The present international circumstances seem dire. Authoritarian bureaucrats reign in Brussels. For the United States “Might is right” seems to have replaced international law.
Still, there is hope. We may be inspired by a medieval association of normal people. Together they were strong. Despite being competitors as merchants, they looked out for the common good. They combated their own greed by looking out for their neighbour and supporting spiritual enterprises.
In short, there is hope because of the Hansa. In this podcast we welcome professor Dick Harrison, esteemed medieval expert, who has written books on the Black Death, the Thirty Year War and recently also on the Hanseatic League, a covenant of merchants from towns in the Low Countries to Novgorod in Russia.