London - free ebook by Walter Besant

EARLY LONDON PREHISTORIC, ROMAN, SAXON AND NORMAN

BY SIR WALTER BESANT LONDON ADAM &amp; CHARLES BLACK 1908...

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CHAPTER I THE GEOLOGY

By Prof. T. G. Bonney , F.R.S. The buildings of a town often succeed in masking the minor physical features of its site—irregularities are levelled, brooks are hidden beneath arches and find ignominious ends in sewers; canals, quays, and terrace walls may be wholly artificial. To realise completely the original contours of the ground is often a laborious process, demanding inductive reasoning on the evidence obtained in sinking wells, in digging the foundations of the larger buildings, or in mak

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CHAPTER II THE SITE

It is due to the respect with which all writers upon London must regard the first surveyor and the collector of its traditions and histories that we should quote his words as to the origin and foundation of the City. He says (Strype’s Stow , vol. i. book i.):— “As the Roman Writers, to glorify the City of Rome, drew the Original thereof from Gods, and Demi-gods, so Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Welsh historian, deduceth the Foundation of this famous City of London, for the greater Glory thereof, and

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CHAPTER III THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS

Who were the earliest settlers and inhabitants of London? Those who have seen the lake-dwellings of Glastonbury—to take a familiar illustration—and have considered the conditions necessary to such a colony, will come to the conclusion that there, at all events, lake-dwellers would find everything that Nature could give them. Thus, at Glastonbury the huts of the inhabitants were planted on wooden foundations in a marshy place, covered with water at high tide, perhaps at low tide as well. There wa

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CHAPTER I THE COMING OF THE ROMANS

In August of the year 55 B.C. , Cæsar landed on the coast of Britain with eighty ships, and two legions, the 7th and the 10th. He stayed in the country three weeks, and during that short period he fought two battles. In the summer of the following year he landed again with an army of thirty or forty thousand men and eight hundred ships. The Britons retreated before his advance, and fought him first at the passage of the Stour, when they were defeated, and next at a fortified ford across the Tham

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CHAPTER II THE ROMAN RULE

The second appearance of London in history springs out of the revolt of the Iceni under Boudicca, or, as her name is Latinised, Boadicea. She was the widow of Prasutagus, King of the Iceni, who bequeathed his kingdom, hoping thereby to make the possession safe, to the Roman Cæsar jointly with his wife and daughters. The precaution proved useless. His kingdom was pillaged by the captains, and his wife and daughters were dishonoured. With the swiftness of a summer storm, the Britons from Norfolk,

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CHAPTER III THE ASPECT OF THE CITY

Such, then, was the condition and the government of Roman London-Augusta. It is a City of great trade when first we find it mentioned. The trade had been diverted by a new road, now called Oxford Street, from the old line which previously passed across the more ancient settlement in the Isle of Thorney. London had been at first a British fort on a hillock overhanging the river; then a long quay by the river-side; then a collection of villa residences built in gardens behind the quay. The whole w

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CHAPTER IV REMAINS OF ROMAN LONDON

If one stands in the Museum of the Guildhall and looks round upon the scanty remains of Roman London there exhibited, one feels a cold doubt as to the alleged wealth and greatness of the ancient city. Is this all that has to be shown after an occupation of nearly four hundred years? There is not much more: one may find a room at the British Museum devoted to this subject; and there are a few small private collections containing nothing of importance. Yet when we consider the length of time since

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CHAPTER V THE BUILDING OF THE WALL

The most important of all the Roman remains in London are the ruins of the wall. Under the protection of the Citadel the merchants first conducted their business; under its shadow the ships lay moored in the river, the bales lay on the quays, and the houses of the people, planted at first along the banks of the Walbrook, stretched out northwards to the moor and westwards as far as the river Fleet. Then came the City wall. It is strange that nothing should be said anywhere about so strong and imp

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CHAPTER VI LONDON BRIDGE

We come next to the consideration of the bridge. It is not a little remarkable that of the three great buildings belonging to Roman London—Citadel, Wall, and Bridge—not one should be so much as mentioned, save incidentally. One would think that the building of a bridge across a broad tidal river was an engineering feat worthy of admiration and of record. It was not so; we merely discover that a bridge existed; we are not told when it was erected, or what kind of bridge it was. Although it is cer

