STEELYARD, Merchants of the, were Hanse merchants who settled in London in 1250 at the steelyard on the river side, near Cosin Lane, now Iron Bridge Wharf. Henry III. in 1259, at the request of his brother Richard, earl of Cornwall, conferred on them important privileges, which were renewed and confirmed by Edward I. It was chiefly through their enterprise that the early trade of London was developed, and they continued to flourish till, on the complaint of the Merchant Adventurers in the reign of Edward VL, they were deprived of their privileges. Though Hamburg and Lübeck sent ambassadors to intercede for them, they were not reinstated in their monopolies, but they succeeded in maintaining a footing in London till expelled by Elizabeth in 1597. Their beautiful guildhall in Thames Street, described by Stow, was made a naval store-house. It contained two famous pictures, painted in distemper by Holbein, representing Poverty and Riches, which were presented by the Hanse merchants to Henry, prince of Wales, and came into the possession of Charles I., but are supposed to have perished in the fire which destroyed Whitehall.