eventually grew to be the most important trading
community of the Middle Ages.

The name which the association took to itself was a Gothic word, and was
not improbably conferred upon them by the Vikings themselves, since
Hansa means--in the language of the Goths--"a company," or "a troop,"
and in that sense it occurs in the Gothic version of the Scriptures by
Ulphilas, a copy of which is preserved in the library of Upsala. Some of
the rules which Palnatoki made for these merchants remained in force
throughout the existence of the League, and formed the basis of the
laws by which all the factories of the Hansa were governed. The _Joms
Vykinga Saga_ contains some of these rules:--"No man older than fifty
years or younger than eighteen winters could be received." "Anyone who
committed what had been forbidden was to be cast out, and driven from
the community." "No one should have a woman within the burgh, or be
absent from it for three nights." Governed by such rules, the Kontors of
the League formed among the alien populations in which they were placed
semi-monastic establishments, holding only such intercourse with their
neighbours as their business required, much like the early British
factories established in India.

Hamburg was founded in 809 by Charlemagne, and its merchants were among
the first to take advantage of Jomsborg; and it was very shortly after
that market was opened when they appeared in London. The growth of the
League was, however, very gradual; and it was not until the foundation
of Luebeck, which afterwards became its principal city, that it assumed
its great importance. But the destruction of Jomsborg by the Danes
transferred all the Eastern trade of the Baltic to this new town, which,
as a consequence of its increasing importance, was made in 1226 a free
city of the Empire; and by 1234 it had become so powerful as to be able
to destroy for ever the naval supremacy of Denmark in the sea-fight of
Travemuende. Its treaty with Hamburg for mutual defence was made soon
afterwards, and this event is reckoned to be the formal establishment of
the Hansa League, not only as a corporate body, but as an independent
state to make treaties, and, when necessary, to levy war.

[Illustration: COAT OF ARMS OF HANSA MERCHANT IN LONDON.]

During this same period the German settlement in London had been
increasing in importance, and, although not yet recognized as a
corporate body, is frequently referred to as a guild