The Hanse and the Pirates
Created | Updated Mar 13, 2012
I recently read a book called something like 'Hail, German Flag'. I have to admit that I felt slightly uneasy because of the title, but then I knew it was written well before the Third Reich; it was published in 1905, in fact, at a time when nationalism ran high in all European countries. To my delight, the book was about seafaring (something I've always loved to read about. For instance, I've read the complete Hornblower series – more than once.)
The first part of the book is about the Hanse. The Hanse was the first German naval power. It was founded to protect the German sea merchants from pirates and to ensure the privileges granted to them in foreign countries. Its history is a fascinating one – as far as it has been recorded.
They weren't exactly squeamish while protecting their interests, which is proven by the many wars they had. The Hanse even once took King Edward IV captive because he had burnt down their guildhall, the Steelyard in London and generally tried to break their power, which led to a unison of the (otherwise unorganised) Hanse and the declaration of war with England.
Queen Margarete of Norway and Denmark was another Royal who got a taste of the power of the Hanse. She had taken King Albrecht of Sweden captive, and sea trade with Stockholm was not possible. Although the Hanse remained neutral, this brought the Baltic towns Rostock and Wismar into action: they issued letters of marque and reprisal, and lots of German, Danish and Swedish noblemen were all too happy to join in the legal piracy. Not only did they rob ships, but they murdered and laid fire on land, too. They didn't even draw the line at the ships of the German Hanse, with the result that there was no seafaring on the Baltic sea for nearly three years.
The Liekendeeler, as they called themselves (meaning they shared at equal measures amongst each other), whose rallying cry was God's Friend and the whole World's Enemy, were so powerful and rich that they built a fortification in Wisby (Gotland), where they spent the winters and did their trading. The situation was unbearable, and the Hanse was forced into action. They built a war fleet to free the Baltic Sea from the pirates. The fleet of warships of the Hanse managed to secure the Baltic Sea enough to make some trade possible again. Appeals to the cities of Rostock and Wismar to call back the pirates were of no avail, however. After a long time of pleas and threats of the Hanse, Queen Margarete, fearing for her crown in case of an open enmity with the Hanse, let King Albrecht free after a ransom of 6,000 silver Mark had been paid in 1395.
The claims of Rostock and Wismar thus fulfilled, there was no longer a need for the letters of marque and reprise, but the Liekendeelers loved what they were doing, as it earned them tons of money.
Since there wasn't a lot of money to be made on the Baltic Sea due to the armed Hanse ships, the pirates moved their hunting grounds. They robbed and plundered on land, too. After having raided the branch of the Hanse in Bergen, they split up. Some went to the North Sea, some to the Newa, and some to the Spanish coast, while others returned to the Baltic sea.
As a reaction to this, the Hanse sent more and more warships and they had some success. They seized several pirate ships, and the crews of those were judged and decapitated. One (in)famous pirate was known as Klaus Störtebeker. He was very popular with the German citizens, and many a story was told about his strength which made him the captain of his crew. To this day, it is not known where he was from, or what his real name was. Many myths are still known: the mast of his ship was said to be hollow and filled with gold; when he was beheaded he walked (headless) along the row of his crew until he broke down dead after he had passed 14 (I think, the book doesn't mention it) of his crew, thus saving their lives1, and so on. However, the book mentions another interesting bit: the executioner, a man named Rosenfeld, was asked by one of the councillors if he was exhausted after having executed all 70 captured pirates, among them Michel Gödeke, Störtebeker's counsellor. Rosenfeld was in a murderous frenzy, so he laughed and replied he was still strong enough to execute the whole council. Thereupon one of the councillors was so horror-stricken that he had the executioner executed.
When I was a child, my sister and I used to sing a folk-song about Störtebeker. Looking back, I didn't actually grasp just what I sang there. There were lots of words in it I didn't know, like Gevatter (=godfather; Gevatter Tod is a name for death), or Tand (gewgaws), and so on. All I knew was that it had a nice tune and was about the adventurous life of pirates.
I spent a few hours not in this world, deeply engrossed in the fascinating naval history of my country, of which I had had no idea before. If you wonder just how I happened upon this book: it was one of the books I proofread at Distributed Proofreaders. There are lots of such gems, so if you are interested, pop over there and look for them2.
three years, and doubtless swept away the pirate ships of
Britain and the islands,that used to make descents from time
to time on the eastern coasts of Ireland. What a very funny coincidence!
