GERMANY IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES 543 many had early pushed into foreign countries. For instance, at Wisby off the Swedish coast on the island of Gotland mer- chants from as many as thirty German towns were repre- sented and formed an association — some were from places as far west as Cologne and Utrecht. It was through such co- operation in foreign trade that the Hanseatic League was formed, a loose union primarily for commercial purposes of some seventy cities. Just when it came into existence would be hard to say, and its membership fluctuated a great deal. The towns in it can scarcely be said to have formed a po- litical federation, but they held assemblies, arranged with one another for the extradition of criminals, and sometimes waged war. In 1367 fifty-seven towns declared war upon the Kings of Norway and Denmark and defeated them in several naval engagements. The league secured special trading privileges and planted settlements composed of its own members in various for- eign ports. Its chief colonies of this sort were its control at Bergen on the Norwegian coast, Novgorod in of trade in Russia, Bruges in Flanders, and London in Eng- and North land. These posts were sometimes strongly s fortified, as in the case of the "Steelyard" in London, and the Hanse representatives were subjected to strict disci- pline, and were forbidden to marry during their residence abroad. As if these restrictions were not sufficient, newly arriving apprentices at Bergen were initiated into the Hanse by numerous floggings and duckings or by being hauled up by a rope through a smoky chimney and made to answer questions en route. At Bergen and Novgorod the Hanse merchants became all-powerful, largely monopolizing the trade of Norway and shutting off the Russians from the Baltic Sea and from direct intercourse with western Eu- rope. And while Hanseatic merchants had many privileges in Bruges and London, they tried to keep the commerce of the Baltic entirely for themselves and to exclude traders of all other nations from their home towns. The fisheries in the Baltic and North Seas were a source of great profit, since in the Middle Ages every one abstained from meat on Friday
