intrusted during the absence of the monarch, concluded a peace with the League on the conditions dictated by the latter; one of which was that most of the strong places in the kingdom should be given up to the League for fifteen years, in security for the faithful performance of the treaty. Waldemar having assented to these humiliating terms, returned soon after to Denmark. In the early part of the fifteenth century the Hanse towns having espoused the side of the Count of Holstein, who was at war with Eric X., King of Denmark, sent an armament of upwards of 200 ships, having more than 12,000 troops on board, to the assistance of their ally. This powerful aid decided the contest in his favour. Nearly at the same time the League raised their ally, Albert of Mecklenburgh, to the throne of Norway, who confirmed to them several important commercial privileges. {1626} In their contests with Sweden, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the League were equally successful. Such, indeed, was their ascendancy in that kingdom, that they were authorized to nominate some of the principal magistrates in most of the Swedish maritime towns of any importance! … The town of Wisby, situated on the west coast of the island of Gothland, became, during the ascendancy of the League, one of its principal depots, and also one of the best frequented emporiums of the North. But Wisby is chiefly famous from its name having become identified with the code of maritime laws that was long of paramount authority in the Baltic. … The principal Northern jurists and historians regard the Wisby code, or compilation, as anterior to the code, or compilation, denominated the Rules or Judgments of Oleron, and as being in fact the most ancient monument of the maritime laws of the middle ages. But no learning or ingenuity can give plausibility to so improbable a theory. … In order to facilitate and extend their commercial transactions, the League established various factories in foreign countries, the principal of which were at Novogorod in Russia, London in England, Bruges in the Netherlands, and Bergen in Norway. Novogorod, situated at the confluence of the Volkof with the Imler Lake, was, for a lengthened period, the most renowned emporium in the north-eastern parts of Europe. … The merchants of the Hanse towns, or Hansards, as they were then commonly termed, were established in London at a very early period, and their factory here was of considerable magnitude and importance. They enjoyed various privileges and immunities; they were permitted to govern themselves by their own laws and regulations; the custody of one of the gates of the city (Bishopsgate) was committed to their care; and the duties on various sorts of imported commodities were considerably reduced in their favour. These privileges