3047) Hanseatic Cities in Belgium: The Royal Dutch Mint (Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt), Utrecht, Netherlands has issued a 10 Euro Silver Coin on behalf of Belgium depicting Hanseatic Cities and Trading activities in the country: Date/Year of Coin issue: 2023:
Hanseatic cities in Belgium:
Hanseatic cities are cities that were part of the so-called Hanseatic League. The network was an association of traders and affiliated cities with the aim of promoting and protecting trade. The network originated in Germany in the mid-12th century, mainly around the Baltic Sea.
The Hanseatic League was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe.
Growing from a few North German towns in the late 12th century, the League expanded between the 13th and 15th centuries and ultimately encompassed nearly 200 settlements across seven modern-day countries, ranging from Estonia in the north and east, to the Netherlands in the west, and Kraków, Poland, in the south.
The League originated from various loose associations of German traders and towns formed to advance mutual commercial interests, such as protection against robbers.
These arrangements gradually coalesced into the Hanseatic League, whose traders enjoyed toll privileges and protection in affiliated communities and their trade routes.
Economic interdependence and kinship ties between merchant families, who held important positions in towns, led to deeper political integration and the removal of obstacles to trade. Hanseatic Cities gradually developed common trade regulations.
During its heyday, the Hanseatic League dominated maritime trade in the North and Baltic Seas. It established trading posts in numerous towns and cities across Europe. Some of these, like the Kontors in London, Bruges, Bergen, and Novgorod, became extraterritorial entities that enjoyed considerable legal autonomy.
Hanseatic merchants, called "Hansards", operated in basic private companies and were widely known for their access to a variety of commodities, and enjoyed privileges and protections abroad. The collective economic power made the League capable of imposing blockades and even waging war against kingdoms and principalities.
Even at its zenith, the Hanseatic League was never more than a loosely aligned Confederation of City-states. It lacked a permanent administrative body, a treasury, and a standing military force.
In the 14th century, the Hanseatic League instated an irregular negotiating Diet that operated on deliberation and consensus.
By the mid-16th century, these weak connections left the Hanseatic League vulnerable, and it gradually unraveled as members became consolidated into other realms or departed, ultimately disintegrating in 1669.
The Hanseatic League used several types of ships that sailed over seas and on rivers.
The most emblematic type was the cog. Knowing great diversity in construction, it was depicted on Hanseatic seals and coats of arms. By the end of the Middle Ages, the cog was replaced by other types like the hulk, which later gave way to larger carvel types.
Hanseatic cities in Belgium:
The trade network of the Hanseatic League in Europe spanned more than 200 cities - from small, charming provincial towns to proud cities that still are a part of today's international trade. These cities included - Hamburg, Cologne and Frankfurt, Stockholm and Krakow or Bruges in Belgium.
Like the Guilds at the time, the Hanseatic League aimed to establish a cooperative alliance between practitioners of the same economic activity - in this case, the German merchants who traded around the Baltic Sea and the adjacent areas of Northern Europe.
In this way they could better defend their commercial interests, offer more resistance against greedy monarchs and also adequately protect themselves against piracy and other misfortunes. Unity makes power, and people had long understood that – even in the Middle Ages.
The Belgian Hanseatic League of Four:
As a thriving trading city, Bruges enjoyed the rare honour of running one of the four kontors of the Hanseatic League. This commercial office also functioned as a kind of foreign chamber of commerce and even had consular powers.
With the silting of the Zwin, however, the importance of Bruges as a priority location diminished and in 1520 the office was moved to Antwerp.
In 1564, the stately Hansa house was built, but it quickly lost its function as a trading centre when our Scheldt city fell prey to the Spanish Fury.
Artevelde city had a flourishing cloth industry, while Ghent would grow into one of the richest cities in Europe in the Middle Ages and become a valued member of the German Hanseatic Club.
The Walloon Dinant received the same honour thanks to its strategic location on the Meuse and the flourishing trade route that connected Cologne with Paris.
The Silver Coin:
This Silver Coin reflects Belgium's prestigious past...
On the Reverse of the 10 Euro Silver Coin is depicted a creative composition of visual elements that give an impression of what was shipped and traded via the Hanseatic routes - leather and animal skins, hops, beer and wine, salt and spices, fish, cereals and beeswax, wood and cloth.
