This theory has been contested in recent years, but Tholstrup says the merchants nevertheless earned the trust of their English neighbours. Their reputation for reliability was such that it has often been suggested that the UK currency, Sterling, was a shortened form of “Easterling” - the local name for the Hanseatic traders. “At any given time they probably had about 15% market share of English imports and exports,” says Jens Tholstrup, an economist with a strong interest in the Hanseatic period. The community of German merchants who lived on the banks of the Thames were exempt from customs duties and certain taxes. London was never formally one of the Hanseatic cities, but it was a crucial link in the chain - known as a kontor or trading post.
It was one of the most successful trade alliances in history - at its height the League could count on the allegiance of nearly 200 towns across northern Europe. This was the London base of the Hanseatic League - a powerful trading network for hundreds of years, stretching all the way from the East of England to the heart of Russia. And on the red-brick wall of the Cannon Street railway bridge sits a plaque unveiled in 2005, commemorating “600 years during which time some 400 Hanseatic merchants inhabited peacefully in the City of London… a German self-governing enclave on this site”.