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CHAPTER VII LONDON STONE

Besides the wall, there are two other monuments, still surviving, of Roman London. One is “London Stone”; the other is the Roman bath in the Strand, which I have already mentioned (p. 98). There does not appear to be any exact account of the stone as it was before the fire which so grievously diminished it. Strype says that it was much worn away, only a stump remaining. What is left is nothing but a fragment. There was formerly, however, a large foundation. It stood on the south side of Cannon S

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CHAPTER VIII THE DESOLATION OF THE CITY

We now come to the period about which, so far as London is concerned, there are no historians and there is no tradition. Yet what happened may be read with certainty. The Roman legions were at last withdrawn. Britain was left to defend herself. She had to defend herself against the Saxon pirates in the east; against the Picts and Scots in the north; and against the wild tribes of the mountains in the west. Happily we have not in these pages to attempt the history of the two centuries of continua

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CHAPTER I THE COMING OF THE SAXONS

The life of London began again somewhere about the end of the sixth century. As London was created for purposes of trade, and as it fell with the destruction of trade, so it was restored for purposes of trade. The merchants from beyond the seas heard that peace, some kind of peace, had returned to this land; the mouth of the Thames no longer swarmed with pirates, for there was nothing left on which they could prey. From Dover the adventurous merchantman crept timidly along the coast—there was no

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CHAPTER II EARLY HISTORY

Let us return to the establishment of Christianity in London. It was in 604, as we have seen, that the East Saxons were baptized, their king, Sebert, being the nephew of Ethelbert, King of Kent, who was his overlord. It was Ethelbert, and not Sebert, who built St. Paul’s for Mellitus, the first Bishop of London. Christianity, however, is not implanted in the mind of man altogether by baptism. Mellitus was able to leave his diocese a few years after its creation in order to attend a synod at Rome

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CHAPTER III THE DANES IN LONDON

The Danes, then, held London for twelve years. In after years, when the country was governed by Danish kings, large numbers of Danes settled in London, and, with the national readiness to adapt themselves to new conditions and new manners (compare the quick conversion of Normans to French language and manners), they speedily became merged in the general population. Very soon we hear no more of Danes and English as separate peoples, either in London or in the country. London, indeed, has always r

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CHAPTER IV THE SECOND SAXON OCCUPATION

It is sometimes said that one of the earliest acts of King Alfred in gaining possession of London was to build a fortress or tower within the City. The authority for this statement seems to be nothing more than a passage in the Chronicle , under the year 896. “Then on a certain day the king rode up along the river and observed where the river might be obstructed, so that the Danes would be unable to bring up their ships. And they then did thus. They constructed two fortresses on the two sides of

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CHAPTER V THE SECOND DANISH OCCUPATION

By the death of Edmund, Cnut was left without a rival. Edmund died on the 30th of November. At Christmas, Cnut summoned to London the Witan of all England to name and crown their king. He questioned witnesses as to the portions of the kingdom, if any, assigned by Edmund to his brothers. As for his infant children, they were not considered. It was found that no portions had been assigned to Edmund’s brothers. Whereupon the meeting unanimously chose Cnut as king of all England. And he was crowned

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CHAPTER VI TOWN AND PEOPLE

Such is the history of London from the beginning of the seventh century to the third quarter of the eleventh century. We have next to consider— 1. The appearance of the town and the nature of the buildings. 2. The trade of the town. 3. The religious foundations. 4. The temporal government. 5. The manners and customs of the people. I. The Appearance of the Town If there had been any persons living to remember Augusta when the army of King Alfred took possession of the place, then, indeed, they wo

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CHAPTER VII THORNEY ISLAND

Let us turn to the sister city, as yet only Thorney, the Isle of Bramble. We all know the legend of St. Peter’s Hallowing. The legend became in later times an article of faith. The right of Sanctuary at Westminster was made to rest upon the sanctity of a place so blest as to have been consecrated by Peter: on the strength of this sanctity Westminster claimed the tithe of the Thames fishermen from Staines to Gravesend; and as late as 1382 a Thames fisherman representing Edric had the right to sit

