Found 1 items, similar to free cities.
English → English (gcide)
Definition: free cities
Hanse
\Hanse\, n. [G. hanse, or F. hanse (from German), OHG. &
Goth. hansa; akin to AS. h[=o]s band, troop.]
An association; a league or confederacy.
[1913 Webster]
Hanse towns (Hist.), certain commercial cities in Germany
which associated themselves for the protection and
enlarging of their commerce. The confederacy, called also
Hansa and
Hanseatic league, held its first diet in
1260, and was maintained for nearly four hundred years. At
one time the league comprised eighty-five cities. Its
remnants, L["u]beck, Hamburg, and Bremen, are
free cities
, and are still frequently called Hanse towns.
[1913 Webster]