Section 196. The Hanse. III

There were no bounds to its greed and selfishness⁠. It did its utmost to crush all growing trade⁠, navigation, and even manufactures, which in the least interfered with its gains⁠. It warned away⁠ all strangers⁠ from the Baltic; and when it found them there, it seized and destroyed their vessels⁠. In order to maintain this monopoly, it⁠ was ready to make⁠ the greatest sacrifices, to equip fleets, and sustain long and costly campaigns. With Denmark it waged a desperate war; and it also came into collision⁠ with Sweden and Norway. From⁠ these contests it came off victorious, and the whole of Scandinavia was compelled to acknowledge its commercial supremacy⁠. It⁠ had a rupture also with the Netherlands, whose flag it banished from the Baltic⁠.

These unbounded pretensions naturally excited a great deal of ill feeling⁠ against the Hanse, and, in the end, proved fatal⁠ to it. One after another⁠, the markets which it had been accustomed to regard as its own private estates, threw off their allegiance, and admitted⁠ the traders of other nations. Then⁠ it was that the league began to suffer in another way from its narrow-minded selfishness. As long as it had exclusive command of⁠ foreign sources of supply, it did not trouble itself to develop the resources of Germany—indeed it rather endeavoured⁠ to repress them, when it thought that others were likely to profit by them; but when one by one its monopolies exploded⁠, it found reason to repent that it had neglected to cultivate⁠ the productive powers of its own country.

These causes, combined⁠ with the change⁠ of route to India, led to the gradual decline of this famous confederation⁠; and at the last general assembly, held at Lübeck in 1630, the deputies from the several cities appeared merely to declare their secession⁠. In a modified form⁠, however, the Hanse lingered on⁠ till the beginning of the present century—the⁠ shadow of a great name. The Free Cities of Lübeck, Hamburg, Bremen, and Frankfort-on-the-Maine, are now only nominally the representatives of the Hanse.—J. H. Fyfe.

= Its greed and selfishness had no bounds.

to crush all growing trade, allen Handel ... im Keime zu ersticken; the adj. ‘all’ must be repeated before the two following nouns.

which — gains, sobald die Interessen des Bundes im geringsten dadurch beeinträchtigt wurden.

= drove away.

= foreign ships.

their vessels = them. The passage ‘and — vessels’ is best rendered by the Passive Voice. ‘To seize’, here mit Beschlag belegen.

= the league.

to make a sacrifice, ein Opfer bringen.

to come into collision with a person, sich mit einem entzweien.

Aus; to come off, hervorgehen; it = the same.

dessen kommerzielle Überlegenheit.

It is better, for the sake of distinctness, to change the pronoun ‘it’ into ‘the league’.

Use the Passive Voice to render ‘whose — Baltic’.

a — feeling = great hatred.

to prove fatal = to become dangerous.

Place ‘one — another’ after ‘threw’, and commence the sentence with ‘The markets’; it = the same; as — estates, als ihre eigenen Gebiete; threw off their allegiance, warfen ... das ihnen aufgedrungene Joch von sich.

‘to admit a person’, here einem den Zutritt gestatten.

= Upon that.

Herrschaft über; sources of supply, Zufuhrquellen.

er bemühte sich vielmehr.

but — exploded = but when its monopolies (Handelsprivilegien) were one after another taken away (entreißen) from it (ihm, to be placed after ‘monopolies’).

to cultivate = the cultivation (Pflege, f.); ‘the — country’ may be briefly rendered by der inländischen Produktionskraft.

= in combination.

Verlegung, f.; route, Landweg, m.

Städtebund, m.

der Austritt aus dem Bunde.

beschränkt.

however, the Hansa lingered on, fristete die Hansa jedoch noch ... ein kümmerliches Dasein.

= the mere.