chapter 3._

HANNIBAL, The war of, with Rome.

See PUNIC WAR, THE SECOND.

----------HANOVER: Start--------

HANOVER, OR BRUNSWICK-LÜNEBURG: Origin of the Kingdom and House.

See SAXONY: THE OLD DUCHY, and A. D. 1178-1183.

HANOVER: The Guelf connection.

See GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES; and ESTE, HOUSE OF.

HANOVER: A. D. 1529. The Duke joins in the Protest which gave origin to the name Protestants.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1525-1529.

HANOVER: A. D. 1546. Final separation from the Wolfenbüttel branch of the House.

The two principalities of Brunswick and Lüneburg, which had been divided, were reunited by Ernest, called the Confessor. On his death, in 1546, they were again divided, the heir of his elder son taking Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, or Brunswick, and the younger receiving Brunswick-Lüneburg, or Hanover. From the latter branch sprang the Electoral House of Hanover, and the present royal family of England; from the former descended the Ducal Brunswick family.

_Sir A. Halliday, Annals of the House of Hanover, book 9 (volume 2)._

{1624}

HANOVER: A. D. 1648. Losses and acquisitions in the Peace of Westphalia. The alternating Bishopric.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1648.

HANOVER: A. D. 1692. Rise to Electoral rank.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1648-1705; and 1125-1152.

HANOVER: A. D. 1694-1696. The war of the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV.

See FRANCE: A.D. 1694; and 1695-1696.

HANOVER: A. D. 1701. Settlement of the Succession of the Brunswick-Lüneberg line to the English Crown.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1701.

HANOVER: A. D. 1714. Succession of the Elector to the British Crown.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1714.

HANOVER: A. D. 1720. Acquisition of the duchies of Bremen and Verden by the Elector.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1719-1721.

HANOVER: A. D. 1741. The War of the Austrian Succession: Neutrality declared.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1741 (AUGUST-NOVEMBER).

HANOVER: A. D. 1745. The English-Hanoverian defeat at Fontenoy.

See NETHERLANDS (THE AUSTRIAN PROVINCES): A. D. 1745.

HANOVER: A. D. 1757-1762. French attack and British defense of the electorate in the Seven Years War.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1757 (JULY-DECEMBER), to 1761-1762.

HANOVER: A. D. 1763. The Peace of Paris, ending the Seven Years War.

See SEVEN YEARS WAR: THE TREATIES.

HANOVER: A. D. 1776. Troops hired to Great Britain for service in the American War.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776 (JANUARY-JUNE).

HANOVER: A. D. 1801-1803. Annexation of Osnabruck.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1801-1803.

HANOVER: A. D. 1803-1806. Seizure by the French. Cession to Prussia.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1802-1803; and GERMANY: 1806 (JANUARY-AUGUST).

HANOVER: A. D. 1807. Absorbed in the kingdom of Westphalia.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1807 (JUNE-JULY).

HANOVER: A. D. 1810. Northern part annexed to France.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1810 (FEBRUARY-DECEMBER).

HANOVER: A. D. 1813. Deliverance from Napoleon. Restoration to the King of England.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1813 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).

HANOVER: A. D. 1815. Raised to the rank of a kingdom, with territorial enlargement.

See VIENNA, THE CONGRESS OF.

HANOVER: A. D. 1837, Separation of the Crown from that of Great Britain.

"From the hour that the Crown of these kingdoms [Great Britain and Ireland] devolved upon Queen Victoria, dates a change which was a real blessing in the relations of the Sovereign to the Continent of Europe. Hanover was at that instant wholly separated from Great Britain. By the law of that country a female could not reign except in default of heirs male in the Royal family. But in addition to the great advantage of separating the policy of England wholly from the intrigues and complications of a petty German State, it was an immediate happiness that the most hated and in some respects the most dangerous man in these islands was removed to a sphere where his political system might be worked out with less danger to the good of society than amongst a people where his influence was associated with the grossest follies of Toryism and the darkest designs of Orangeism. On the 24th of June the duke of Cumberland, now become Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover, left London. On the 28th he made a solemn entrance into the capital of his states, and at once exhibited to his new subjects his character and disposition by refusing to receive a deputation of the Chambers, who came to offer him their homage and their congratulations. By a proclamation of the 5th of July he announced his intention to abolish the representative constitution, which he had previously refused to recognize by the customary oath. We shall have little further occasion to notice the course of this worst disciple of the old school of intolerance and irresponsible government, and we may therefore at once state that he succeeded in depriving Hanover of the forms of freedom under which she had begun to live; ejected from their offices and banished some of the ablest professors of the University of Gottingen, who had ventured to think that letters would flourish best in a free soil; and reached the height of his ambition in becoming the representative of whatever in sovereign power was most repugnant to the spirit of the age."

