Queen of the Hanseatic League

In the 12th century, merchants in Lübeck set sail across the Baltics, forging the path to Eastern Europe. As further towns sprouted up near and around Lübeck - all subject to Lübeck law - Lübeck rose to head the Hanseatic League as the leading economic power in medieval times.

Lübeck was founded in 1143 as the first German city on the Baltic Sea. The site was extremely promising - surrounded by the protective waters of the Wakenitz and Trave Rivers, sailors were free to put off to the Baltic sea from its shore. The city's ruler sent his men to recruit merchants from Westphalia, from the Rhine, from Friesland and Saxony in order to help the newly-founded town blossom and flourish.

But the town's growth remained stunted in the wake of attacks, fires and conflicts between the city's founder, Adolphus of Schauenburg and his lord, Henry the Lion. It was not until Henry the Lion re-founded the city in 1159 that the project bore its first fruits. In the 12th century, merchants in Lübeck set sail for the herring markets, reaching as far as Gotland and penetrating further into the Baltics, all the way to Novgorod.

With that, the path to Eastern Europe was finally forged. Further towns sprouted up near and around Lübeck: Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund, Greifswald, Stettin, Danzig, Elbing, Königsberg, Riga, Reval and Dorpat, all subject to Lübeck law. Thus Lübeck rose to head the Hanseatic League as the leading economic power in medieval times.

The Hanseatic League had no navy of its own and no soldiers; it lacked an executive body and a separate budget. Nevertheless, merchants from the "dudeschen hense" were respected - and sometimes even feared - throughout the known world. Lübeck's merchants maintained contacts reaching from the Orient to Venice to Russia. The League set up branches in the most important cities - Peterhof in Novgorod, Stalhof in London, Deutsche Brücke in Bergen and Haus der Osterlinge in Brügge. In the Middle Ages, the citizens of Lübeck were cosmopolites who, though intertwined in the hearts to their city, were at home all over.

The cog was their preferred mode of transportation. Merchants climbed aboard these large trading vessels, braving wind, waves and pirates to bring their goods to their destination. Because the Baltic Sea was Lübeck's lifeline, it is no surprise that the people of Lübeck, huddled safely as they are in the interior, still secured themselves a clear seaway - by purchasing Travemünde in 1329. When they acquired the hamlet for a mere 1,060 Lübeck marks, they had no inkling that it would one day become a large ferry port and a seaside resort with one of the richest traditions on the Baltic Sea.