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Why did smaller Hanseatic towns allow larger towns to represent them at diets?
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Hanseatic League
Hanseatic port of Hamburg, manuscript illumination from the Hamburg City Charter of 1497.
Smaller towns within the Hanseatic League often allowed larger towns to represent them at diets primarily to avoid the financial burden associated with sending their own embassy to the meetings.1
By entrusting their interests to the representatives of larger, more influential cities, these smaller members could participate in the league's governance without incurring the high costs of independent representation. Consequently, the policies of the league were generally determined by the views of a small group of leading cities.1