigable tributaries Jeetze, Ilmenau,
Seve, Este, Luhe, Schwinge and Medem; the Weser in the centre, with
its important tributary the Aller (navigable from Celle downwards);
and in the west the Ems, with its tributaries the Aa and the Leda.
Still farther West is the Vecht, which, rising in Westphalia, flows to
the Zuider Zee. Canals are numerous and connect the various river
systems.
The principal lakes are the Steinhuder Meer, about 4 m. long and 2 m.
broad, and 20 fathoms deep, on the borders of Schaumburg-Lippe; the
Dummersee, on the borders of Oldenburg, about 12 m. in circuit; the
lakes of Bederkesa and some others in the moorlands of the north; the
Seeburger See, near Duderstadt; and the Oderteich, in the Harz, 2100
ft. above the level of the sea.
_Climate._--The climate in the low-lying districts near the coast is
moist and foggy, in the plains mild, on the Harz mountains severe and
variable. In spring the prevailing winds blow from the N.E. and E., in
summer from the S.W. The mean annual temperature is about 46 deg.
Fahr.; in the town of Hanover it is higher. The average annual
rainfall is about 23.5 in.; but this varies greatly in different
districts. In the west the Herauch, a thick fog arising from the
burning of the moors, is a plague of frequent occurrence.
_Population; Divisions._--The province contains an area of 14,869 sq.
m., and the total population, according to the census of 1905, was
2,759,699 (1,384,161 males and 1,375,538 females). In this connexion
it is noticeable that in Hanover, almost alone among German states and
provinces, there is a considerable proportion of male births over
female. The density of the population is 175 to the sq. m. (English),
and the proportion of urban to rural population, roughly, as 1 to 3 of
the inhabitants. The province is divided into the six
_Regierungsbezirke_ (or departments) of Hanover, Hildesheim, Luneburg,
Stade, Osnabruck and Aurich, and these again into Kreise (circles, or
local government districts)--76 in all. The chief towns--containing
more than 10,000 inhabitants--are Hanover, Linden, Osnabruck,
Hildesheim, Geestemunde, Wilhelmshaven, Harburg, Luneburg, Celle,
Gottingen and Emden. Religious statistics show that 84% of the
inhabitants belong to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church, 17 to the Roman
Catholic and less than 1% to the Jewish communities. The Roman
Catholics are mostly gathered around the episcopal sees of Hildesheim
and Osnabruck and close to Munster (in Westphalia) on the western
border, and the Jews in the towns. A court of appeal for the whole
province sits at Celle, and there are eight superior courts. Hanover
returns 19 members to the _Reichstag_ (imperial diet) and 36 to the
_Abgeordnetenhaus_ (lower house) of the Prussian parliament
(_Landtag_).
_Education._--Among the educational institutions of the province the
university of Gottingen stands first, with an average yearly
attendance of 1500 students. There are, besides, a technical college
in Hanover, an academy of forestry in Munden, a mining college in
Clausthal, a military school and a veterinary college (both in
Hanover), 26 gymnasia (classical schools), 18 semi-classical, and 14
commercial schools. There are also two naval academies, asylums for
the deaf and dumb, and numerous charitable institutions.
_Agriculture._--Though agriculture constitutes the most important
branch of industry in the province, it is still in a very backward
state. The greater part of the soil is of inferior quality, and much
that is susceptible of cultivation is still lying waste. Of the entire
area of the country 28.6% is arable, 16.2 in meadow or pasture land,
14% in forests, 37.2% in uncultivated moors, heaths, &c.; from 17 to
18% is in possession of the state. The best agriculture is to be found
in the districts of Hildesheim, Calenberg, Gottingen and Grubenhagen,
on the banks of the Weser and Elbe, and in East Friesland. Rye is
generally grown for bread. Flax, for which much of the soil is
admirably adapted, is extensively cultivated, and forms an important
article of export, chiefly, however, in the form of yarn. Potatoes,
hemp, turnips, hops, tobacco and beet are also extensively grown, the
latter, in connexion with the sugar industry, showing each year a
larger return. Apples, pears, plums and cherries are the principal
kinds of fruit cultivated, while the wild red cranberries from the
Harz and the black bilberries from the Luneburger Heide form an
important article of export.
_Live Stock._--Hanover is renowned for its cattle and live stock
generally. Of these there were counted in 1900 1,115,022 head of
horned cattle, 824,000 sheep, 1,556,000 pigs, and 230,000 goats. The
Luneburger Heide yields an excellent breed of sheep, the
_Heidschnucken_, which equal the Southdowns of England in delicacy of
flavour. Horses famous for their size and quality are reared in the
marshes of Aurich and Stade, in Hildesheim and Hanover; and, for
breeding purposes, in the stud farm of Celle. Bees are principally
kept on the Luneburger Heide, and the annual yield of honey is very
considerable. Large flocks of geese are kept in the moist lowlands;
their flesh is salted for domestic consumption during the winter, and
their feathers are prepared for sale. The rivers yield trout, salmon
(in the Weser) and crayfish. The sea fisheries are important and have
their chief centre at Geestemunde.
_Mining._--Minerals occur in great variety and abundance. The Harz
Mountains are rich in silver, lead, iron and copper; coal is found
around Osnabruck, on the Deister, at Osterwald, &c., lignite in
various places; salt-springs of great richness exist at Egestorfshall
and Neuhall near Hanover, and at Luneburg; and petroleum may be
obtained south of Celle. In the cold regions of the northern lowlands
peat occurs in beds of immense thickness.
_Manufactures._--Works for the manufacture of iron, copper, silver,
lead, vitriol and sulphur are carried on to a large extent. The iron
works are very important: smelting is carried on in the Harz and near
Osnabruck; there are extensive foundries and machine factories at
Hanover, Linden, Osnabruck, Hameln, Geestemunde, Harburg, Osterode,
&c., and manufactories of arms at Herzberg, and of cutlery in the
towns of the Harz and in the Sollinger Forest. The textile industries
are prosecuted chiefly in the towns. Linen yarn and cloth are largely
manufactured, especially in the south about Osnabruck and Hildesheim,
and bleaching is engaged in extensively; woollen cloths are made to a
considerable extent in the south about Einbeck, Gottingen and Hameln;
cotton-spinning and weaving have their principal seats at Hanover and
Linden. Glass houses, paper-mills, potteries, tile works and
tobacco-pipe works are numerous. Wax is bleached to a considerable
extent, and there are numerous tobacco factories, tanneries,
breweries, vinegar works and brandy distilleries. Shipbuilding is an
important industry, especially at Wilhelmshaven, Papenburg, Leer,
Stade and Harburg; and at Munden river-barges are built.
_Commerce._--Although the carrying trade of Hanover is to a great
extent absorbed by Hamburg and Bremen, the shipping of the province
counted, in 1903, 750 sailing vessels and 86 steamers of, together,
55,498 registered tons. The natural port is Bremen-Geestemunde and to
it is directed the river traffic down the Weser, which practically
forms the chief commercial artery of the province.
_Communications._--The roads throughout are, on the whole, well laid,
and those connecting the principal towns macadamized. Hanover is
intersected by important trunk lines of railway; notably the lines
from Berlin to Cologne, from Hamburg to Frankfort-on-Main, from
Hamburg to Bremen and Cologne, and from Berlin to Amsterdam.
_History._--The name Hanover (_Hohenufer_ = high bank), originally
confined to the town which became the capital of the duchy of
Luneburg-Calenberg, came gradually into use to designate, first, the
duchy itself, and secondly, the electorate of Brunswick-Luneburg; and it
was officially recognized as the name of the state when in 1814 the
electorate was raised to the rank of a kingdom.
