The Hanseatic League

Good morning we are going to explore the Hanseatic League and the remains of that league.  The run time for this documentary is 43:27.

Recovering the Traces of the Hanseatic League explored the seas three hundred years before the Portuguese started exploring.  Not all ships made it back.  Ships, storms, and pirates could sink these ships.  The Hanseatic League was founded in the 1200s.  They were a trading organization.  They were a trading network that had extensive contacts in Europe.  They focused on the Baltic Sea and what remains of this league is found on the bottom.  What can these wrecks tell us about the Hanseatic League?

The Baltic Sea and its icy waters have claimed many a ship over the years.  The icy waters that claimed these ships have conserved these ships.  Divers take to the waters to explore the shipwrecks.  On the top of their list are the ships of the Hanseatic League.  What can these shipwrecks tell us?  Did the Hanseatic League go farther than what was previously thought?  What can these shipwrecks tell us about European History?

A modern research ship scans the bottom during winter.  The divers prepare for their trip to the shipwrecks.  In 1977, lifeguards found a shipwreck.  It was at the height of the Cold War, so diving was unthinkable.  With the Cold War over, divers are not able to explore and document the wrecks.  The Hanseatic League used cog ships for their trade.  The cog ships were the equivalent of the modern-day cargo freighter.

What was discovered about this mysterious shipwreck?  The ship was made from wood from the Vistula region.  This shipwreck lies on her starboard ship, so the finds are very well preserved.  What was found on the ship shows the lucrative trade that the Hanseatic League engaged in?  The League was a Pan-European endeavor and it was made of merchants in over two hundred cities.  Their premise was to encourage trade unhindered by borders.  Trade was the game and it went above politics.   The Hanseatic League was to make a profit and profit this league did.  This shipwreck was most likely a write-off.

In a lab, the finds from this shipwreck are being examined.  A three-legged pot, cod bones, and some strange wooden spits.  Why so many wood spits?  Well, the wooden spits were used to transport the cod.  Transporting cod would have promised the traders a high profit so it would have been transported by a cog ship.  Where would these cod fish be transported to?  The Shetland Islands were also a destination of the Hanseatic League.  These islands would have provided game, ponies, and peat.  Would these brave mariners head to the far away Shetlands?

One archeologist thinks so.  She retraces those voyages and looks for evidence of trading posts.  The sheltered bay would have allowed the cog ships to shelter.  A voyage like this would have taken two weeks.  Additionally, this archeologist looks to local and contemporary records.  She has a lucky break when she meets up with a local farmer who knew the place names.  They look at the ruins of a farmhouse and discover a brick.  Bricks were never used as a building material on the island but were used for ballast in ships.  In the harbor, there are rocks organized in a horseshoe pattern.  This horseshoe would have acted as a jetty for the ships.

The archeologists continue to survey the harbor.  Fragments of grain are found on the site.  Foundations remain on the site as well.  These are the remains of a storehouse.  A picture emerges with these finds.  A merchant would have lived on his ship during the summer while engaging in trade and would have used the storehouse to store his goods before he went back to sea.  One archeologist goes for a dive in the harbor to discover, if anything, remains of the goods left behind by these traders.  Unfortunately, nothing is to be seen on the harbor floor.  So the archeologists move on and walk the remains of a church.   What can these remains tell us about the history of the Hanseatic League?

This was an interesting documentary about the Hanseatic League because of the archaeology being featured.  I would show third documentary to a history class.