o perform this duty. It is
recorded that in the tenth year of Edward I., who had renewed his
father's charter, that a great controversy arose between the Mayor and
the "Haunce of Almaine" about the reparation of this gate, then likely
to fall, and the matter was brought before the King's Court of
Exchequer. The result was that the German merchants were found to have
neglected their duty, and they were called upon to pay two hundred and
ten marks sterling to the Mayor and citizens, and to undertake that they
and their successors should from time to time repair the gate. The names
of the merchants who at that time were residing in London, and answered
to the court, are given by Stow, and the list is interesting as showing
the different parts of Germany represented at that time. They were,
Gerard Marbod the Alderman, Ralph de Cusarde of Cologne, Bertram of
Hamburg, John de Dele, burgess of Muenster, and Ludero de Denevar, John
of Arras, and John de Hundondale, all three burgesses of Treves; so that
unless the Alderman himself was from Luebeck, the head city of the League
was not represented. An interesting point arises in connection with the
repairs of this gate. London in the thirteenth century was a city of
wood, with only its walls and churches built of stone, and brick as a
building material was almost unknown. But in the great cities of the
Hanse League, in Luebeck, Hamburg, and Bruges, brick was the ordinary
material, and for the Steel-yard merchants it was as easy to bring
bricks from Flanders as stone from Surrey or Kent, and the material
itself was very much cheaper. We know that wherever the agents of the
League settled they seem to have accustomed the people to the use of
brick, and taught them the mysteries of brick-making. This was the case
at Hull, a branch of the London Kontor, where, although in a
stone-producing country, its great church of Holy Trinity, as well as
its walls, were built of brick; and in other branches, such as Yarmouth,
Boston, and Lynn, we find early examples of brick-work. Old engravings
of portions of the Steel-yard buildings show that they were of brick,
and with their Guildhall vied in importance and beauty with the great
brick buildings of Luebeck and Bruges.

During the Lancastrian supremacy the German merchants were under a cloud
in this country, and many of their privileges were withdrawn; and
indeed, for a time, the Steel-yard was closed, whilst the fleets of the
League were acti