=122. Methods of trading; factories.=—The methods which the Hanseatics employed in their trade are worthy of special attention, because they were characteristic of the time, being very similar to those of the Venetians in the East, and because they have been employed under similar conditions in later periods. They established “factories” in the sense of trading posts (_not_ manufactories), where most of the trade was carried on. A factory was, in the first place, a fortress where the merchants could be safe from attacks by the natives; at Novgorod, for instance, the group of buildings was enclosed and was carefully guarded by men and by great watch-dogs both day and night. The factory was, moreover, a place where the trade could be regulated, and where the merchants could be kept under supervision. To let a man trade as he pleased would have subjected not only himself but all his compatriots to danger, for the natives made little distinction between foreigners and would readily have punished one merchant for the fault of another. The factories were centers of social life, with their rough initiations and their games, and they were useful in training young men in commerce; but they were kept under such strict discipline and minute regulation that they seem like garrisons in the enemy’s country. [Illustration: The map follows a contemporary description of the wares which were brought for sale to Bruges and Flanders, omitting some of the less important and those difficult to identify. Of the countries left blank on the map, Italy excelled in manufactures (textiles and glass), and France had a notable export trade in wine. ] =123. Flanders and Bruges.=—Between the regions under the commercial control of the Hanseatics on one side and the Venetians on the other lay a sort of neutral zone where both parties met, centering in the region about modern Belgium. This district was favored not only by the junction in it of the northern and southern trade; it had other advantages of position in that it lay near the mouths of great rivers, the Scheldt, Meuse, and Rhine, and was also at the crossing of important land routes. It had enjoyed an early development of industry in its towns, and had been liberally treated by its feudal rulers.