Historical Archive of the City of Cologne included copies of the protocols of the diets of the Hanseatic League. With the 1594 transfer, the Cologne archive became the most important repository of historical material concerning the Hanseatic League and thus concerning the history of Northern Germany in general, only matched by the municipal archives of Lübeck. On 27 February 1602, the city council ordered that books on jurisdiction and administration were to be systematically bought at the regularly held Frankfurt Book Fair. These were subsequently stored in the municipal archive and became the basis of the Cologne municipal library. The "Ratsbibliothek" was one of the few Cologne
History of the Jews in Cologne community in Cologne. The region was occupied by the Franks in 462, which converted to Christianity by the end of the century. During the Middle Ages, Cologne flourished as one of the most important trade routes between east and west Europe. Cologne was one of the leading members of the Hanseatic League and one of the largest cities north of the Alps in medieval and renaissance times. The first documentary reference to the Jews in Cologne in the Middle Ages was to the time of Archbishop Heribert of Cologne (999-1021), the wise friend of Holy Roman Emperor Otto III. Winheim