From the map that shows the Hanseatic area, a cog ship sails over the turbulent bars.
A 13th-century coin from Bruges symbolises trade and earnings. An icon of the Bruges Belfry emphasises the importance of the Belgian Hanseatic cities and the prosperity they brought.
On the Obverse of the 10 Euro Silver Coin is depicted King Philippe looking to the right, his monogram and the year "2023" in an ephagonal-shaped template.
In the outer periphery is the trilingual country name - BELGIUM. BELGIQUE. BELGIEN", the mint and mint master mark and the coin value.
i) The specifications of the Silver Coin are:
Country: Belgium; Coin Series Theme: Coin Theme: "Hanseatic Cities in Belgium"; Coin issue Date/Year: 2023; Denomination: 10 Euro; Metal Composition: .925 Fineness Silver (Ag); Weight: 18.75 grams; Diameter/Size: 33.00 mm; Mint: Royal Dutch Mint (Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt), Utrecht, Netherlands on behalf of Belgium; Maximum Mintage: 5,000 pieces; Coin Quality: Proof; Technique: Milled; Orientation: Medal alignment ↑↑ Presentation Case: Yes; Coin Designer: Ffion Gwillim; Privy Mark: Aster and an Erlenmeyer flask of Giovanni Van de Velde, Coins Commissioner, Royal Mint of Belgium (2022-date); Designer(s): Iris Bruijns (Obverse) Luc Luycx (Reverse).
The Presentation Box/Case - Open:
5) City of Bruges (or Brugge), Belgium: 20 Years as UNENCO World Heritage Site: A 20 Euro Silver Proof Coin issued by the Royakl Dutch Mint under licencing of the Royal Belgian Mint, on behalf of the National Bank of Belgium: Coin issue date: 26.02.2020
6) 100 Years of Nature & Environment Protection, Luxembourg: Commemorating the Centenary Anniversary of the "Letzebuerger Natur a Vulleschutsliga a.s.b.l. (Luxembourg Nature and Bird Protection Society):A 0.80 Euro Stamp issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Date of stamp issue: 10.03.2020
7) Celebrating 25 Years of listing on UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Luxembourg: A Commemorative Stamp of 0.80 Euro issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Stamp issue date: 10.03.2020
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Posts on Finland on this Blog:
Posts on Sweden:
Links:
The undernoted two links will take you to our blog "Footloose" for two interesting posts written by me on the Dutch presence in Sadras in the 17th Century AD:
5) City of Bruges (or Brugge), Belgium: 20 Years as UNENCO World Heritage Site: A 20 Euro Silver Proof Coin issued by the Royakl Dutch Mint under licencing of the Royal Belgian Mint, on behalf of the National Bank of Belgium: Coin issue date: 26.02.2020
6) 100 Years of Nature & Environment Protection, Luxembourg: Commemorating the Centenary Anniversary of the "Letzebuerger Natur a Vulleschutsliga a.s.b.l. (Luxembourg Nature and Bird Protection Society):A 0.80 Euro Stamp issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Date of stamp issue: 10.03.2020
7) Celebrating 25 Years of listing on UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Luxembourg: A Commemorative Stamp of 0.80 Euro issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Stamp issue date: 10.03.2020
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For some other interesting posts on Currencies of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, please visit the following links:
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20) Festival di Tumba (Carnival of Curacao), Curacao: "50th Edition of the Curacao Carnival/Festival" held from 27-31.01.2020: A set of six Commemorative Postage Stamps brought out by Cpost (Curacao Post) on 20.02.2020
21) New Polymer Banknotes, Trinidad and Tobago: The entire series will consist of $100, $50, $20, $10, $5 and $1 denominations: $100 has already been issued on 09.12.2019
23) "Caribbean Sea-Horse", Barbados: $10 (Ten Dollars) 1.0 Oz. Gold Bullion Coins & $1 (One Dollar) 1.0 Oz. Silver Bullion Coins minted by the Scottsdale Mint; Year of issue: 2020
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Links to some other interesting posts from South American countries & Mexico:
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