Arms of the Hanseatic League

Plaque carved with the Arms of the Hanseatic League (a double-headed eagle) and motto: SI:MERCAT:HANSE:THEUTONI;LOND:IN REGNO:ANG:RESIDEN, in a scrolling cartouche (part missing). The stone was erected over the site of the 16th century Hanse headquarters at the Steelyard and was carved by Caius Gabriel Cibber (1630-1700).

A powerful confederacy of German and Polish mercantile cities, known as the Hanseatic League, held a trade monopoly over most of northern Europe and the Baltic. They were granted special trading privileges in England, which meant that they paid less customs duty and tax than native Englishmen and were entitled to trade with anyone they chose. Hostility towards the Hanse merchants gradually increased, and in 1552 a consortium of Londoners wrested control of the customs and the Hanse merchants' privileges were gradually withdrawn. This plaque replaced an earlier sign at the Stalhof or Steelyard, the League's London headquarters in Thames Street.

In 1670 the City of London accounts include a payment to ‘Gabriel Cibbert stone cutter-for the eagle put on over the gate from Thames Street, fixed on John Ball’s buildings, £5’. This plaque ended up in the garden of Bickley Hall in Kent and was acquired by the Museum of London in the 1920s.