_C. Knight, Popular History of England, volume 8, chapter 23._

HANOVER: A. D. 1866. Extinction of the kingdom. Absorption by Prussia.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1866.

----------HANOVER: End--------

HANOVER, The Alliance of.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1713-1725.

HANOVER JUNCTION, Engagement at.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 18112 (MAY-JUNE: VIRGINIA).

HANSA TOWNS, The.

"In consequence of the liberty and security enjoyed by the inhabitants of the free towns [of Germany—see CITIES: IMPERIAL AND FREE, OF GERMANY], while the rest of the country was a prey to all the evils of feudal anarchy and oppression, they made a comparatively rapid progress in wealth and population. Nuremberg, Augsburg, Worms, Spires, Frankfort, and other cities, became at an early period celebrated alike for the extent of their commerce, the magnificence of their buildings, and the opulence of their citizens. … The commercial spirit awakened in the north about the same time as in the south of Germany. Hamburgh was founded by Charlemagne in the beginning of the ninth century, in the intention of serving as a fort to bridle the Saxons, who had been subjugated by the emperor. Its favourable situation on the Elbe necessarily rendered it a commercial emporium. Towards the close of the twelfth century, the inhabitants, who had already been extensively engaged in naval enterprizes, began to form the design of emancipating themselves from the authority of their counts, and of becoming a sovereign and independent state; and in 1189 they obtained an Imperial charter which gave them various privileges, including among others the power of electing councillors, or aldermen, to whom, in conjunction with the deputy of the count, the government of the town was to be entrusted. Not long after Hamburgh became entirely free. In 1224 the citizens purchased from Count Albert the renunciation of all his rights, whether real or pretended, to any property in or sovereignty over the town, and its immediate vicinity. And the government was thus early placed on that liberal footing on which it has ever since remained. Lubeck, situated on the Trave, was founded about the middle of the twelfth century. It rapidly grew to be a place of great trade. {1625} It became the principal emporium for the commerce of the Baltic, and its merchants extended their dealings to Italy and the Levant. At a period when navigation was still imperfect, and when the seas were infested with pirates, it was of great importance to be able to maintain a safe intercourse by land between Lubeck and Hamburgh, as by that means the difficult and dangerous navigation of the Sound was avoided. And it is said by some, that the first political union between these cities had the protection of merchandize carried between them by land for its sole object. But this is contradicted by Lambec in his 'Origines Hamburgenses' (lib. xi., pa. 26). … But whatever may have been the motives which led to the alliance between these two cities, it was the origin of the famous Hanseatic League, so called from the German word 'hansa,' signifying a corporation. There is no very distinct evidence as to the time when the alliance in question was established; but the more general opinion seems to be that it dates from the year 1241. … From the beginning of the twelfth century, the progress of commerce and navigation in the north was exceedingly rapid. The countries which stretch along the bottom of the Baltic from Holstein to Russia, and which had been occupied by barbarous tribes of Sclavonic origin, were then subjugated by the Kings of Denmark, the Dukes of Saxony, and other princes. The greater part of the inhabitants being exterminated, their place was filled by German colonists, who founded the towns of Stralsund, Rostock, Wismar, etc. Prussia and Poland were afterwards subjugated by the Christian princes, and the Knights of the Teutonic order. So that in a comparatively short period, the foundations of civilization and the arts were laid in countries whose barbarism had ever remained impervious to the Roman power. The cities that were established along the coasts of the Baltic, and even in the interior of the countries bordering upon it, eagerly joined the Hanseatic confederation. They were indebted to the merchants of Lubeck for supplies of the commodities produced in more civilized countries, and they looked up to them for protection against the barbarians by whom they were surrounded. The progress of the league was in consequence singularly rapid. Previously to the end of the thirteenth century it embraced every considerable city in all those vast countries extending from Livonia to Holland; and was a match for the most powerful monarchs. The Hanseatic confederacy was at its highest degree of power and splendour during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It then comprised from sixty to eighty cities, which were distributed into four classes or circles. Lubeck was at the head of the first circle, and had under it Hamburgh, Bremen, Rostock, Wismar, etc. Cologne was at the head of the second circle, with twenty-nine towns under it. Brunswick was at the head of the third circle, consisting of thirteen towns. Dantzic was at the head of the fourth circle, having under it eight towns in its vicinity, besides several that were more remote. The supreme authority of the League was vested in the deputies of the different towns assembled in Congress. In it they discussed all their measures; decided upon the sum that each city should contribute to the common fund; and upon the questions that arose between the confederacy and other powers, as well as those that frequently arose between the different members of the confederacy. The place for the meeting of Congress was not fixed, but it was most frequently held at Lubeck, which was considered as the capital of the League, and there its archives were kept. … Besides the towns already mentioned, there were others that were denominated confederated cities, or allies. … The Golden Bull proscribed all sorts of leagues and associations, as contrary to the fundamental laws of the empire, and to the subordination due to the emperor and the different princes. But Charles IV., the author of this famous edict, judged it expedient to conciliate the Hanseatic League; and his successors seem generally to have followed his example. As the power of the confederated cities was increased and consolidated, they became more ambitious. Instead of limiting their efforts to the mere advancement of commerce and their own protection, they endeavoured to acquire the monopoly of the trade of the North, and to exercise the same sort of dominion over the Baltic that the Venetians exercised over the Adriatic. For this purpose they succeeded in obtaining, partly in return for loans of money, and partly by force, various privileges and immunities from the Northern sovereigns which secured to them almost the whole foreign commerce of Scandinavia, Denmark, Prussia, Poland, Russia, etc. They exclusively carried on the herring-fishery of the Sound, at the same time that they endeavoured to obstruct and hinder the navigation of foreign vessels in the Baltic. … The Kings of Denmark, Sweden and Norway were frequently engaged in hostilities with the Hanse towns. They regarded, and it must be admitted not without pretty good reason, the privileges acquired by the League in their kingdoms as so many usurpations. But