Lübeck is sometimes called the city of the seven spires. Soaring medieval churches dominate its skyline, and help define its history.

Some of that history is relatively recent - in St Mary’s Church the broken bells of the South Tower still lie embedded in the ground, where they fell during an allied air raid in 1942.

St Mary's Church, Lubeck St Mary's Church, Lubeck

But Lübeck had its heyday at the heart of the Hanseatic world. Between 1356 and 1669 it hosted more than 100 meetings of the Hansetag, the assembly which brought representatives of Hanseatic towns together to plot strategy and advance their interests.

The story of their shared history is now on display in the exhibition rooms of the city’s European Hansemuseum. Digital maps on the walls, and facsimiles of early trade contracts, plot the development of this new world.

Trade agreement signed in Russia, 1259, by Prince Alexander Nevsky and German merchants, stipulating that German weights are to be used to regulate trade in the future (Hansemuseum) Trade agreement signed in Russia, 1259, by Prince Alexander Nevsky and German merchants, stipulating that German weights are to be used to regulate trade in the future (Hansemuseum)

“In the beginning it was very much about conducting long distance trade,” says Angela Huang, the museum’s research director, “and about forming a community of merchants abroad.

“In the 11th to 13th Centuries you have an expanding economy - towns are founded, markets grow, and the population of Europe grows quite remarkably during that period.”

The Hansemuseum was opened four years ago by Chancellor Angela Merkel, a reminder that Hanseatic history really matters in these parts. In her speech at the opening ceremony the Chancellor described the Hansa as a role model for the EU.

Angela Merkel at the inauguration of the Hansemuseum Angela Merkel at the inauguration of the Hansemuseum

The legacy of the Hanseatic period endures all along Germany’s Baltic coast.

Both Hamburg and Bremen are still known officially as free Hanseatic cities, and are states in their own right in the German federal republic. Further east along the coast the local football team is called Hansa Rostock, while the name of the national airline - Lufthansa - also commemorates past trading glories.

But Lübeck was the “Queen of the Hansa”, at the heart of a network which stretched not only across the water but also inland, providing all manner of goods, such as wax from eastern Europe, and herring from Scandinavia, to thriving towns in the interior.

Pride of place in one room at the museum is given to the reproduction of a wooden cog, the distinctive Hansa ship with its square-rigged single sail. The cog was developed for the burgeoning trade routes across the Baltic, and was in effect an early forerunner of the modern container ship.

“This was not a ship that was made for raiding or for conflict, it was a transport vessel, quite slow,” Huang observes. “Its main function was that it could transport commodities in bulk.”

A replica of a 15th Century cog A replica of a 15th Century cog

And as trade developed, towns which were hundreds of miles apart needed reassurance that they were all getting value for money and a fair deal. So, they created a system of common standards and regulations.

An agreed schedule of weights and measurements was particularly important, and the museum has several examples on display.

“At the time there was so much insecurity in trade, says Huang. “You’re meeting at the market with a ball of cloth, but how do you decide how much it is worth? It was necessary to have common standards to avoid conflicts, so you and I can agree on what you’re selling me, and for what price.”

Displays in Lübeck's Hansemuseum Displays in Lübeck's Hansemuseum

Imitation was also a big problem, so there was plenty of regulation about the type of cloth, for example, that could be traded - it had to be stamped or sealed or folded in the right way.

The Hanseatic League, in other words, was active in quality control. Highly prized cloth from Bruges or Leiden would be trademarked, even though there was no international law that prevented the copying of another product.

“It was important for merchants,” says Huang, “that the commodity that arrived in Novgorod, that they wanted to sell on to Russian merchants, was actually what they claimed it to be – because there might be hell to pay if not.”

In fact, many of the issues that dominate modern trade discussions - counterfeit goods, trademarks and (for trade geeks) even “rules of origin” - echo the Hanseatic period.

Sometimes, of course, disputes emerged, and even natural trading partners fell out. But the Hanseatic League endured for a remarkably long time because it helped guarantee quality, organise logistics and create trust.

16th Century Lübeck 16th Century Lübeck

Eventually, inevitably, the tide of history began to turn, and a number of big factors saw the Hansa gradually lose influence. The rise of nation states as centres of political power challenged its trading model, as did the emergence of new markets and trade routes around the world.

Even modern-sounding ideas like climate change played their part, as shoals of herring, a key Hanseatic commodity, moved out of the Baltic in the 15th Century in search of warmer waters elsewhere.

The Thirty Years’ War which devastated central Europe in the 17th Century was perhaps the final straw. But a belief in the Hanseatic model of co-operation rarely wavered, and the maritime culture at the heart of the Hansa is still strong in Lübeck today.

You get a sense of that at the top of Engelsgrube, the street that looks down the hill towards the Trave river. It used to be known as the English Road, leading down to the quay where the ships bound for England were moored.

Warehouses along the Trave River Warehouses along the Trave River

English towns and cities were never a formal part of the Hanseatic League. Even in medieval times English merchants were semi-detached from the dominant European network of the day.

But memories of the Hansa still persist in unexpected corners of England.