The early history of Hanover is merged in that of the duchy of Brunswick
(q.v.), from which the duchy of Brunswick-Luneburg and its offshoots,
the duchies of Luneburg-Celle and Luneburg-Calenberg have sprung. Ernest
I. (1497-1546), duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, who introduced the reformed
doctrines into Luneburg, obtained the whole of this duchy in 1539; and
in 1569 his two surviving sons made an arrangement which was afterwards
responsible for the birth of the kingdom of Hanover. By this agreement
the greater part of the duchy, with its capital at Celle, came to
William (1535-1592), the younger of the brothers, who gave laws to his
land and added to its area; and this duchy of Luneburg-Celle was
subsequently ruled in turn by four of his sons: Ernest II. (1564-1611),
Christian (1566-1633), Augustus (d. 1636) and Frederick (d. 1648). In
addition to these four princes Duke William left three other sons, and
in 1610 the seven brothers entered into a compact that the duchy should
not be divided, and that only one of them should marry and continue the
family. Casting lots to determine this question, the lot fell upon the
sixth brother, George (1582-1641), who was a prominent soldier during
the period of the Thirty Years' War and saw service in almost all parts
of Europe, fighting successively for Christian IV. of Denmark, the
emperor Ferdinand II., and for the Swedes both before and after the
death of Gustavus Adolphus. In 1617 he aided his brother, Duke
Christian, to add Grubenhagen to Luneburg, and after the extinction of
the family of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel in 1634, he obtained Calenberg for
himself, making Hanover the capital of his small dukedom. In 1648, on
Duke Frederick's death, George's eldest son, Christian Louis (d. 1665),
became duke of Luneburg-Celle; and at this time he handed over
Calenberg, which he had ruled since his father's death, to his second
brother, George William (d. 1705). When Christian Louis died George
William succeeded him in Luneburg-Celle; but the duchy was also claimed
by a younger brother, John Frederick, a cultured and enlightened prince
who had forsaken the Lutheran faith of his family and had become a Roman
Catholic. Soon, however, by an arrangement John Frederick received
Calenberg and Grubenhagen, which he ruled in absolute fashion, creating
a standing army and modelling his court after that of Louis XIV., and
which came on his death in 1679 to his youngest brother, Ernest Augustus
(1630-1698), the Protestant bishop of Osnabruck. During the French wars
of aggression the Luneburg princes were eagerly courted by Louis XIV.
and by his opponents; and after some hesitation George William,
influenced by Ernest Augustus, fought among the Imperialists, while John
Frederick was ranged on the side of France. In 1689 George William was
one of the claimants for the duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, which was left
without a ruler in that year; and after a struggle with John George
III., elector of Saxony, and other rivals, he was invested with the
duchy by the emperor Leopold I. It was, however, his more ambitious
brother, Ernest Augustus, who did most for the prestige and advancement
of the house. Having introduced the principle of primogeniture into
Calenberg in 1682, Ernest determined to secure for himself the position
of an elector, and the condition of Europe and the exigencies of the
emperor favoured his pretensions. He made skilful use of Leopold's
difficulties; and in 1692, in return for lavish promises of assistance
to the Empire and the Habsburgs, the emperor granted him the rank and
title of elector of Brunswick-Luneburg with the office of
standard-bearer in the Holy Roman Empire. Indignant protests followed
this proceeding. A league was formed to prevent any addition to the
electoral college; France and Sweden were called upon for assistance;
and the constitution of the Empire was reduced to a state of chaos. This
agitation, however, soon died away; and in 1708 George Louis, the son
and successor of Ernest Augustus, was recognized as an elector by the
imperial diet. George Louis married his cousin Sophia Dorothea, the only
child of George William of Luneburg-Celle; and on his uncle's death in
1705 he united this duchy, together with Saxe-Lauenburg, with his
paternal inheritance of Calenberg or Hanover. His father, Ernest
Augustus, had taken a step of great importance in the history of Hanover
when he married Sophia, daughter of the elector palatine, Frederick V.,
and grand-daughter of James I. of England, for, through his mother, the
elector George Louis became, by the terms of the Act of Settlement of
1701, king of Great Britain and Ireland in 1714.
From this time until the death of William IV. in 1837, Luneburg or
Hanover, was ruled by the same sovereign as Great Britain, and this
personal union was not without important results for both countries.
Under George I. Hanover joined the alliance against Charles XII. of
Sweden in 1715; and by the peace of Stockholm in November 1719 the
elector received the duchies of Bremen and Verden, which formed an
important addition to the electorate. His son and successor, George II.,
who founded the university of Gottingen in 1737, was on bad terms with
his brother-in-law Frederick William I. of Prussia, and his nephew
Frederick the Great; and in 1729 war between Prussia and Hanover was
only just avoided. In 1743 George took up arms on behalf of the empress
Maria Theresa; but in August 1745 the danger in England from the
Jacobites led him to sign the convention of Hanover with Frederick the
Great, although the struggle with France raged around his electorate
until the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. Induced by political
exigencies George allied himself with Frederick the Great when the Seven
Years' War broke out in 1756; but in September 1757 his son William
Augustus, duke of Cumberland, was compelled after his defeat at
Hastenbeck to sign the convention of Klosterzeven and to abandon Hanover
to the French. English money, however, came to the rescue; in 1758
Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, cleared the electorate of the invader; and
Hanover suffered no loss of territory at the peace of 1763. Both George
I. and George II. preferred Hanover to England as a place of residence,
and it was a frequent and perhaps justifiable cause of complaint that
the interests of Great Britain were sacrificed to those of the smaller
country. But George III. was more British than either his grandfather or
his great-grandfather, and owing to a variety of causes the foreign
policies of the two countries began to diverge in the later years of his
reign. Two main considerations dominated the fortunes of Hanover during
the period of the Napoleonic wars, the jealousy felt by Prussia at the
increasing strength and prestige of the electorate, and its position as
a vulnerable outpost of Great Britain. From 1793 the Hanoverian troops
fought for the Allies against France, until the treaty of Basel between
France and Prussia in 1795 imposed a forced neutrality upon Hanover. At
the instigation of Bonaparte Hanover was occupied by the Prussians for a
few months in 1801, but at the settlement which followed the peace of
Luneville the secularized bishopric of Osnabruck was added to the
electorate. Again tempting the fortune of war after the rupture of the
peace of Amiens, the Hanoverians found that the odds against them were
too great; and in June 1803 by the convention of Sulingen their
territory was occupied by the French. The formation of the third
coalition against France in 1805 induced Napoleon to purchase the
support of Prussia by allowing her troops to seize Hanover; but in 1807,
after the defeat of Prussia at Jena, he incorporated the southern part
of the electorate in the kingdom of Westphalia, adding the northern
portion to France in 1810. The French occupation was costly and
aggressive; and the Hanoverians, many of whom were found in the allied
armies, welcomed the fall of Napoleon and the return of the old order.
Represented at the congress of Vienna by Ernest, Count Munster, the
elector was granted the title of king; but the British ministers wished
to keep the interests of Great Britain distinct from those of Hanover.
The result of the congress, however, was not unfavourable to the new
kingdom, which received East Friesland, the secularized bishopric of
Hildesheim, the city of Goslar, and some smaller additions of territory,
in return for the surrender of the greater part of the duchy of
Saxe-Lauenburg to Prussia.
Like those of the other districts of Germany, the estates of the
different provinces which formed the kingdom of Hanover had met for many
years in an irregular fashion to exercise their varying and ill-defined
authority; and, although the elector Ernest Augustus introduced a system
of administrative councils into Celle, these estates, consisting of the
three orders of prelates, nobles and towns, together with a body
somewhat resembling the English privy council, were the only
constitution which the country possessed, and the only check upon the
power of its ruler. When the elector George Louis became king of Great
Britain in 1714 he appointed a representative, or _Statthalter_, to
govern the electorate, and thus the union of the two countries was
attended with constitutional changes in Hanover as well as in Great
Britain. Responsible of course to the elector, the Statthalter, aided by
the privy council, conducted the internal affairs of the electorate,
generally in a peaceful and satisfactory fashion, until the welter of
the Napoleonic wars. On the conclusion of peace in 1814 the estates of
the several provinces of the kingdom were fused into one body,
consisting of eighty-five members, but the chief power was exercised as
before by the members of a few noble families. In 1819, however, this
feudal relic was supplanted by a new constitution. Two chambers were
established, the one formed of nobles and the other of elected
representatives; but although they were authorized to control the
finances, their power with regard to legislation was very circumscribed.
This constitution was sanctioned by the prince regent, afterwards King
George IV.; but it was out of harmony with the new and liberal ideas
which prevailed in Europe, and it hardly survived George's decease in
1830. The revolution of that year compelled George's brother and
successor, William, to dismiss Count Munster, who had been the actual
ruler of the country, and to name his own brother, Adolphus Frederick,
duke of Cambridge, a viceroy of Hanover; one of the viceroy's earliest
duties being to appoint a commission to draw up a new constitution. This
was done, and after William had insisted upon certain alterations, it
was accepted and promulgated in 1833. Representation was granted to the
peasants; the two chambers were empowered to initiate legislation;
ministers were made responsible for all acts of government; a civil list
was given to the king in return for the surrender of the crown lands;
and, in short, the new constitution was similar to that of Great
Britain. These liberal arrangements, however, did not entirely allay
the discontent. A strong and energetic party endeavoured to thwart the
working of the new order, and matters came to a climax on the death of
William IV. in 1837.
By the law of Hanover a woman could not ascend the throne, and
accordingly Ernest Augustus, duke of Cumberland, the fifth son of George
III., and not Victoria, succeeded William as sovereign in 1837, thus
separating the crowns of Great Britain and Hanover after a union of 123
years. Ernest, a prince with very autocratic ideas, had disapproved of
the constitution of 1833, and his first important act as king was to
declare it invalid. He appears to have been especially chagrined because
the crown lands were not his personal property, but the whole of the new
arrangements were repugnant to him. Seven Gottingen professors who
protested against this proceeding were deprived of their chairs; and
some of them, including F. C. Dahlmann and Jakob Grimm, were banished
from the country for publishing their protest. To save the constitution
an appeal was made to the German Confederation, which Hanover had joined
in 1815; but the federal diet declined to interfere, and in 1840 Ernest
altered the constitution to suit his own illiberal views. Recovering the
crown lands, he abolished the principle of ministerial responsibility,
the legislative power of the two chambers, and other reforms, virtually
restoring affairs to their condition before 1833. The inevitable crisis
was delayed until the stormy year 1848, when the king probably saved his
crown by hastily giving back the constitution of 1833. Order, however,
having been restored, in 1850 he dismissed the Liberal ministry and
attempted to evade his concessions; a bitter struggle had just broken
out when Ernest Augustus died in November 1851. During this reign the
foreign policy of Hanover both within and without Germany had been
coloured by jealousy of Prussia and by the king's autocratic ideas.
Refusing to join the Prussian _Zollverein_, Hanover had become a member
of the rival commercial union, the _Steuerverein_, three years before
Ernest's accession; but as this union was not a great success the
_Zollverein_ was joined in 1851. In 1849, after the failure of the
German parliament at Frankfort, the king had joined with the sovereigns
of Prussia and Saxony to form the "three kings' alliance"; but this
union with Prussia was unreal, and with the king of Saxony he soon
transferred his support to Austria and became a member of the "four
kings' alliance."
George V., the new king of Hanover, who was unfortunately blind, sharing
his father's political ideas, at once appointed a ministry whose aim was
to sweep away the constitution of 1848. This project, however, was
resisted by the second chamber of the _Landtag_, or parliament; and
after several changes of government a new ministry advised the king in
1855 to appeal to the diet of the German Confederation. This was done,
and the diet declared the constitution of 1848 to be invalid. Acting on
this verdict, not only was a ministry formed to restore the constitution
of 1840, but after some trouble a body of members fully in sympathy with
this object was returned to parliament in 1857. But these members were
so far from representing the opinions of the people that popular
resentment compelled George to dismiss his advisers in 1862. But the
more liberal government which succeeded did not enjoy his complete
confidence, and in 1865 a ministry was once more formed which was more
in accord with his own ideas. This contest soon lost both interest and
importance owing to the condition of affairs in Germany. Bismarck, the
director of the policy of Prussia, was devising methods for the
realization of his schemes, and it became clear after the war over the
duchies of Schleswig and Holstein that the smaller German states would
soon be obliged to decide definitely between Austria and Prussia. After
a period of vacillation Hanover threw in her lot with Austria, the
decisive step being taken when the question of the mobilization of the
federal army was voted upon in the diet on the 14th of June 1866. At
once Prussia requested Hanover to remain unarmed and neutral during the
war, and with equal promptness King George refused to assent to these
demands. Prussian troops then crossed his frontier and took possession
of his capital. The Hanoverians, however, were victorious at the battle
of Langensalza on the 27th of June 1866, but the advance of fresh bodies
of the enemy compelled them to capitulate two days later. By the terms
of this surrender the king was not to reside in Hanover, his officers
were to take no further part in the war, and his ammunition and stores
became the property of Prussia. The decree of the 20th of September 1866
formally annexed Hanover to Prussia, when it became a province of that
kingdom, while King George from his retreat at Hietzing appealed in vain
to the powers of Europe. Many of the Hanoverians remained loyal to their
sovereign; some of them serving in the Guelph Legion, which was
maintained largely at his expense in France, where a paper, _La
Situation_, was founded by Oskar Meding (1829-1903) and conducted in his
interests. These and other elaborate efforts, however, failed to bring
about the return of the king to Hanover, though the Guelph party
continued to agitate and to hope even after the Franco-German War had
immensely increased the power and the prestige of Prussia. George died
in June 1878. His son, Ernest Augustus, duke of Cumberland, continued to
maintain his claim to the crown of Hanover, and refused to be reconciled
with Prussia. Owing to this attitude the German imperial government
refused to allow him to take possession of the duchy of Brunswick, which
he inherited on the extinction of the elder branch of his family in
1884, and again in 1906 when the same subject came up for settlement on
the death of the regent, Prince Albert of Prussia.
In 1867 King George had agreed to accept Prussian bonds to the value of
about L1,600,000 as compensation for the confiscation of his estates in
Hanover. In 1868, however, on account of his continued hostility to
Prussia, the Prussian government sequestrated this property; and, known
as the _Welfenfonds_, or _Reptilienfonds_, it was employed as a secret
service fund to combat the intrigues of the Guelphs in various parts of
Europe; until in 1892 it was arranged that the interest should be paid
to the duke of Cumberland. In 1885 measures were taken to incorporate
the province of Hanover more thoroughly in the kingdom of Prussia, and
there is little doubt but that the great majority of the Hanoverians
have submitted to the inevitable, and are loyal subjects of the king of
Prussia.
