Just another note on the Hanseatic League - there is an article from : Dollinger, The German Hansa (1970) which has some interesting background information on this network of trade cities.
Two comments that are very closely related to the work in social networks and the work in communities (of practice) that caught my attention in this article were the following:
"A major impetus to the league's development was the lack of a powerful German national government to provide security for trade. In order to obtain mutual security, exclusive trading rights, and, wherever possible, trade monopoly, the towns drew closer together"
and
"Despite its success, the league suffered from lack of organization. Although assemblies of the league met irregularly at Lübeck, many towns did not send representatives, and decisions were subject to review by the individual towns." 
Which both contain strong elements of what we consider to be considerations for communities of practice (the WIIFM + common objective and the 'coordination matters' element).
The point about the actualy conveying of standards and information, or even knowledge within the league, is not elaborated on...
This happened at 12:05:56 PM or
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