For most of these particulars respecting the commerce of the Baltic and adjacent seas, at this period, we are indebted to Adam of Bremen.  He was canon of Bremen in the eleventh century:  and from the accounts of the missionaries who went into Lapland, and other parts of the North, to convert the inhabitants to Christianity, the information he received from the king of Denmark, and his own observations, he drew up a detailed account of the Scandinavian kingdoms.  His description of Jutland is full, and he mentions several islands in the Baltic, which are not noticed by prior writers.  He also treats of the interior parts of Sweden, the coasts only of which had been previously made known by the voyages published by king Alfred.  Of Russia, he informs us that it was a very extensive kingdom, the capital of which was Kiev; and that the inhabitants traded with the Greeks in the Black Sea.  So far his information seems to have been good; but though his account of the south coasts of the Baltic is tolerably correct, yet he betrays great ignorance in most of what he says respecting the northern parts of the Baltic.  In his work the name Baltic first Occurs.  His geographical descriptions extend to the British isles; but of them he relates merely the fabulous stories of Solinus, &c.  The figure of the earth, and the cause of the inequality of the length of the day and night, were known to Adam of Bremen.

About the middle of the twelfth century, Lubeck was founded; and it soon became a place of considerable trade, being the resort of merchants from all the countries of the North, and having a mint, custom-house, &c.  We shall afterwards be called upon to notice it more particularly, when we come to trace the origin and history of the Hanseatic League.  At present we shall only mention, that within thirty years after it was founded, and before the establishment of the League, Lubeck was so celebrated for its commerce, that the Genoese permitted its merchants to trade in the Mediterranean on board their vessels, on the same footing with their own citizens.  The success of the Lubeckers stimulated the other inhabitants of this part of the Baltic shores; and the bishop of Lunden founded a city in Zealand, for the express purpose of being a place of trade, as its name, Keopman’s haven, Chapman’s haven, (Copenhagen,) implies.  Towards the close of this century, Hamburgh is noticed as a place of trade.

The two cities of Lubeck and Hamburgh are generally regarded as having laid the foundation of the Hanseatic League.  This League was first formed, solely to protect the carriage by land of merchandize between these cities; it is supposed to have been began about the middle of the thirteenth century.  Other cities soon joined the League, and its objects became more multiplied and extensive; but still having the protection and encouragement of their commerce principally in view.  The total number of confederated cities was between seventy and eighty.  Lubeck was fixed