AUTHORITIES.--A. Hune, _Geschichte des Konigreichs Hannover und des
Herzogtums Braunschweig_ (Hanover, 1824-1830); A. F. H. Schaumann,
_Handbuch der Geschichte der Lande Hannover und Braunschweig_
(Hanover, 1864); G. A. Grotefend, _Geschichte der allgemeinen
landstandischen Verfassung des Konigreichs Hannover, 1814-1848_
(Hanover, 1857); H. A. Oppermann, _Zur Geschichte des Konigreichs
Hannover_, 1832-1860 (Berlin, 1868); E. von Meier, _Hannoversche
Verfassungs- und Verwaltungsgeschichte_ (Leipzig, 1898-1899); W. von
Hassell, _Das Kurfurstentum Hannover vom Baseler Frieden bis zur
preussischen Okkupation_ (Hanover, 1894); and _Geschichte des
Konigreichs_ Hannover (Leipzig, 1898-1901); H. von Treitschke, _Der
Herzog von Cumberland und das hannoversche Staatsgrundgesetz von 1833_
(Leipzig, 1888); M. Bar, _Ubersicht uber die Bestande des koniglichen
Staatsarchivs zu Hannover_ (Leipzig, 1900); _Hannoversches Portfolio_
(Stuttgart, 1839-1841); and the authorities given for the history of
Brunswick.
HANOVER, the capital of the Prussian province of the same name, situated
in a sandy but fertile plain on the Leine, which here receives the Ihme,
38 m. N.W. from Brunswick, 78 S.E. of Bremen, and at the crossing of the
main lines of railway, Berlin to Cologne and Hamburg to
Frankfort-on-Main. Pop. (1885) 139,731; (1900) 235,666; (1905) 250,032.
On the north and east the town is half encircled by the beautiful woods
and groves of the Eilenriede and the List which form the public park.
The Leine flows through the city, having the old town on its right and
the quaint Calenberger quarter between its left bank and the Ihme. The
old town is irregularly built, with narrow streets and old-fashioned
gabled houses. In its centre lies the Markt Kirche, a red-brick edifice
of the 14th century, containing interesting monuments and some fine
stained-glass windows, and with a steeple 310 ft. in height (the highest
in Hanover). Its interior was restored in 1855. Close by, on the market
square, is the red-brick medieval town-hall (Rathaus), with an
historical wine cellar beneath. It has been superseded for municipal
business by a new building, and now contains the civic archives and
museum. The new town, surrounding the old on the north and east, and
lying between it and the woods referred to, has wide streets, handsome
buildings and beautiful squares. Among the last-mentioned are the square
at the railway station--the Ernst August-Platz--with an equestrian
statue of King Ernest Augustus in bronze; the triangular Theater-Platz,
with statues of the composer Marschner and others; and the Georgs-Platz,
with a statue of Schiller. To the south of the old town, on the banks of
the Ihme, lies the Waterloo-Platz, with a column of victory, 154 ft.
high, having inscribed on it the names of 800 Hanoverians who fell at
Waterloo. In the adjacent gardens an open rotunda encloses a marble bust
of the philosopher Leibnitz, and near it is a monument to General Count
von Alten, the commander of the Hanoverian troops at Waterloo. Among the
other churches the most noticeable are the Neustadterkirche, with a
graceful shrine containing the tomb of Leibnitz, the Kreuzkirche, built
about 1300, with a curious steeple, and the Aegidienkirche among ancient
edifices, and among modern ones the Christuskirche, a gift of King
George V., the Lukaskirche, the Lutherkirche, and the Roman Catholic
church of St Mary, with a tower 300 ft. high, containing the grave of
Ludwig Windthorst, "his little excellency," for many years leader of the
Ultramontane (Centre) party in the imperial diet. Of secular buildings
the most remarkable is the royal palace--Schloss--built 1636-1640, with
a grand portal and handsome quadrangle. In its chapel are preserved the
relics of saints which Henry the Lion brought from Palestine. The new
provincial museum built in 1897-1902 contains the Cumberland Gallery and
the Guelph Museum; and the Kestner Museum also contains interesting and
valuable collections of works of art. The other principal public
buildings are the royal archives and library, containing a library of
200,000 volumes and 3500 manuscripts; the old provincial museum, which
houses a variety of collections, such as natural, historical and
ethnographical, and a collection of modern paintings; the theatre (built
1845-1852), one of the largest in Germany, the archaeological museum,
the railway station, and, in the west, close to Herrenhausen (see
below), the magnificent Welfenschloss (Guelph-palace). The last, begun
in 1859, was almost completed in 1866, but was never occupied by the
Hanoverian royal family. Since 1875 it has been occupied by the
technical high school, an academy with university privileges. Close to
it lies the famous Herrenhausen, the summer palace of the former kings
of Hanover, with fine gardens, an open-air theatre, a museum and an
orangery, and approached by a grand avenue over a mile in length.
Hanover has a number of colleges and schools, and is the seat of several
learned societies. It is largely frequented by foreign students,
especially English, attracted by the educational facilities it offers
and by the reputed purity of the German spoken. Hanover is the
headquarters of the X. Prussian army corps, has a large garrison of
nearly all arms and a famous military riding school. It occupies a
leading position among the industrial and commercial towns of the
empire, and of recent years has made rapid progress in prosperity. It is
connected by railway with Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Hameln, Cologne,
Altenbeken and Cassel, and the facilities of intercourse have, under the
fostering care of the Prussian government, enormously developed its
trade and manufactures. Almost all industries are represented; chief
among them are machine-building, the manufacture of india-rubber, linen,
cloth, hardware, chemicals, tobacco, pianos, furniture and groceries.
The commerce consists principally in wine, hides, horses, coal, wood and
cereals. There are extensive printing establishments. Hanover was the
first German town that was lighted with gas. It is the birthplace of Sir
William Herschel, the astronomer, of the brothers Schlegel, of Iffland
and of the historian Pertz. The philosopher Leibnitz died there in 1716.
Close by, on the left bank of the Leine, lies the manufacturing town
of Linden, which, though practically forming one town with Hanover, is
treated under a separate heading.
The town of Hanover is first mentioned during the 12th century. It
belonged to the family of Welf, then to the bishops of Hildesheim, and
then, in 1369, it came again into the possession of the Welfs, now
dukes of Brunswick. It joined the Hanseatic League, and was later the
residence of the branch of the ducal house, which received the title of
elector of Hanover and ascended the British throne in the person of
George I. One or two important treaties were signed in Hanover, which
from 1810 to 1813 was part of the kingdom of Westphalia, and in 1866 was
annexed by Prussia, after having been the capital of the kingdom of
Hanover since its foundation in 1815.
See O. Ulrich, _Bilder aus Hannovers Vergangenheit_ (1891); Hoppe,
_Geschichte der Stadt Hannover_ (1845); Hirschfeld, _Hannovers
Grossindustrie und Grosshandel_ (Leipzig, 1891); Frensdorff, _Die
Stadtverfassung Hannovers in alter und neuer Zeit_ (Leipzig, 1883); W.
Bahrdt, _Geschichte der Reformation der Stadt Hannover_ (1891);
Hartmann, _Geschichte von Hannover mit besonderer Rucksichtnahme auf
die Entwickelung der Residenzstadt Hannover_ (1886); _Hannover und
Umgegend, Entwickelung und Zustande seiner Industrie und Gewerbe_
(1874); and the _Urkundenbuch der Stadt Hannover_ (1860, fol.).