their efforts to abolish these privileges served, for more than two centuries, only to augment and extend them. … Waldemar III., who ascended the Danish throne in 1340, engaged in a furious contest with the League. Success seemed at first rather to incline to his arms. Ultimately, however, he was completely defeated by the forces of the League and its allies, and was even obliged to fly from his kingdom. In his exile he prevailed on the Emperor and the Pope to interpose in his favour. But neither the imperial rescripts nor the thunders of the Vatican were able to divert the confederated cities from their purposes. At length, in 1370, the regents, to whom the government of Denmark had been intrusted during the absence of the monarch, concluded a peace with the League on the conditions dictated by the latter; one of which was that most of the strong places in the kingdom should be given up to the League for fifteen years, in security for the faithful performance of the treaty. Waldemar having assented to these humiliating terms, returned soon after to Denmark. In the early part of the fifteenth century the Hanse towns having espoused the side of the Count of Holstein, who was at war with Eric X., King of Denmark, sent an armament of upwards of 200 ships, having more than 12,000 troops on board, to the assistance of their ally. This powerful aid decided the contest in his favour. Nearly at the same time the League raised their ally, Albert of Mecklenburgh, to the throne of Norway, who confirmed to them several important commercial privileges. {1626} In their contests with Sweden, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the League were equally successful. Such, indeed, was their ascendancy in that kingdom, that they were authorized to nominate some of the principal magistrates in most of the Swedish maritime towns of any importance! … The town of Wisby, situated on the west coast of the island of Gothland, became, during the ascendancy of the League, one of its principal depots, and also one of the best frequented emporiums of the North. But Wisby is chiefly famous from its name having become identified with the code of maritime laws that was long of paramount authority in the Baltic. … The principal Northern jurists and historians regard the Wisby code, or compilation, as anterior to the code, or compilation, denominated the Rules or Judgments of Oleron, and as being in fact the most ancient monument of the maritime laws of the middle ages. But no learning or ingenuity can give plausibility to so improbable a theory. … In order to facilitate and extend their commercial transactions, the League established various factories in foreign countries, the principal of which were at Novogorod in Russia, London in England, Bruges in the Netherlands, and Bergen in Norway. Novogorod, situated at the confluence of the Volkof with the Imler Lake, was, for a lengthened period, the most renowned emporium in the north-eastern parts of Europe. … The merchants of the Hanse towns, or Hansards, as they were then commonly termed, were established in London at a very early period, and their factory here was of considerable magnitude and importance. They enjoyed various privileges and immunities; they were permitted to govern themselves by their own laws and regulations; the custody of one of the gates of the city (Bishopsgate) was committed to their care; and the duties on various sorts of imported commodities were considerably reduced in their favour. These privileges necessarily excited the ill-will and animosity of the English merchants. … The League exerted themselves vigorously in defence of their privileges; and having declared war against England, they succeeded in excluding our vessels from the Baltic, and acted with such energy, that Edward IV. was glad to come to an accommodation with them, on terms which were anything but honourable to the English. In the treaty for this purpose, negotiated in 1474, the privileges of the merchants of the Hanse towns were renewed, and the king assigned to them, in absolute property, a large space of ground, with the buildings upon it, in Thames Street, denominated the Steel Yard, whence the Hanse merchants have been commonly denominated the Association of the Steel Yard. … In 1498, all direct commerce with the Netherlands being suspended, the trade fell into the hands of the Hanse merchants, whose commerce was in consequence very greatly extended. But, according as the spirit of commercial enterprise awakened in the nation, and as the benefits resulting from the prosecution of foreign trade came to be better known, the privileges of the Hanse merchants became more and more obnoxious. They were in consequence considerably modified in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII., and were at length wholly abolished in 1597. The different individuals belonging to the factory in London, as well as those belonging to the other factories of the League, lived together at a common table, and were enjoined to observe the strictest celibacy. … By means of their factory at Bergen, and of the privileges which had been either granted to or usurped by them, the League enjoyed for a lengthened period the monopoly of the commerce of Norway. But the principal factory of the League was at Bruges in the Netherlands. Bruges became, at a very early period, one of the first commercial cities of Europe, and the centre of the most extensive trade carried on to the north of Italy. The art of navigation in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was so imperfect, that a voyage from Italy to the Baltic and back again could not be performed in a single season, and hence, for the sake of their mutual convenience, the Italian and Hanseatic merchants determined on establishing a magazine or store-house of their respective products in some intermediate situation. Bruges was fixed upon for this purpose, a distinction which it seems to have owed as much to the freedom enjoyed by the inhabitants, and the liberality of the government of the Low Countries, as to the conveniency of its situation. In consequence of this preference, Bruges speedily rose to the very highest rank among commercial cities, and became a place of vast wealth. … From the middle of the fifteenth century the power of the confederacy, though still very formidable, began to decline. This was not owing to any misconduct on the part of its leaders, but to the progress of that improvement it had done so much to promote. … Lubeck, Hamburgh, Bremen, and the towns in their vicinity, were latterly the only ones that had any interest in its maintenance. The cities in Zealand and Holland joined it, chiefly because they would otherwise have been excluded from the commerce of the Baltic; and those of Prussia, Poland and Russia did the same, because, had they not belonged to it, they would have been shut out from all intercourse with strangers. When, however, the Zealanders and Hollanders became sufficiently powerful at sea to be able to vindicate their right to the free navigation of the Baltic by force of arms, they immediately seceded from the League; and no sooner had the ships of the Dutch, the English, etc., begun to trade directly with the Polish and Prussian Hanse Towns, than these nations also embraced the first opportunity of withdrawing from it. … At the middle of the seventeenth century the cities of Lubeck, Hamburgh, and Bremen were all that continued to acknowledge the authority of the League."

