City of London v. Strangers: The Fall of the Hanse in England, and the Rise of State-Sponsored Trade [Eras Journal]

Click here to read my article in Eras Journal at the School of Philosophical Historical and International Studies at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia).

Abstract

This article analyses the decay of Anglo-Hanseatic relations in the late sixteenth century as a case study for the larger revolution in commerce and political economy happening in Europe at the time. Previous historiography—which will be introduced later—has primarily treated Anglo-Hanseatic tensions as an issue of commercial practicality, as though London merchants merely wanted to monopolise English markets long dominated by the Hanse. However, the story was far more complex, in the moral and philosophical arguments made by each side, and the implications of these arguments on the changing economic landscape across the continent. By examining the language of debate over Hanseatic rights in London in the second half of the sixteenth century and particularly the 1580s and 1590s, this article will argue that the gradual decay of the Steelyard merchants’ commercial power in London was primarily a result of the emergent early modern commercial philosophy of mercantilism, and along with it, state-sponsored trade. As many Englishmen argued, though the Steelyard merchants were permanent residents of London, they were neither Londoners nor Englishmen. English law determined that the Steelyard merchants’ foreignness warranted inferior treatment compared to new, powerful trading companies sponsored financially—and legally—by the crown.

Keywords

Anglo-Hanseatic relations, mercantilism, state-sponsored trade, European commercial revolution, London Steelyard