Editing Hanseatic League (section)

==Legacy==

=== Historiography ===
[[File:Europäisches Hansemuseum 2015.jpg|thumb|right|The [[European Hansemuseum]] in Lübeck]]
Academic historiography of the Hanseatic League is considered to begin with Georg Sartorius, who started writing his first work in 1795 and founded the liberal historiographical tradition about the League. The German conservative nationalist historiographical tradition was first published with F.W. Barthold's ''Geschichte der Deutschen Hansa'' of 1853/1854. The conservative view was associated with [[German question|Little German]] ideology and came to predominate from the 1850s until the end of the [[First World War]]. Hanseatic history was used to justify a stronger German navy and conservative historians drew a link between the League and the rise of Prussia as the leading German state. This climate deeply influenced the historiography of the Baltic trade.<ref name="Hammel-Kiesow3"/>{{rp|pages=192–194}}<ref name="Jahnke2015"/>{{rp|pages=203–204}}

Issues of social, cultural and economic history became more important in German research after the First World War. But leading historian Fritz Rörig also promoted a [[Nazism|National Socialist]] perspective. After the [[Second World War]] the conservative nationalist view was discarded, allowing exchanges between German, Swedish and Norwegian historians on the Hanseatic League's role in Sweden and Norway. Views on the League were strongly negative in the Scandinavian countries, especially Denmark, because of associations with German privilege and supremacy.<ref>{{cite book
 |last= Hill
 |first= Thomas
 |editor-first= Antjekathrin
 |editor-last= Graßmann
 |date= 2001
 |title= Ausklang und Nachklang der Hanse im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert
 |chapter= Vom öffentlichen Gebrauch der Hansegeschichte und hanseforschung im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert
 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tB9oAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA67
 |pages= 67–88
 |language= German
 |series= Hansische Studien
 |volume= XII
 |location= Trier
 |publisher= Porta Alba Verlag
 |isbn= 3-933701-02-3
 |archive-date= 2 December 2024
 |access-date= 5 January 2025
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20241202172511/https://books.google.com/books?id=tB9oAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA67
 |url-status= live
 }}</ref>{{rp|pages=68–69, 74}} [[Philippe Dollinger]]'s book ''The German Hansa'' became the standard work in the 1960s. At that time, the dominant perspective became Ahasver von Brandt's view of a loosely aligned trading network. Marxist historians in the GDR were split on whether the League was a "late feudal" or "proto-capitalist" phenomenon.<ref name="Hammel-Kiesow3"/>{{rp|pages=197–200}}

Two museums in Europe are dedicated to the history of the Hanseatic League: the [[European Hansemuseum]] in Lübeck and the [[Hanseatic Museum and Schøtstuene]] in Bergen.

=== Popular views ===
From the 19th century, Hanseatic history was often used to promote a national cause in Germany. German liberals built a fictional literature around Jürgen Wullenwever, expressing fierce anti-Danish sentiment. Hanseatic subjects were used to propagate nation building, colonialism, fleet building and warfare, and the League was presented as a bringer of culture and pioneer of German expansion.<ref name="Hammel-Kiesow3"/>{{rp|pages=195–196}}

The preoccupation with a strong navy motivated German painters in the 19th century to paint supposedly Hanseatic ships. They used the traditions of maritime paintings and, not wanting Hanseatic ships to look unimpressive, ignored historical evidence to fictionalise cogs into tall two- or three-masted ships. The depictions were widely reproduced, such as on plates of [[Norddeutscher Lloyd]]. This misleading artistic tradition influenced public perception throughout the 20th century.<ref name="Hammel-Kiesow3"/>{{rp|pages=196–197}}

In the late 19th century, a social-critical view developed, where opponents of the League like the ''likedeelers'' were presented as heroes and liberators from economic oppression. This was popular from the end of the First World War into the 1930s, and survives in the [[Störtebeker Festival]] on [[Rügen]], founded as the Rügenfestspiele by the GDR.<ref name="Hammel-Kiesow3"/>{{rp|pages=196}}

From the late 1970s, the Europeanness and cooperation of the Hanseatic League came to prominence in popular culture. It is associated with innovation, entrepreneurism and internationalness in economic circles.<ref name="Hammel-Kiesow3"/>{{rp|pages=199–203}} In this way it  often used for tourism, city branding and commercial marketing.<ref name="Looper"/>{{rp|page=109}} The League's unique governance structure has been identified as a precursor to the [[Supranational union|supranational model]] of the [[European Union]].<ref>{{Cite web
 |last= Morris
 |first= Chris
 |title= Hanseatic League {{!}} The first European Union?
 |url= https://bbc.co.uk/news/extra/A2MFANtn3Z/hanseatic_league
 |website= BBC News
 |access-date= 18 June 2021
 |archive-date= 21 April 2021
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210421143759/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/A2MFANtn3Z/hanseatic_league
 |url-status= live
 }}</ref>

