curbed to
some extent. Here the league merely possessed warerooms, while their
agents lived privately among the burghers. The right of holding court
in the Carmelite monastery was conceded to them; and there, too, they
administered their affairs. In Novgorod, however, the conditions were
entirely different. In view of the uncivilized condition and the
national prejudices of the Russians, the greatest care had to be
exercised in all intercourse with the natives in order that the
existence of the entire Hanseatic colony might not be endangered.
Consequently, this intercourse was regulated with great circumspection
and in all detail both by the diet of the Hanseatic League and by the
chiefs of the bureau.

It was, however, in Bergen, Norway, that northernmost station of the
Hansa, that the most interesting conditions prevailed. Here, that is,
in Norway, the German merchant, by means of money or arms, gradually
drove all competitors, including Englishmen, from the field, and in
1350 succeeded in establishing in the most favorably situated and
liveliest city of the land, Bergen, the last of his numerous
bureaus--a bureau which maintained itself, though in somewhat
deteriorated form, until the eighteenth century. This station, created
at a late period of Hanseatic expansion, bears testimony to the
colonial genius of the German merchants of the league and affords a
glimpse into their business methods. It may therefore be deserving of
a more detailed consideration.

Twenty-one farms or granges, belonging to as many Hanse towns, dotted
the shore. Each of these, surrounded by trees and lawns, covered
considerable space and included spacious granaries and dwellings, most
of which served also as warehouses. Each grange had its dock, where
ships could conveniently land and discharge their goods. The entire
space thus occupied by the Hanses was enclosed by a wall, beyond which
and running parallel with it was the so-called "Schustergasse"--a
street occupied by German artisans, who, though permanently settled
here, nevertheless remained closely in touch with their German
brethren of the bureau. Every bureau had its _Schutting_--a spacious,
windowless room which depended for light and air upon a hole in the
roof, which likewise served as a vent for the smoke issuing from the
hearth. It was in this room that the agents of the Hansa merchants
assembled to debate on judicial or mercantile affairs. During the long
winter evenings the f