HANOVER, a town of Jefferson county, Indiana, U.S.A., on the Ohio river,
about 5 m. below Madison. Pop. (1900) 377; (1910) 356. It is served by
boats on the Ohio river and by stages to Madison, the nearest railway
station. Along the border of the town and on a bluff rising about 500
ft. above the river is Hanover College, an institution under
Presbyterian control, embracing a college and a preparatory department,
and offering classical and scientific courses and instruction in music;
there is no charge for tuition. In 1908-1909 there were 211 students, 75
being in the Academy. The institution was opened in a log cabin in 1827,
was incorporated as Hanover Academy in 1828, was adopted as a synodical
school by the Presbyterian Synod of Indiana in 1829 on condition that a
Theological department be added, and in 1833 was incorporated under its
present name. In 1840, however, the theological department became a
separate institution and was removed to New Albany, whence in 1859 it
was removed to Chicago, where it was named, first, the Presbyterian
Theological Seminary of the North-west, and, in 1886, the McCormick
Theological Seminary. In the years immediately after its incorporation
in 1833 Hanover College introduced the "manual labor system" and was for
a time very prosperous, but the system was not a success, the college
ran into debt, and in 1843 the trustees attempted to surrender the
charter and to acquire the charter of a university at Madison. This
effort was opposed by a strong party, which secured a more liberal
charter for the college. In 1880 the college became coeducational.
HANOVER, a township of Grafton county, New Hampshire, U.S.A., on the
Connecticut river, 75 m. by rail N.W. of Concord. Pop. (1900) 1884;
(1910) 2075. No railway enters this township; the Ledyard Free Bridge
(the first free bridge across the Connecticut) connects it with Norwich,
Vt., which is served by the Boston & Maine railway. Ranges of rugged
hills, broken by deep narrow gorges and by the wider valley of Mink
Brook, rise near the river and culminate in the E. section in Moose
Mountain, 2326 ft. above the sea. Near the foot of Moose Mountain is the
birthplace of Laura D. Bridgman. Agriculture, dairying and lumbering are
the chief pursuits of the inhabitants. The village of Hanover, the
principal settlement of the township, occupies Hanover Plain in the S.W.
corner, and is the seat of Dartmouth College (q.v.), which has a
strikingly beautiful campus, and among its buildings several excellent
examples of the colonial style, notably Dartmouth Hall. The Mary
Hitchcock memorial hospital, a cottage hospital of 36 beds, was erected
in 1890-1893 by Hiram Hitchcock in memory of his wife. The charter of
the township was granted by Gov. Benning Wentworth on the 4th of July
1761, and the first settlement was made in May 1765. The records of the
town meetings and selectmen, 1761-1818, have been published by E. P.
Storrs (Hanover, 1905).
See Frederick Chase, _A History of Dartmouth College and the Town of
Hanover_ (Cambridge, 1891).
HANOVER, a borough of York county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., 36 m. S. by W.
of Harrisburg, and 6 m. from the S. border of the state. Pop. (1890)
3746; (1900) 5302, (133 foreign-born); (1910) 7057. It is served by the
Northern Central and the Western Maryland railways. The borough is built
on nearly level ground in the fertile valley of the Conewago, at the
point of intersection of the turnpike roads leading to Baltimore,
Carlisle, York and Frederick, from which places the principal
streets--sections of these roads--are named. Among its manufactures are
foundry and machine-shop products, flour, silk, waggons, shoes, gloves,
furniture, wire cloth and cigars. The settlement of the place was begun
mostly by Germans during the middle of the 18th century. Hanover was
laid out in 1763 or 1764 by Col. Richard MacAllister; and in 1815 it was
incorporated. On the 30th of June 1863 there was a cavalry engagement in
and near Hanover between the forces of Generals H. J. Kilpatrick (Union)
and J. E. B. Stuart (Confederate) preliminary to the battle of
Gettysburg. This engagement is commemorated by an equestrian statue
erected in Hanover by the state.
HANRIOT, FRANCOIS (1761-1794), French revolutionist, was born at
Nanterre (Seine) of poor parentage. Having lost his first
employment--with a _procureur_--through dishonesty, he obtained a
clerkship in the Paris octroi in 1789, but was dismissed for abandoning
his post when the Parisians burned the _octroi_ barriers on the night of
the 12th-13th of July 1789. After leading a hand-to-mouth existence for
some time, he became one of the orators of the section of the
_sans-culottes_, and commanded the armed force of that section during
the insurrection on the 10th of August 1792 and the massacres of
September. But he did not come into prominence until the night of the
30th-31st of May 1793, when he was provisionally appointed
commandant-general of the armed forces of Paris by the council general
of the Commune. On the 31st of May he was one of the delegates from the
Commune to the Convention demanding the dissolution of the Commission of
Twelve and the proscription of the Girondists (q.v.), and he was in
command of the insurrectionary forces of the Commune during the _emeute_
of the 2nd of June (see FRENCH REVOLUTION). On the 11th of June he
resigned his command, declaring that order had been restored. On the
13th he was impeached in the Convention; but the motion was not carried,
and on the 1st of July he was elected by the Commune permanent commander
of the armed forces of Paris. This position, which gave him enormous
power, he retained until the revolution of the 9th Thermidor (July 27,
1794). His arrest was decreed; but he had the _generale_ sounded and the
tocsin rung, and tried to rescue Robespierre, who was under arrest in
the hall of the _Comite de Surete Generale_. Hanriot was himself
arrested, but was rescued by his adherents, and hastened to the Hotel de
Ville. After a vain attempt to organize resistance he fled and hid in a
secluded yard, where he was discovered the next day. He was arrested,
sentenced to death, and guillotined with Robespierre and his friends on
the 10th Thermidor of the year II. (the 28th of July 1794).
HANSARD, LUKE (1752-1828), English printer, was born on the 5th of July
1752 in St Mary's parish, Norwich. He was educated at Boston grammar
school, and was apprenticed to Stephen White, a Norwich printer. As soon
as his apprenticeship had expired Hansard started for London with only a
guinea in his pocket, and became a compositor in the office of John
Hughs (1703-1771), printer to the House of Commons. In 1774 he was made
a partner, and undertook almost the entire conduct of the business,
which in 1800 came completely into his hands. On the admission of his
sons the firm became Luke Hansard & Sons. Among those whose friendship
Hansard won in the exercise of his profession were Robert Orme, Burke
and Dr Johnson; while Porson praised him as the most accurate printer of
Greek. He printed the _Journals of the House of Commons_ from 1774 till
his death. The promptitude and accuracy with which Hansard printed
parliamentary papers were often of the greatest service to
government--notably on one occasion when the proof-sheets of the report
of the Secret Committee on the French Revolution were submitted to Pitt
twenty-four hours after the draft had left his hands. On the union with
Ireland in 1801, the increase of parliamentary printing compelled
Hansard to give up all private printing except when parliament was not
sitting. He devised numerous expedients for reducing the expense of
publishing the reports; and in 1805, when his workmen struck at a time
of great pressure, he and his sons themselves set to work as
compositors. Luke Hansard died on the 29th of October 1828.
His son, THOMAS CURSON HANSARD (1776-1833), established a press of his
own in Paternoster Row, and began in 1803 to print the _Parliamentary
Debates_, which were not at first independent reports, but were taken
from the newspapers. After 1889 the debates were published by the
Hansard Publishing Union Limited. T. C. Hansard was the author of
_Typographia, an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art
of Printing_ (1825). The original business remained in the hands of his
younger brothers, James and Luke Graves Hansard (1777-1851). The firm
was prosecuted in 1837 by John Joseph Stockwell for printing by order of
the House of Commons, in an official report of the inspector of prisons,
statements regarded by the plaintiff as libellous. Hansard sheltered
himself on the ground of privilege, but it was not until after much
litigation that the security of the printers of government reports was
guaranteed by statute in 1840.
