urse of this construction work, the four city gates were moved farther out, and the town's area grew to roughly 75 hectares. The city council forged alliances with surrounding towns, and G�ttingen joined the Hanseatic League in 1351 (see below). G�ttingen also gained Grona (currently Grone) and several other surrounding villages in the Leine Valley.
The reason for the progressive power increase in the late Middle Ages was the growing economic importance of the town. This depended largely on its good connection to the north-south trade route, particularly the north-south trade route that followed the Leine Valley, which greatly aided the local textile industry in particular. Next to the guild of linen weavers, the guild of wool weavers gained in importance. The wool for the weaving originated in the immediate surroundings of the town, where up to 3000 sheep and 1500 lambs were kept. Woollen cloth was successfully exported all the way to the Netherlands and L�beck. From 1475, textile production was augmented by the addition of new weavers who brought novel weaving techniques to G�ttingen and consolidated the position of the town as a textile exporter for three generations. Only at the end of the 16th century did the decline of the local textile industry occur when G�ttingen could not compete anymore with cheap English textiles.
G�ttingen's traders also profited from the important trade route between L�beck and Frankfurt am Main. G�ttingen's market became important beyond the region. Traders from other regions would come in great numbers four times a year. G�ttingen also joined the Hanseatic League, to the first meeting of which it was invited in 1351. G�ttingen's relationship with the Hanseatic League remained distant, however. As an inland town, G�ttingen enjoyed the economic connections of the League, but it did not want to get involved in the politics of the alliance. G�ttingen only became a paying member in 1426, and left as early as 1572
