of Lyons, the Arnoldists, and other
heretics who, in the eyes of the faithful, were the worst enemies of
the Christian church. Such was the reward of the man who had done more
toward the reestablishment of the Latin kingdom in Palestine than had
been done by the lion-hearted Richard, and who, it may fairly be said,
had done it without shedding a drop of blood.

RISE OF THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE

A.D. 1241

H. DENICKE[59]

Trade trusts, which have attained so large a growth in our
day, are not an original product of the present age. The
Hanseatic League, or _Hansa_--the word meaning a society,
union--was the first trust of which we have authentic
record. It began about A.D. 1140, but the league was not
signed until 1241. It was first called into being to protect
the property of the German merchants against the piratical
Swedes and other Norsemen, but presently became submerged in
a combination of certain cities to enlarge and control the
trade of each country with which they had commerce. So
powerful did the league become that it dominated kings,
nobles, and cities by its edicts.

Those free cities which constituted the league had the
emperor for their lord, were released from feudal
obligations, and passed their own laws, subject only to his
approval. The emperors, finding in the strength of the
cities a bulwark against the bishops and the princes,
constantly extended the municipal rights and privileges. The
Hanseatic League at one time nearly monopolized the whole
trade of Europe north of Italy.

It was an epoch of associations in which the league arose.
The Church was but a society, fighting as an army for its
liberty. Each trade had its guild, and none might practise
his trade unless he was a member of the particular guild
controlling it. The handicrafts were in the same case; and
the real or operative freemasonry was instituted, about the
same time, for the erection of ecclesiastical and palatial
buildings.

Wealth, power, pomp, and pride began to wane in the cities
of the league early in the fifteenth century, and the
movement was accelerated by the change of ocean routes of
trade due to the discovery of America, and the Cape of Good
Hope way to India. The final extinction came as late as
October, 1888, when the free cities of Ham