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Trade and Markets in Cologne - from the Ancient World to the Stapelrecht*
Cologne had already been a significant trade center and crossroads ever since it was granted municipal rights in the year 50 AD at the instigation of Empress Agrippina. Local and foreign commodities were transshipped both by land and by water. The natural environment of the Rhine made Cologne an ideal place to change ship types and served as the basis for the Stapelrecht vested in 1259, which secured the residents of Cologne long-term economic supremacy on the Rhine. In 1360, Emperor Karl IV. even granted the residents of Cologne the right to hold a trade fair twice a year. Nevertheless, the trade fair privilege had less significance than the Stapelrecht, as the latter contained stipulations that were lucrative for the residents of Cologne.
*Right granted to the city of Cologne in mid 13th century which stipulated that traders who wanted to pass through Cologne or stay there, had to unload their commodities and offer them for sale to the residents of Cologne at the latter's markets.
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