HANSEATIC LEAGUE. It is impossible to assign any precise date for the
beginning of the Hanseatic League or to name any single factor which
explains the origin of that loose but effective federation of North
German towns. Associated action and partial union among these towns can
be traced back to the 13th century. In 1241 we find Lubeck and Hamburg
agreeing to safeguard the important road connecting the Baltic and the
North Sea. The first known meeting of the "maritime towns," later known
as the Wendish group and including Lubeck, Hamburg, Luneburg, Wismar,
Rostock and Stralsund, took place in 1256. The Saxon towns, during the
following century, were joining to protect their common interests, and
indeed at this period town confederacies in Germany, both North and
South, were so considerable as to call for the declaration against them
in the Golden Bull of 1356. The decline of the imperial power and the
growing opposition between the towns and the territorial princes
justified these defensive town alliances, which in South Germany took on
a peculiarly political character. The relative weakness of territorial
power in the North, after the fall of Henry the Lion of Saxony,
diminished without however removing this motive for union, but the
comparative immunity from princely aggression on land left the towns
freer to combine in a stronger and more permanent union for the defence
of their commerce by sea and for the control of the Baltic.
While the political element in the development of the Hanseatic League
must not be underestimated, it was not so formative as the economic. The
foundation was laid for the growth of German towns along the southern
shore of the Baltic by the great movement of German colonization of
Slavic territory east of the Elbe. This movement, extending in time from
about the middle of the 11th to the middle of the 13th century and
carrying a stream of settlers and traders from the North-west, resulted
not only in the Germanization of a wide territory but in the extension
of German influence along the sea-coast far to the east of actual
territorial settlement. The German trading towns, at the mouths of the
numerous streams which drain the North European plain, were stimulated
or created by the unifying impulse of a common and long-continued
advance of conquest and colonization.
The impetus of this remarkable movement of expansion not only carried
German trade to the East and North within the Baltic basin, but
reanimated the older trade from the lower Rhine region to Flanders and
England in the West. Cologne and the Westphalian towns, the most
important of which were Dortmund, Soest and Munster, had long controlled
this commerce but now began to feel the competition of the active
traders of the Baltic, opening up that direct communication by sea from
the Baltic to western Europe which became the essential feature in the
history of the League. The necessity of seeking protection from the
sea-rovers and pirates who infested these waters during the whole period
of Hanseatic supremacy, the legal customs, substantially alike in the
towns of North Germany, which governed the groups of traders in the
outlying trading posts, the establishment of common factories, or
"counters" (Komtors) at these points, with aldermen to administer
justice and to secure trading privileges for the community of German
merchants--such were some of the unifying influences which preceded the
gradual formation of the League. In the century of energetic commercial
development before 1350 the German merchants abroad led the way.
Germans were early pushing as permanent settlers into the Scandinavian
towns, and in Wisby, on the island of Gothland, the Scandinavian centre
of Baltic trade, equal rights as citizens in the town government were
possessed by the German settlers as early as the beginning of the 13th
century. There also came into existence at Wisby the first association
of German traders abroad, which united the merchants of over thirty
towns, from Cologne and Utrecht in the West to Reval in the East. We
find the Gothland association making in 1229 a treaty with a Russian
prince and securing privileges for their branch trading station at
Novgorod. According to the "Skra," the by-laws of the Novgorod branch,
the four aldermen of the community of Germans, who among other duties
held the keys of the common chest, deposited in Wisby, were to be chosen
from the merchants of the Gothland association and of the towns of
Lubeck, Soest and Dortmund. The Gothland association received in 1237
trading rights in England, and shortly after the middle of the century
it also secured privileges in Flanders. It legislated on matters
relating to common trade interests, and, in the case of the regulation
of 1287 concerning shipwrecked goods, we find it imposing this
legislation on the towns under the penalty of exclusion from the
association. But with the extension of the East and West trade beyond
the confines of the Baltic, this association by the end of the century
was losing its position of leadership. Its inheritance passed to the
gradually forming union of towns, chiefly those known as Wendish, which
looked to Lubeck as their head. In 1293 the Saxon and Wendish merchants
at Rostock decided that all appeals from Novgorod be taken to Lubeck
instead of to Wisby, and six years later the Wendish and Westphalian
towns, meeting at Lubeck, ordered that the Gothland association should
no longer use a common seal. Though Lubeck's right as court of appeal
from the Hanseatic counter at Novgorod was not recognized by the general
assembly of the League until 1373, the long-existing practice had simply
accorded with the actual shifting of commercial power. The union of
merchants abroad was beginning to come under the control of the partial
union of towns at home.
A similar and contemporary extension of the influence of the Baltic
traders under Lubeck's leadership may be witnessed in the West. As a
consequence of the close commercial relations early existing between
England and the Rhenish-Westphalian towns, the merchants of Cologne were
the first to possess a gild-hall in London and to form a "hansa" with
the right of admitting other German merchants on payment of a fee. The
charter of 1226, however, by which Emperor Frederick II. created Lubeck
a free imperial city, expressly declared that Lubeck citizens trading in
England should be free from the dues imposed by the merchants of Cologne
and should enjoy equal rights and privileges. In 1266 and 1267 the
merchants of Hamburg and Lubeck received from Henry III. the right to
establish their own hansas in London, like that of Cologne. The
situation thus created led by 1282 to the coalescence of the rival
associations in the "Gild-hall of the Germans," but though the Baltic
traders had secured a recognized foothold in the enlarged and unified
organization, Cologne retained the controlling interest in the London
settlement until 1476. Lubeck and Hamburg, however, dominated the German
trade in the ports of the east coast, notably in Lynn and Boston, while
they were strong in the organized trading settlements at York, Hull,
Ipswich, Norwich, Yarmouth and Bristol. The counter at London, first
called the Steelyard in a parliamentary petition of 1422, claimed
jurisdiction over the other factories in England.
In Flanders, also, the German merchants from the West had long been
trading, but here had later to endure not only the rivalry but the
pre-eminence of those from the East. In 1252 the first treaty privileges
for German trade in Flanders show two men of Lubeck and Hamburg heading
the "Merchants of the Roman Empire," and in the later organization of
the counter at Bruges four or five of the six aldermen were chosen from
towns east of the Elbe, with Lubeck steadily predominant. The Germans
recognized the staple rights of Bruges for a number of commodities, such
as wool, wax, furs, copper and grain, and in return for this material
contribution to the growing commercial importance of the town, they
received in 1309 freedom from the compulsory brokerage which Bruges
imposed on foreign merchants. The importance and independence of the
German trading settlements abroad was exemplified in the statutes of the
"Company of German merchants at Bruges," drawn up in 1347, where for the
first time appears the grouping of towns in three sections (the
"Drittel"), the Wendish-Saxon, the Prussian-Westphalian, and those of
Gothland and Livland. Even more important than the assistance which the
concentration of the German trade at Bruges gave to that leading mart of
European commerce was the service rendered by the German counter of
Bruges to the cause of Hanseatic unity. Not merely because of its
central commercial position, but because of its width of view, its
political insight, and its constant insistence on the necessity of
union, this counter played a leading part in Hanseatic policy. It was
more Hanse than the Hanse towns.
