The German Hanse is probably more familiar in English historical literature as the Hanseatic League. The latter term has been eschewed for the reasons given by Philippe Dollinger in his general survey of the organisation, but the modern German spelling of Hanse has been used in preference to the Latinised form adopted by him. German Hanse (Hansa Teutonicorum, dudesche Hense) was the name used by the members themselves for the greater part of its history. For the sake of convenience the title is generally shortened to Hanse, but the initial capital is retained, not least to prevent confusion with other hanses. Strangely, although the word hanse is Germanic or Scandinavian it seems to have been incorporated in the title of the German Hanse only around the middle of the thirteenth century, a hundred years or so after the birth of the organisation, at the very time it was becoming obsolete elsewhere. Originally, it described a fraternal association formed among travelling merchants, or their monetary contribution to a common fund. In England the nature of a hanse is well illustrated at York where a royal charter of 1154-8 confirmed the city's liberties, which included a gild merchant (gilda mercatoria) and ‘hanses in England and Normandy’. The institutions themselves were clearly older than this and a charter granted to Beverley c. 1130 establishes that a hanse house (hanshus) already existed at York.