The Hanseatic League, the dominant Northern European mercantile federation, developed collective agreements among member cities to share cargo losses from shipwreck and piracy, foreshadowing mutual insurance models.

The Hanseatic League's mutual cargo loss-sharing agreements in 1370 shaped the mercantile culture of Northern Europe. The anxieties of trade and loss found their way into Middle Low German poetry, influencing themes of risk and adventure in the literature of the time.