Hānse, n.

n. [O. Ger. hanse, or hansa, O. Fr. hanse association, league; O. H. Ger. & Goth. hansa, cohort, troop; A-S. hôs, hôsu, band, troop.] An association; league.

Hanse towns (Hist.), certain commercial cities in Germany which associated themselves for the protection of commerce as early as the twelfth century. The confederacy, called also Hansa and Hanseatic league, has now ceased to exist, and its remnants, Lubeck, Hamburg, Bremen, and Frankfort, are called free cities.