London Bridge and the Tower. from a MS. of the Poems of Charles, Duke of Orleans. British Museum. MEDIÆVAL LONDON By WILLIAM BENHAM , D.D., F.S.A. Rector of St. Edmund the King, Lombard Street, and Honorary Canon of Canterbury , AND CHARLES WELCH , F.S.A. Librarian to the Corporation of London . LONDON SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED, GREAT RUSSELL STREET NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1901...

A COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY. What are the Historical Limits of “Mediæval London?”—Derivation of “London”—The Roman City—Outlying Districts—Decay of Ancient London—Renewal after the English Conquest was Complete—London Christianised—King Alfred’s London—Its Gradual Rise to Supremacy—St. Paul’s Cathedral—William the Conqueror’s London—London in the days of the Plantagenets.—Foundation of Westminster Abbey—Rebuilt by Henry III.—St. Clement Danes—Watling Street—The Folkmote Ground—Cheapside and its Surro

CIVIC RULE. Guildhall—Its Porch and Crypt—Other Ancient Crypts—Royal Control—Civic Government—Punishment for Trade Offences—The City Prisons—The Mayoralty—“Ridings and Pageants”—The Marching Watch—The Common Council—Office of Sheriff—Historic Scenes at Guildhall—Guildhall Chapel and Library—The Livery Companies. In the very centre of the old city, and only just removed from the noise and bustle of its great thoroughfare, the Chepe, lay the Guildhall, the seat of civic government. The name itself

THE THAMES. The “Silent Highway”—London Bridge—The Bridge Houses and their Signs—Waterworks—Ice Fairs—Swan-upping—Borough of Southwark—City Jurisdiction—Early Lords of Southwark—Winchester House—Our Lady Fair—Paris Garden Manor—Bull and Bear Baiting—Famous Inns—The Marshalsea and King’s Bench Prisons—Tooley Street—Bridge House and the Bridge Masters—Sports on the Thames—Water Pageantry. The facilities of transit afforded by the river highway led to the extension of the City towards the East, whe

RELIGIOUS LIFE. Introduction of Christianity—Foundation of the See—The First Prelates: Mellitus, St. Erkenwald, St. Dunstan—Monastic Foundations—St. Paul’s Cathedral: its Officials, Services, Shrines—Old St. Paul’s Described—Paul’s Cross and Spital Sermons—The Jewry—London Parish Churches—Lambeth Palace and Chapel—The Lollards’ Tower. On the summit of the hill which slopes on the south to the Thames, and more steeply on the west to the rapid stream of the Fleet, has for many centuries stood a ch

THE FORTRESS, PALACES, AND MANSIONS. Abbey of St. Peter—Westminster Palace—St. Stephen’s Chapel—Geoffrey Chaucer—Westminster Hall, its Feasts and other Solemnities—Baynard’s Castle and the Fitz-Walters—The City’s Banner-bearer—Whitehall—Strand Mansions of the Nobility: Essex House, Arundel House, the Savoy, Durham House—Crosby Place, Bishopsgate—The Tower of London. The two most famous of London royal residences, the Tower of London and the Palace of Westminster, were situated respectively at th

THE PASSING OF MEDIÆVAL LONDON. Changes in Human Thought in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries—Drawbacks to Civilisation, Worldliness and Neglect of Religion—Reflection of this in London Life—St. Paul’s in Neglect—The Struggle for Better Things—Hope for the Future—The Great Fire. A few words seem called for before we leave the middle age of the great City. The world may be said to have entered on a new life in the wonderful movements of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The downfall of t