汉萨商人在英国的活动及其对英国社会的影响

The Hanseaic Merchants in England

13世纪,德国汉萨同盟商人凭借优势进入英国,并逐步掌握了英国大部分对外贸易。当英国作为民族国家兴起并积极参与国际竞争之时,汉萨同盟却走向衰落,汉萨商人也在16世纪末退出了英国。汉萨商人对英国产生的影响不应忽视。他们向英国国王的贷款,缓解了国王财政拮据状况,抑制了国王与各阶层的矛盾,有助于社会稳定。他们从事英国羊毛和呢绒出口贸易,有助于促进英国羊毛和呢绒的生产,有助于英国与国际市场对接。在汉萨商人带动下,来到英国的德国资本和移民,还为16世纪英国采矿冶炼等"大工业"部门的兴起做出了贡献。

The merchants of the Hanseatic League came to England since the thirteenth century, and they controlled most of the foreign trade of England. During the sixteenth century, when England rose as a strong nation and competed in the international market, the Hanseatic League started to decline. As a result, the Hanseatic merchants were ousted from England at the end of that century. The Hanseatic merchants had great influence on England during their stay there. They lent quantities of money to the English kings and relaxed their financial tension. It was favorable to maintain the social stability at that moment. Their engagement in the English wool-and woolenexport trade inspired the growth of sheep-grazing and cloth-industry in Medieval England, and linked England with the international market. The settlement of German capitalists and craftsmen in England promoted the rise of England＇s ＂large-scale＂ industry from the middle of the sixteenth century onwards.