HANSE

noun

8 Scrabble

8 WWF

H 4

A 1

N 1

S 1

E 1

Definition

A merchant guild, particularly the Fellowship of London Merchants (the "Old Hanse") given a monopoly on London's foreign trade by the Normans or its successor, the Company of Merchant Adventurers (the "New Hanse"), incorporated in 1497 and chartered under Henry VII and Elizabeth I.