Who would like to take part in a game with 288 pages of instructions? In the case of the “Hanse game” that Wubs-Mrozewicz and Jenks invite us to play, most readers might. The fictitious game they want us to join them in playing is not just the “Hanse board game” featured in the introduction, but research on the history of the Hanse as a whole.

The title tells us that the Hanse and not the Hanseatic league is the subject of this thorough introduction to Hanse research. It is exactly this kind of misunderstanding — classifying the Hanse as an urban league — that the authors wish to clarify. The presentation of the latest research findings and of changes in the interpretation of events and sources is one goal of the book. The other aim is to provide “a guide to Hanse Studies” (3). One might add a third purpose: promoting the internationalization of Hanse research, a field of history that has long been a German domain. The editors do so by publishing this work in English and choosing an international publisher.

The volume consists of nine articles, an introduction, a conclusion, and an epilogue. In her introduction, Wubs-Mrozewicz presents the book’s contributors in the fictitious scene of a game, having them discuss how a Hanse board game should work and thus introducing each of their particular topics. The range of these themes is vast considering the time span, the subjects addressed, and geography covered. The topics stretch from the origins of the Hanse to its disappearance in early modern times, from legal to social and economic history, and to the history of mentalities, as well as from Bruges via London and Bergen to the Baltic Sea.

Wubs-Mrozewicz then gives an introduction to the crucial aspects of Hanse history: what the Hanse was, how it worked, why it was successful, when it began, and when it ended. She slots the articles in the book into the panorama of current research, also naming important subjects not covered by the book, like artisanry, the education of merchants, and religious life in the context of the Hanse. A short overview of the history of Hanse historiography and the different popular interpretations of the Hanse over time close her contribution. For Hanse beginners, a short bibliography, a list of source editions, and a map of the Hanse in the middle of the sixteenth century serve as a basic introduction.

As a counterpart to this introduction Jenks outlines in his conclusion the desiderata for Hanse research and proposes some possible uses of theoretical concepts like network theory or probability theory. He emphasizes the necessity to internationalize research not only concerning the scholars and topics involved, and suggests searching for internationality when analyzing infrastructure or legal practices, for example. The widely traveled merchants and the competition between harbors and trading places may have led to international standards on several levels.

In fact, many of the contributions of Jenks’s fellow authors do discuss this question of internationality and/or of diversity. While Jahnke discusses “The Internationality of Early Hanse Trade” (37) and rejects the myth of Lübeck’s foundation as being the starting moment of the Hanse, his fellow contributors Frankot and Gustafsson both negate the existence of a common medieval Hanseatic or Northern European law in the fields of sea law and trade regulations. An international aspect certainly is Wubs-Mrozewicz’s examination of the relationship to and perception of non-Hansards by Hanse merchants. Murray analyzes the role of Hansards in Bruges in the Middle Ages and asks why there is a strong association of Bruges with the Hanse nowadays. Pelus-Kaplan, Jenks, and Burkhardt add four articles to this collection more focused on economic history: the sizes and functioning of Hanseatic business, the use of Hanseatic pound-toll lists, and the question of a late medieval distribution revolution anteceding the consumption revolution.

The volume closes with an epilogue that Wubs-Mrozewicz uses to question the potential use of game theory for Hanse research. Thus the circle between the Hanse game and game theory is closed. The editors’ aim has been accomplished by this book. They provide the basic information required for newcomers to the Hanse field and present this as a worthwhile and interesting field of research. But unlike a handbook or study book, this volume also provides useful insights for scholars already involved in Hanse research. It is an inspiring work that will certainly lead to the introduction of new players and to further discussion between the old ones.