Hanseatic League Expansion

Timeline

1. 1370–1373Stralsund · Baltic SeaIn 1370 the Hanseatic League won the Second Danish War and signed the Treaty of Stralsund, in which the Danish king recognized the League's Baltic trade privileges, free straits passage, and a 15% tariff cap. This victory greatly boosted the League's voice under Hamburg and Lübeck leadership, laying the foundation for extending influence to its kontors in the 1370s.
2. 1371–1380Hanseatic Kontor in Bruges · FlandersIn the 1370s the League maintained tight organization at its four overseas kontors—Bruges, London, Bergen, and Novgorod—monopolizing cloth imports and exports of Norwegian salted fish and Russian furs. The Bruges kontor was deeply tied to Flemish weaving; despite local political turmoil, Hanseatic merchants sustained trade interests through collective bargaining and maritime force.
3. 1374–1380Lübeck · Baltic SeaLübeck regularly convened Hanseatic diets to coordinate tariff, embargo, and anti-piracy policies. In the 1370s the League gradually brought more northern German port cities into its cooperative network, protecting routes through collective diplomacy and armed merchant ships against unreasonable charges by Denmark, England, and local rulers, consolidating the Baltic commercial corridor from Visby to Skåne.