=== Modern transnational organisations named after the Hanseatic League ===
==== Union of Cities THE HANSA ====
[[File:Hanse Bund.jpg|thumb|{{center|German language logo}}]]
In 1979, [[Zwolle]] invited over 40 cities from [[West Germany]], the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway with historic links to the Hanseatic League to sign the recesses of 1669, at Zwolle's 750 year city rights' anniversary in August of the next year.<ref>{{cite news
 |last= Lelsz
 |first= Jac.
 |date= 22 December 1979
 |title= Hanze-reünie in feestvierend Zwolle
 |trans-title= Hanseatic reunion in celebrating Zwolle
 |language= Dutch
 |url= https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ABCDDD:010825142:mpeg21:p017
 |work= Trouw
 |access-date= 30 January 2023
}}</ref> In 1980, those cities established a "new Hanse" in Zwolle, named ''Städtebund Die Hanse'' (Union of Cities THE HANSA) in German and reinstituted the Hanseatic diets. This league is open to all former Hanseatic League members and cities that share a Hanseatic heritage.<ref name="New Hanse">{{cite web 
 |url= http://www.hanse.org/en/the_hansa/
 |title= City League The HANSE
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100817192442/http://www.hanse.org/en/the_hansa
 |archive-date= 17 August 2010
}}</ref>

In 2012, the city league had 187 members. This included twelve Russian cities, most notably [[Novgorod]], and 21 Polish cities. No Danish cities had joined the Union although several qualify.<ref name="Hammel-Kiesow3"/>{{rp|pages=199–200}} The "new Hanse" fosters business links, tourism and cultural exchange.<ref name="New Hanse"/>

The headquarters of the New Hansa is in [[Lübeck]], Germany.<ref name="New Hanse" />

Dutch cities including [[Groningen]], [[Deventer]], [[Kampen (Overijssel)|Kampen]], [[Zutphen]] and [[Zwolle]], and a number of German cities including [[Bremen]], [[Buxtehude]], [[Demmin]], [[Greifswald]], Hamburg, [[Lübeck]], [[Lüneburg]], [[Rostock]], [[Salzwedel]], [[Stade]], [[Stendal]], [[Stralsund]], [[Uelzen]] and [[Wismar]] now call themselves ''Hanse'' cities (the German cities' car license plates are prefixed ''H'', e.g. –''HB''– for "Hansestadt Bremen").

Each year one of the member cities of the New Hansa hosts the [[Hanseatic Days of New Time]] international festival.

In 2006, [[King's Lynn]] became the first English member of the union of cities.<ref name="West Norfolk">{{cite web
 |url= http://www.west-norfolk.gov.uk/Default.aspx?page=24618
 |title= King's Lynn Hanse Festival 2009
 |work= [[King's Lynn and West Norfolk|Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk]]
 |access-date= 23 August 2010
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100513014127/http://www.west-norfolk.gov.uk/Default.aspx?page=24618
 |archive-date= 13 May 2010
}}</ref> It was joined by [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]] in 2012 and [[Boston, Lincolnshire|Boston]] in 2016.<ref name="Richards2017">{{cite book
 |last= Richards
 |first= Paul
 |date= 2017
 |title= Six Essays in Hanseatic History
 |chapter= Introduction
 |publisher= Poppyland Publishing 
 |location= Cromer
 |isbn= 978-1-909796-33-1
}}</ref>

==== New Hanseatic League ====
The [[New Hanseatic League]] was established in February 2018 by finance ministers from [[Denmark]], [[Estonia]], [[Finland]], Ireland, [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], the [[Netherlands]] and Sweden through the signing of a foundational document which set out the countries' "shared views and values in the discussion on the architecture of the [[Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union|EMU]]".<ref name="Suutre2018">{{cite web
 |last= Suutre
 |first= Siiri
 |date= 6 March 2018
 |title= Shared views and values on the architecture of the EMU
 |at= (PDF at "Read more here")
 |publisher= Estonian Ministry of Finance
 |url= https://www.rahandusministeerium.ee/en/news/shared-views-and-values-architecture-emu
 |website= rahandusministeerium.ee
 |access-date= 1 October 2021
 |archive-date= 1 October 2021
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211001171133/https://www.rahandusministeerium.ee/en/news/shared-views-and-values-architecture-emu
 |url-status= live
 }}</ref>

=== Others ===
The legacy of the Hansa is reflected in several names: the German airline [[Lufthansa]] (lit. "Air Hansa"); [[F.C. Hansa Rostock]], nickamed the [[Cog (ship)|Kogge]] or Hansa-Kogge; [[Hansa-Park]], one of the biggest theme parks in Germany; [[Hanze University of Applied Sciences]] in [[Groningen]], [[Netherlands]]; Hanze oil production platform, Netherlands; the [[Hansa Brewery]] in Bergen and the [[Hanse Sail]] in Rostock; [[Hanseatic Trade Center]] in Hamburg; [[DDG Hansa]], which was a major German shipping company from 1881 until its bankruptcy and takeover by [[Hapag-Lloyd]] in 1980; the district of New Hanza City in [[Riga]], [[Latvia]]; and [[Hansabank]] in Estonia, which was rebranded as [[Swedbank]].