The last of the chief trading settlements, both in importance and in
date of organization, was that at Bergen in Norway, where in 1343 the
Hanseatics obtained special trade privileges. Scandinavia had early been
sought for its copper and iron, its forest products and its valuable
fisheries, especially of herring at Schonen, but it was backward in its
industrial development and its own commerce had seriously declined in
the 14th century. It had come to depend largely upon the Germans for the
importation of all its luxuries and of many of its necessities, as well
as for the exportation of its products, but regular trade with the three
kingdoms was confined for the most part to the Wendish towns, with
Lubeck steadily asserting an exclusive ascendancy. The fishing centre at
Schonen was important as a market, though, like Novgorod, its trade was
seasonal, but it did not acquire the position of a regularly organized
counter, reserved alone, in the North, for Bergen. The commercial
relations with the North cannot be regarded as an important element in
the union of the Hanse towns, but the geographical position of the
Scandinavian countries, especially that of Denmark, commanding the Sound
which gives access to the Baltic, compelled a close attention to
Scandinavian politics on the part of Lubeck and the League and thus by
necessitating combined political action in defence of Hanseatic
sea-power exercised a unifying influence.
Energetic and successful though the scattered trading settlements had
been in establishing German trade connexions and in securing valuable
trade privileges, the middle of the 14th century found them powerless to
meet difficulties arising from internal dissension and still more from
the political rivalries and trade jealousies of nascent nationalities.
Flanders became a battle-field in the great struggle between France and
England, and the war of trade prohibitions led to infractions of the
German privileges in Bruges. An embargo on trade with Flanders, voted in
1358 by a general assembly, resulted by 1360 in the full restoration of
German privileges in Flanders, but reduced the counter at Bruges to an
executive organ of a united town policy. It is worth noting that in a
document connected with this action the union of towns, borrowing the
term from English usage, was first called the "German Hansa." In 1361
representatives from Lubeck and Wisby visited Novgorod to recodify the
by-laws of the counter and to admonish it that new statutes required the
consent of Lubeck, Wisby, Riga, Dorpat and Reval. This action was
confirmed in 1366 by an assembly of the Hansa which at the same time, on
the occasion of a regulation made by the Bruges counter and of statutes
drawn up by the young Bergen counter, ordered that in future the
approval of the towns must be obtained for all new regulations.
The counter at London was soon forced to follow the example of the other
counters at Bruges, Novgorod and Bergen. After the failure of the
Italians, the Hanseatics remained the strongest group of alien
merchants in England, and, as such, claimed the exclusive enjoyment of
the privileges granted by the _Carta Mercatoria_ of 1303. Their highly
favoured position in England, contrasting markedly with their refusal of
trade facilities to the English in some of the Baltic towns and their
evident policy of monopoly in the Baltic trade, incensed the English
mercantile classes, and doubtless influenced the increases in
customs-duties which were regarded by the Germans as contrary to their
treaty rights. Unsuccessful in obtaining redress from the English
government, the German merchants finally, in 1374, appealed for aid to
the home towns, especially to Lubeck. The result of Hanseatic
representations was the confirmation by Richard II. in 1377 of all their
privileges, which accorded them the preferential treatment they had
claimed and became the foundation of the Hanseatic position in England.
In the meanwhile, the conquest of Wisby by Waldemar IV. of Denmark in
1361 had disclosed his ambition for the political control of the Baltic.
He was promptly opposed by an alliance of Hanse towns, led by Lubeck.
The defeat of the Germans at Helsingborg only called into being the
stronger town and territorial alliance of 1367, known as the Cologne
Confederation, and its final victory, with the peace of Stralsund in
1370, which gave for a limited period the four chief castles on the
Sound into the hands of the Hanseatic towns, greatly enhanced the
prestige of the League.
The assertion of Hanseatic influence in the two decades, 1356 to 1377,
marks the zenith of the League's power and the completion of the long
process of unification. Under the pressure of commercial and political
necessity, authority was definitely transferred from the Hansas of
merchants abroad to the Hansa of towns at home, and the sense of unity
had become such that in 1380 a Lubeck official could declare that
"whatever touches one town touches all." But even at the time when union
was most important, this statement went further than the facts would
warrant, and in the course of the following century it became less and
less true. Dortmund held aloof from the Cologne Confederation on the
ground that it had no concern in Scandinavian politics. It became,
indeed, increasingly difficult to obtain the support of the inland towns
for a policy of sea-power in the Baltic. Cologne sent no representatives
to the regular Hanseatic assemblies until 1383, and during the 15th
century its independence was frequently manifested. It rebelled at the
authority of the counter at Bruges, and at the time of the war with
England (1469-1474) openly defied the League. In the East, the German
Order, while enjoying Hanseatic privileges, frequently opposed the
policy of the League abroad, and was only prevented by domestic troubles
and its Hinterland enemies from playing its own hand in the Baltic.
After the fall of the order in 1467, the towns of Prussia and Livland,
especially Dantzig and Riga, pursued an exclusive trade policy even
against their Hanseatic confederates. Lubeck, however, supported by the
Bruges counter, despite the disaffection and jealousy on all sides
hampering and sometimes thwarting its efforts, stood steadfastly for
union and the necessity of obedience to the decrees of the assemblies.
Its headship of the League, hitherto tacitly accepted, was definitely
recognized in 1418.
The governing body of the Hansa was the assembly of town
representatives, the "Hansetage," held irregularly as occasion required
at the summons of Lubeck, and, with few exceptions, attended but
scantily. The delegates were bound by instructions from their towns and
had to report home the decisions of the assembly for acceptance or
rejection. In 1469 the League declared that the English use of the terms
"societas," "collegium" and "universitas" was inappropriate to so loose
an organization. It preferred to call itself a "firma confederatio" for
trade purposes only. It had no common seal, though that of Lubeck was
accepted, particularly by foreigners, in behalf of the League. Disputes
between the confederate towns were brought for adjudication before the
general assembly, but the League had no recognized federal judiciary.
Lubeck, with the counters abroad, watched over the execution of the
measures voted by the assembly, but there was no regular administrative
organization. Money for common purposes was raised from time to time,
as necessity demanded, by the imposition on Hanse merchandise of
poundage dues, introduced in 1361, while the counters relied upon a
small levy of like nature and upon fines to meet current needs. Even
this slender financial provision met with opposition. The German Order
in 1398 converted the Hanseatic poundage to a territorial tax for its
own purposes, and one of the chief causes for Cologne's disaffection a
half-century later was the extension from Flanders to other parts of the
Netherlands of the levy made by the counter at Bruges. Since the
authority of the League rested primarily on the moral support of its
members, allied in common trade interests and acquiescing in the able
leadership of Lubeck, its only means of compulsion was the "Verhansung,"
or exclusion of a recalcitrant town from the benefits of the trade
privileges of the League. A conspicuous instance was the exclusion of
Cologne from 1471 until its obedience in 1476, but the penalty had been
earlier imposed, as in the case of Brunswick, on towns which overthrew
their patrician governments. It was obviously, however, a measure to be
used only in the last resort and with extreme reluctance.
The decisive factor in determining membership in the League was the
historical right of the citizens of a town to participate in Hanseatic
privileges abroad. At first the merchant Hansas had shared these
privileges with almost any German merchant, and thus many little
villages, notably those in Westphalia, ultimately claimed membership.
Later, under the Hansa of the towns, the struggle for the maintenance of
a coveted position abroad led to a more exclusive policy. A few new
members were admitted, mainly from the westernmost sphere of Hanseatic
influence, but membership was refused to some important applicants. In
1447 it was voted that admission be granted only by unanimous consent.
No complete list of members was ever drawn up, despite frequent requests
from foreign powers. Contemporaries usually spoke of 70, 72, 73 or 77
members, and perhaps the list is complete with Daenell's recent count of
72, but the obscurity on so vital a point is significant of the
amorphous character of the organization.
The towns of the League, stretching from Thorn and Krakow on the East to
the towns of the Zuider Zee on the West, and from Wisby and Reval in the
North to Gottingen in the South, were arranged in groups, following in
the main the territorial divisions. Separate assemblies were held in the
groups for the discussion both of local and Hanseatic affairs, and
gradually, but not fully until the 16th century, the groups became
recognized as the lowest stage of Hanse organization. The further
grouping into "Thirds," later "Quarters," under head-towns, was also
more emphasized in that century.
In the 15th century the League, with increasing difficulty, held a
defensive position against the competition of strong rivals and new
trade-routes. In England the inevitable conflict of interests between
the new mercantile power, growing conscious of its national strength,
and the old, standing insistant on the letter of its privileges, was
postponed by the factional discord out of which the Hansa in 1474
dexterously snatched a renewal of its rights. Under Elizabeth, however,
the English Merchant Adventurers could finally rejoice at the withdrawal
of privileges from the Hanseatics and their concession to England, in
return for the retention of the Steelyard, of a factory in Hamburg. In
the Netherlands the Hanseatics clung to their position in Bruges until
1540, while trade was migrating to the ports of Antwerp and Amsterdam.
By the peace of Copenhagen in 1441, after the unsuccessful war of the
League with Holland, the attempted monopoly of the Baltic was broken,
and, though the Hanseatic trade regulations were maintained on paper,
the Dutch with their larger ships increased their hold on the herring
fisheries, the French salt trade, and the Baltic grain trade. For the
Russian trade new competitors were emerging in southern Germany. The
Hanseatic embargo against Bruges from 1451 to 1457, its later war and
embargo against England, the Turkish advance closing the Italian Black
Sea trade with southern Russia, all were utilized by Nuremberg and its
fellows to secure a land-trade outside the sphere of Hanseatic
influence. The fairs of Leipzig and Frankfort-on-Main rose in
importance as Novgorod, the stronghold of Hanse trade in the East, was
weakened by the attacks of Ivan III. The closing of the Novgorod counter
in 1494 was due not only to the development of the Russian state but to
the exclusive Hanseatic policy which had stimulated the opening of
competing trade routes.
Within the League itself increasing restiveness was shown under the
restrictions of its trade policy. At the Hanseatic assembly of 1469,
Dantzig, Hamburg and Breslau opposed the maintenance of a compulsory
staple at Bruges in the face of the new conditions produced by a
widening commerce and more advantageous markets. Complaint was made of
South German competition in the Netherlands. "Those in the Hansa,"
protested Breslau, "are fettered and must decline and those outside the
Hansa are free and prosper." By 1477 even Lubeck had become convinced
that a continuance of the effort to maintain the compulsory staple
against Holland was futile and should be abandoned. But while it was
found impossible to enforce the staple or to close the Sound against the
Dutch, other features of the monopolistic system of trade regulations
were still upheld. It was forbidden to admit an outsider to partnership
or to co-ownership of ships, to trade in non-Hanseatic goods, to buy or
sell on credit in a foreign mart or to enter into contracts for future
delivery. The trade of foreigners outside the gates of Hanse towns or
with others than Hanseatics was forbidden in 1417, and in the Eastern
towns the retail trade of strangers was strictly limited. The whole
system was designed to suppress the competition of outsiders, but the
divergent interests of individuals and towns, the pressure of
competition and changing commercial conditions, in part the reactionary
character of the legislation, made enforcement difficult. The measures
were those of the late-medieval town economy applied to the wide region
of the German Baltic trade, but not supported, as was the analogous
mercantilist system, by a strong central government.
Among the factors, economic, geographic, political and social, which
combined to bring about the decline of the Hanseatic League, none was
probably more influential than the absence of a German political power
comparable in unity and energy with those of France and England, which
could quell particularism at home, and abroad maintain in its vigour the
trade which these towns had developed and defended with their imperfect
union. Nothing was to be expected from the declining Empire. Still less
was any co-operation possible between the towns and the territorial
princes. The fatal result of conflict between town autonomy and
territorial power had been taught in Flanders. The Hanseatics regarded
the princes with a growing and exaggerated fear and found some relief in
the formation in 1418 of a thrice-renewed alliance, known as the
"Tohopesate," against princely aggression. But no territorial power had
as yet arisen in North Germany capable of subjugating and utilizing the
towns, though it could detach the inland towns from the League. The last
wars of the League with the Scandinavian powers in the 16th century,
which left it shorn of many of its privileges and of any pretension to
control of the Baltic basin eliminated it as a factor in the later
struggle of the Thirty Years' War for that control. At an assembly of
1629, Lubeck, Bremen and Hamburg were entrusted with the task of
safeguarding the general welfare, and after an effort to revive the
League in the last general assembly of 1669, these three towns were left
alone to preserve the name and small inheritance of the Hansa which in
Germany's disunion had upheld the honour of her commerce. Under their
protection, the three remaining counters lingered on until their
buildings were sold at Bergen in 1775, at London in 1852 and at Antwerp
in 1863.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--_Hansisches Urkundenbuch_, bearbeitet von K. Hohlbaum,
K. Kunze und W. Stein (10 vols., Halle und Leipzig, 1876-1907);
_Hanserecesse_, erste Abtheilung, 1256-1430 (8 vols., Leipzig,
1870-1897), zweite Abtheilung, 1431-1476 (7 vols., 1876-1892); dritte
Abtheilung, 1477-1530 (7 vols., 1881-1905); _Hansische
Geschichtsquellen_ (7 vols., 1875-1894; 3 vols., 1897-1906);
_Inventare hansischer Archive des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts_ (vols. 1
and 2, 1896-1903); _Hansische Geschictsblatter_ (14 vols., 1871-1908).
All the above-mentioned chief sources have been issued by the Verein
fur hansische Geschichte. Of the secondary literature, the following
histories and monographs should be named. G. F. Sartorius, _Geschichte
des hanseatischen Bundes_ (3 vols., Gottingen, 1802-1808),
_Urkundliche Geschichte des Ursprunges der deutschen Hanse_,
herausgegeben von J. M. Lappenberg (2 vols., Hamburg, 1830); F. W.
Barthold, _Geschichte der deutschen Hansa_ (3 vols., 2nd ed., Leipzig,
1862); D. Schafer, _Die Hansestadte und Konig Waldemar von Danemark_
(Jena, 1879); W. Stein, _Beitrage zur Geschichte der deutschen Hanse
bis um die Mitte des funfzehnten Jahrhunderts_ (Giessen, 1900); E.
Daenell, _Die Blutezeit der deutschen Hanse. Hansische Geschichte von
der zweiten Halfte des XIV. bis zum letzten Viertel des XV.
Jahrhunderts_ (2 vols., Berlin, 1905-1906); J. M. Lappenberg,
_Urkundliche Geschichte des hansischen Stahlhofes zu London_ (Hamburg,
1851); F. Keutgen, _Die Beziehungen der Hanse zu England im letzten
Drittel des vierzehnten Jahrhunderts_ (Giessen, 1890); R. Ehrenberg,
_Hamburg und England im Zeitalter der Konigin Elisabeth_ (Jena, 1896);
W. Stein, _Die Genossenschaft der deutschen Kaufleute zu Brugge in
Flandern_ (Berlin, 1890); H. Rogge, _Der Stapelzwang des hansischen
Kontors zu Brugge im funfzehnten Jahrhundert_ (Kiel, 1903); A.
Winckler, _Die deutsche Hansa in Russland_ (Berlin, 1886).
(E. F. G.)