The ‘Golden Age’ of the Hanseatic League 91
His successor was Christopher iii of Bavaria, Eric’s nephew, who renewed the
towns’ privileges, though his relations to the Hanseatic League were ambiva-
lent, since he supported the efforts of the Northern German princes to subject
their towns to their authority. When his position in Denmark had been stabi-
lized, he also gave privileges to the Dutch rivals of the Hanseatic towns. After
his death in 1448, this continued under his successor Christian i of Oldenburg
who at first only reigned in Denmark and Norway. In March 1460, after the
death of Adolf viii of Schleswig and Holstein, Christian was also elected count
of Holstein and duke of Schleswig to be confirmed in the treaty of Ripen of May
- At that point, the towns had to take into account the increased power of
the Danish kings who continued to interfere in Northern Germany.
After King Eric had been deposed, Lübeck occupied the fortress of
Helsingborg at the Øresund for some time. This became important during the
second great conflict in the 1430s with the duchies of Holland and Zeeland.91
During the war with Denmark, the pirates employed by the towns had also
taken Dutch ships, in 1429, and since there was no compensation, the Dutch
retaliated with an attack on 12 salt ships of the Hanse near Brest in May 1438. In
consequence, the Wendish town closed the Øresund for Dutch ships and started
a war dominated by acts of piracy. Though the Wendish towns tried in vain to
get further support, especially from the grand master of the Teutonic Knights,
Paul von Rusdorf, and though the other towns at the Baltic were concerned,
the duchies of Holland and Zeeland suffered more from the lack of grain from
the Baltic. When King Christopher iii invited both parties to negotiations in
Copenhagen, they agreed on a ten years’ truce, in August 1441. Soon regulations
for compensations were found, and though there were some quarrels about
the payments and smaller conflicts, relations remained mostly peaceful.92 This
was based on the mutual understanding that the trade between the Hanseatic
towns and Holland-Zeeland was important for both since it had caused severe
problems to blockade the Dutch trade in the Baltic. The Dutch were not only
rivals, but also important partners in trading and shipping.
The situation also changed in the Western trading posts. The Kontor at
Bergen was increasingly controlled by the Wendish towns who claimed the
91 Louis Sicking, “Die offensive Lösung. Militärische Aspekte des holländischen
Ostseehandels im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert,” Hansische Geschichtsblätter 117 (1999), 39–51,
esp. 42–44.
92 Dieter Seifert, Kompagnons und Konkurrenten. Holland und die Hanse im späten
Mittelalter, Quellen und Darstellungen zur hansischen Geschichte, nf. xliii (Cologne,
Weimar, Vienna: Böhlau, 1997), 321–418.