'Hanseatic League' definitions:
Definition of 'Hanseatic League'
(from WordNet)
noun
A commercial and defensive confederation of free cities in northern Germany and surrounding areas; formed in 1241 and most influential in the 14th century when it included over 100 towns and functioned as an independent political power; the last official assembly was held in 1669
Definition of 'Hanseatic league'
From: GCIDE
- Hanse \Hanse\, n. [G. hanse, or F. hanse (from German), OHG. & Goth. hansa; akin to AS. h[=o]s band, troop.] An association; a league or confederacy. [1913 Webster]
- Hanse towns (Hist.), certain commercial cities in Germany which associated themselves for the protection and enlarging of their commerce. The confederacy, called also Hansa and Hanseatic league, held its first diet in
- 1260, and was maintained for nearly four hundred years. At one time the league comprised eighty-five cities. Its remnants, L["u]beck, Hamburg, and Bremen, are {free cities}, and are still frequently called Hanse towns. [1913 Webster]