Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/448

 412 Readings in European History expense of their common box. And when any one of the said trade shall die, all those of the said trade shall go to the vigil, and make offering on the morrow. . . . 166. Em- peror Otto II promises protection to the merchants of Magde- burg (975). III. THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE Shortly after the death of Otto the Great, as the fol- lowing document indicates, the merchants began to attract the attention of the government and develop the commerce which led, some centuries later, to the formation of the Hanseatic League. Be it known to all our faithful subjects, now and in the future, that according to the desire of Adalbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, and the suggestions of other faithful subjects, we do grant to the merchants dwelling in Magdeburg, for themselves and their descendants, such protection as our father, of blessed memory, did in his time allow them to have. That is, that everywhere in our realm, in Christian and in barbarous lands, they shall be free to go and come unmolested. And we do further by our imperial authority forbid that they be compelled to pay any taxes for cities, bridges, waters, and highways, except in the following places : Mayence, Cologne, Bardewic, and Tiel ; and in these places no more nor greater taxes shall be exacted than by their laws they ought to pay. And if any one has the will, through enmity toward us, to destroy bridges or in any wise to impede the highways, let him know that such acts are forbidden by us on pain of our ban. And if any man shall think that this decree is of no effect, and shall dare to set at naught the above prohibitions, we command that whosoever is guilty of such insolence shall pay to our treasury ten talents of gold. The federation of Westphalian towns described below indicates the dangers to which the merchants were exposed.