height of her power about 1400 A.D. she ruled a real empire.1 sea power The commerce and possessions of Venice made it necessary for her to maintain a powerful fleet. She is said to have had at one time over three thousand merchant vessels, Venetian besides forty-five war galleys. Her ships went out in squadrons, with men-of-war acting as a convoy against pirates. One fleet traded with the ports of western Europe, another proceeded to the Black Sea, while others visited Syria and Egypt to meet the caravans from the Far East. Venetian sea power humbled Genoa and for a long time held the Mediterranean against the Ottoman Turks. The "Queen" of the The greatness of Venice was celebrated by the annual ceremony of "the wedding of the sea." The doge, or chief magistrate, standing in the bows of the state barge, cast a ring of gold into the Adriatic with the proud words, "We have wedded thee, O sea, in token of our rightful and perpetual dominion." Adriatic " described The visitor to modern Venice can still gain a good impression of what the city must have looked like in the fourteenth century, when ships of every nation crowded its quays and Venice strangers of every country thronged its squares or sped in light gondolas over the canals which take the place of streets. The main highway is still the Grand Canal, nearly two miles long and lined with palaces and churches. The Grand Canal leads to St. Mark's Cathedral, brilliant with mosaic pictures, the Campanile, or bell tower, and the Doge's Palace. The "Bridge of Sighs" connects the ducal palace with the state prisons. The Rialto in the business heart of Venice is another famous bridge. But these are only a few of the historic and beautiful buildings of the island city. 198. German Cities: the Hanseatic League The important trade routes from Venice and Genoa through the Alpine passes into the valleys of the Rhine and Danube were 1 For the Venetian possessions in 1453 A.D. see the map, page 494. 2 That is, "duke." Cities of central Germany responsible for the prosperity of many fine cities in southern and central Germany. Among them were Augssouthern and burg, which rivaled Florence as a financial center, Nuremberg, famous for artistic metal work, Ulm, Strassburg, and Cologne. The feeble rule of the German kings compelled the cities to form several confederacies for the purpose of resisting the extortionate tolls and downright robberies of feudal lords. Cities of northern Germany It was the Baltic commerce which brought the cities of northern Germany into a firm. union. From the Baltic region came large quantities of dried and salted fish, especially herring, wax candles for church services, skins, tallow, and lumber. Furs were also in great demand. Every one wore them during the winter, on account of the poorly heated houses. The German cities which shared in this commerce early formed the celebrated Hanseatic1 League for protection against pirates and feudal lords. Membership of the Hanseatic League The league seems to have begun with an alliance of Hamburg and Lübeck to safeguard the traffic on the Elbe. The growth of the league was rapid. At the period of its greatest power, about 1400 A.D., there were upwards of eighty Hanseatic cities along the Baltic coast and in the inland districts of northern Germany. The commercial importance of the league extended far beyond the borders of Germany. Its trading posts, or "factories," Hanseatic at Bergen in Norway and Novgorod in Russia con"factories " trolled the export trade of those two countries. Similar establishments existed at London, on the Thames just above London Bridge, and at Bruges in Flanders. Each factory served as a fortress where merchants could be safe from attack, as a storehouse for goods, and as a general market. The Hanseatic League ruled over the Baltic Sea very much as Venice ruled over the Adriatic. In spite of its monopolistic 1 From the old German hansa, a "confederacy." of the Hanseatic tendencies, so opposed to the spirit of free intercourse between nations, the league did much useful work by sup- Influence pressing piracy and by encouraging the art of navigation, Modern Germans look back to it as proof that their country can play a great part on the seas. The Hanseatic merchants were also pioneers in the halfbarbarous lands of northern and eastern Europe, where they founded towns, fostered industry, and introduced comforts and luxuries previously unknown. Such services in advancing civilization were comparable to those performed by the Teutonic Knights.1 Moreover Decline of the Hanseatic League After several centuries of usefulness the league lost its monopoly of the Baltic trade and began to decline. the Baltic, like the Mediterranean, sank to minor importance as a commercial center, after the Portuguese had discovered the sea route to India and the Spaniards had opened up the New World.2 City after city gradually withdrew from the league, till only Hamburg, Lübeck, and Bremen remained. They are still called free and independent cities, though now they form a part of the German Empire. 199. The Cities of Flanders In the Middle Ages the Netherlands, or "Low Countries," now divided between Holland and Belgium, consisted of a number of feudal states, nominally under the control County of of German and French kings, but really quite Flanders independent. Among them was the county of Flanders. It included the coast region from Calais to the mouth of the Scheldt, as well as a considerable district in what is now northwestern France. The inhabitants of Flanders were partly of Teutonic extraction (the Flemings) and partly akin to the French (the Walloons). The coun Flanders enjoyed a good situation for commerce. try formed a convenient stopping place for merchants who went Flanders as a commercial by sea between the Mediterranean and the Baltic, while important land routes led thither from all parts of western Europe. Flanders was also an inand industrial dustrial center. Its middle classes early discovered the fact that by devotion to manufacturing even a small and sterile region may become rich and populous. center The leading indus try of Flanders was BELFRY OF BRUGES Bruges, the capital of West Flanders, contains many fine monuments of the Middle Ages. Among these is the belfry, which rises in the center of the façade of the market hall. It dates from the end of the thirteenth century. Its height is 352 feet. The belfry consists of three stories, the two lower ones square, and the upper one, octagonal. sheep, but lacking skilled workmen to manufacture the wool into fine cloth, sent it across the Channel to Flanders. A medieval writer declared that the whole world was clothed in English wool manufactured by the Flemings. The taxes that were laid on the export of wool helped to pay the expenses of English kings in their wars with the Welsh, the Scotch, and the Irish. The wool trade also made Flanders the ally of England in the Hundred Years' War, thus beginning that historic friendship between the two countries which still endures. Among the thriving communities of Flanders three held an exceptional position. Bruges was the mart where the trade of TOWN HALL OF LOUVAIN, BELGIUM One of the richest and most ornate examples of Gothic architecture. Erected in the fifteenth century. The building consists of three stories, above which rises the lofty roof crowned with graceful towers. The interior decorations and arrangements are commonplace. southern Europe, in the hands of the Venetians, and the trade of northern Europe, in the hands of the Hanseatic merchants, came together. Ghent, with forty thousand workshops, and Ypres, which counted two hundred thousand workmen within its walls and suburbs, were scarcely less prosperous. When these cities declined in Bruges, |