Bruges, in Flanders, the western terminus of the before-mentioned highway of commerce, was during the last centuries of the Middle Ages approximately what London is to the world of to-day.  It was, beside Venice, the actual world-mart of the Continent, a centre where Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Frenchmen, and High- and Low-Germans—­a motley throng—­congregated to exchange their goods.  Thither the Hanseatic merchant transported wood and other forest products; building stones and iron, the latter being still forged in primitive forest smithies; and copper from the rich mines of Falun, the ore from which was usually sold or mortgaged to the Lubeck merchants.  From the Baltic countries he imported grain, and from Scandinavia herring and cod—­all natural products, in exchange for which he sent to the respective countries his own manufactured goods.  In Bruges he represented the entire northern region, both in the giving and the receiving of merchandise, for only through his instrumentality could the gifts of the East, such as oil, wine, spices, silk, and other articles of luxury, which were usually transported through the Alpine passes and thence down the Rhine to Bruges, be distributed among the northern nations.  This applies also to the highly prized textiles of Flanders, which in those days were sometimes sold at fabulous prices.

The other stream of Hanseatic trade terminated at London.  The German merchant sent thither chiefly French wines and Venetian silks.  It was he who attended to this traffic—­not the consumer or the producer.  In exchange for these commodities he took English wool—­the output being already at that time very extensive—­transporting it to the mills of Flanders.  Such was at that time the commercial relation of Germany to England.  If the latter country to-day, by virtue of its incomparably favorable geographical position, has become the first naval and commercial power, it was in an economic sense at that time absolutely dependent upon Germany, which country, after the loss of its political supremacy, outstripped all other nations in the contest for economic supremacy—­excepting perhaps the Arabians and the republics of Northern Italy, who controlled the trade in the Orient and the Mediterranean.  Naturally the English merchants were jealous and frequently brought complaints before their kings and parliaments; but the latter, despite occasional contentions, ever and again upheld the foreign invader.  The reason is not far to seek:  like the kings of the north, they could not dispense with the silver chests of the Hanseatic towns and merchants, who on more than one occasion secured their loans by appropriating the products of the tin mines or the duties on wool, or by taking in pawn crown and jewels.