Forces of the Hanseatic League 13th-15th Centuries


PREZZO : EUR 18,95€
CODICE: ISBN 1782007792 EAN 9781782007791
AUTORE/CURATORE/ARTISTA :
Author: Illustrated by: ,
EDITORE/PRODUTTORE :
COLLANA/SERIE : , 494
DISPONIBILITA': Disponibile


TITOLO/DENOMINAZIONE:
Forces of the Hanseatic League 13th-15th Centuries

PREZZO : EUR 18,95€

CODICE :
ISBN 1782007792
EAN 9781782007791

AUTORE/CURATORE/ARTISTA :
Author: Illustrated by: ,

EDITORE/PRODUTTORE:


COLLANA/SERIE:
, 494

ANNO:
2014

DISPONIBILITA':
Disponibile

CARATTERISTICHE TECNICHE:
48 pages
8 color plates, 42 b&w illustrations
Paperback
cm 18,5 x 24,5 x 0,3
gr 170

DESCRIZIONE:

Publisher's description:
The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive federation of merchant guilds based in harbour towns along the North Sea and Baltic coasts of what are now Germany and her neighbours, which eventually dominated maritime trade in Northern Europe and spread its influence much further afield. The League was formed to protect the economic and political interests of member cities throughout a vast and complex trading network. The League continued to operate well into the 17th century, but its golden age was between c.1200 and c.1500; thereafter it failed to take full advantage of the wave of maritime exploration to the west, south and east of Europe. During its 300 years of dominance the League's large ships - called 'cogs' - were at the forefront of maritime technology, were early users of cannon, and were manned by strong fighting crews to defend them from pirates in both open-sea and river warfare. The home cities raised their own armies for mutual defence, and their riches both allowed them, and required them, to invest in fortifications and gunpowder weapons, since as very attractive targets they were subjected to sieges at various times.

Back cover:
This is the military history of the most significant cross-border confederation in medieval Europe - the Hanseatic League of independent German trading cities. It describes how wealthy and emboldened mercantile harbour-towns such as Lübeck and Hamburg tested their strength against local feudal princes from the 12th century. They formed their first federations in the 1230s-60s, to combat Baltic pirates and to resist Danish expansion. The volume details how, from 1367 until the 1490s, the mature and wealthy League rivalled the naval power of the various Scandinavian powers, the Dutch and the English. Their story is illustrated with period paintings, photographs, and newly researched colour artwork.

Contents:
Introduction: origins and nature of the League
Knights and militias, 13th-14th centuries
Hanseatic shipping: the 'cog', its capabilities and influence; armed ships and piracy; river trade and river wars
Fortified ports and siege warfare
Introduction of cannon by land and sea
The League in the late 15th century: the 'age of discoveries', from peak of prosperity to decline
Select bibliography
Plate commentaries
Index

Index:
page 3 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
- Germans and Slavs - 12th-century Wendish and Northern Crusades - emergence of powerful towns: Lübeck - Danish expansion
6 CHRONOLOGY
8 EVOLUTION OF THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE
- Danish-German rivalry - the 13th-century 'proto-Hanse': Lübeck, Hamburg & Osnabrück - maturity of the League: Confederation of Cologne, 1367 - organisation and structure
12 LAND WARFARE, c.1250-c.1425
- Urban society: ruling classes - militias - merchants and artisans - organisation
- Princely armies: knights and militia - mercenaries in Hanseatic service
- Crossbows and other weapons
18 MARITIME WARFARE
- Regulations - ship types - assembly and command - seamen and soldiers
- Sea battles - river operations
33 SIEGE WARFARE & FIREARMS
- Early tradition of fortification - defence and display - independent towns versus territorial princes - security overseas
- Crossbows in siege warfare
- Firearms: hand guns - cannon on land and shipboard - manufacturing
37 THE 15TH CENTURY: THE COSTS OF COMPETITION
- Expansion - expense and taxation - co-operative voyages - piracy and privateering
- Rivalry with Denmark & the Union of Kalmar - relations with Holstein and Mecklenburg - conflict with Castle
- Rivalry with the dutch - rivalry with England
43 FURTHER READING
44 PLATE COMMENTARIES
48 INDEX


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