History of the Hanseatic League (Foreign Quarterly Review, January, 1831).

ALSO IN: _S. A. Dunham, History of the Germanic Empire, book 1, chapter 4 (volume 2)._

_C. Walford, Outline History of the Hanseatic League (Royal Historical Society Transactions, volume 9)._

_H. Zimmern, The Hansa Towns (Stories of the Nations)._

_J. Yeats, The Growth and Vicissitudes of Commerce._

See, also, CITIES, IMPERIAL AND FREE, OF GERMANY; and SCANDINAVIAN STATES: A. D. 1018-1397.

HANSE OF LONDON, The Flemish.

See FLANDERS: 13TH CENTURY.

HANSEATIC LEAGUE.

See HANSA TOWNS.

HAOMA.

See SOMA.

HAPSBURG, OR HABSBURG, Origin and rise of the House of.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1246-1282.

{1627}

HAPSBURG-LORRAINE, The House of.

See AUSTRIA; A. D. 1745 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER).

HARALD IV., King of Norway, A. D. 1134-1136.

Harald Blaatand, King of Denmark, 941-991.

Harald Graafield, King of Norway, 963-977.

Harald Hardrade, King of Norway, 1047-1066.

Harald Harfager, King of Norway, 863-934.

Harald Sweynson, King of Denmark, 1076-1080.

HARAN.

"From Ur, Abraham's father had migrated to Haran, in the northern part of Mesopotamia, on the high road which led from Babylonia and Assyria into Syria and Palestine. Why he should have migrated to so distant a city has been a great puzzle, and has tempted scholars to place both Ur and Haran in wrong localities; but here, again, the cuneiform inscriptions have at last furnished us with the key. As far back as the Accadian epoch, the district in which Haran was built belonged to the rulers of Babylonia; Haran was, in fact, the frontier town of the empire, commanding at once the highway into the west and the fords of the Euphrates; the name itself was an Accadian one, signifying 'the road.'"

_A. H. Sayce, Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments,