Denmark's relations with Lübeck and Hamburg in the seventeenth century

Abstract

Denmark's political relationship with the Hanseatic towns in the sixteenth century was one of increasing disengagement and self-assertion. During the reign of Frederick II, for instance, there were operations against Hamburg in 1562 and 1574, with the seizure of Hamburg ships in Danish-Norwegian waters; similarly, Hamburg's interests in Iceland were interfered with and her purchases of com from Holstein fanners obstructed. These tendencies became still more marked under Frederick's successor, Christian IV. Princely dislike of the republican cities and national business interests combined in the spirit of early mercantilism. Lubeck's privileges were not confirmed, In 1602 Copenhagen, Malmo and Helsinger were given the right to trade with Iceland, a right which had previously been exercised by Hamburg, Bremen and Lubeck. Together with the founding of Gliickstad, the efforts to command the estuaries of the Elbe and Weser, and the King's expansionist policy in north Gennany, this gave the cities sufficient grounds for anxiety.