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CHAPTER VIII SAXON REMAINS

As for the monuments which remain of Saxon London there are none; the Roman monuments are older, the mediæval monuments are later. There is not one single stone in the City of London which may be called Saxon. In Westminster the fire of 1835 swept away the buildings which belonged perhaps to Cnut; certainly, with alterations, to Edward the Confessor. Some of the bases of Edward’s columns still exist under the later pavement; the chapel of the Pyx, and portions of the domestic buildings appropria

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CHAPTER I WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR

After Hastings William advanced upon the City, and finding his entrance barred, burned Southwark. The historians commonly attribute this act, which they consider as the burning of a large and important suburb, to a threat of what the Norman would do to London herself, unless the City surrendered. This is the general interpretation of an act which I believe to have been simply the usual practice of William’s soldiers, without orders. They fired the fishermen’s huts because they always set fire to

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CHAPTER II DOMESDAY BOOK

The following are the returns of Domesday Book for the villages round London which are included in this Survey. The translations are those of the Rev. William Bawdwen, 1812:— Stepney. —“In Osuluestan (Ossulston) hundred, the Bishop of London holds Stibenhede (Stepney) for thirty-two hides. There is land to twenty-five ploughs. Fourteen hides belong to the demesne, and there are three ploughs there; and twenty-two ploughs of the villanes. There are forty-four villanes of one virgate each; and sev

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CHAPTER III WILLIAM RUFUS

This king—of a strange and inexplicable personality—gave no Charter to the City so far as is known, nor do there appear to have been any events of importance in London itself during his reign. One or more destructive fires, a hurricane, and a famine, or at least a scarcity, are mentioned. William Rufus followed his father’s example in being crowned at Westminster. And as the Conqueror was crowned by a Norman and a Saxon Bishop, so he also was crowned by the Norman Archbishop of Canterbury and th

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CHAPTER IV HENRY I

William Rufus was killed on Thursday, August 2, 1100, and buried on Friday. Henry rode off to London without the least delay: he arrived on Saturday; conferred with the leading citizens on the same day, and was actually crowned at Westminster on Sunday. Haste such as this shows not only his desire to get crowned before his elder brother could interfere, but points to the danger to the realm if the throne were vacant even for a single day. J. R. Green, in a paper on the election of Stephen, dwell

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CHAPTER V THE CHARTER of HENRY I

We know that in the memorable and brief document which is called William’s Charter, the laws and customs of Edward the Confessor were simply confirmed. Probably the City asked no more and wanted no more. Sixty years later the City, having prospered and grown and being wiser, wished for a definition of their laws and liberties, which was given them by Henry the First. I say sixty, and not thirty years, because, as has been already advanced, it seems probable that Henry’s Charter was granted in th

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CHAPTER VI STEPHEN

The election of Stephen by London is a fact the full importance of which, in the history of the City, was first brought out by the late J. R. Green. This importance signified, in fact, a great deal more than the election of a king by the City of London, a thing by no means new in the history of the City. First, we know that many Normans flocked over to London after the Conquest. Normans there were before that event, but their numbers rapidly increased in consequence. By this time we see that the

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CHAPTER VII FITZSTEPHEN THE CHRONICLER

To the reign of Henry the Second belongs the only description of London in the twelfth century that we possess. It is, of course, that of FitzStephen. I transcribe it in full; and as this description belongs to the Norman rather than the later Plantagenet period, to the twelfth rather than the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, I place it in the Book of Norman London. In connection with this important document certain notes are necessary. There were, FitzStephen says, thirteen larger conventua

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CHAPTER VIII THE STREETS AND THE PEOPLE

The City at this time occupied the same area as the Roman Augusta. The conditions of marsh and moor on all sides remained very little changed from the prehistoric days when London had not yet come into existence save for beaten paths or roads leading to north-west and east, and a causeway leading south. Right through the middle of the town flowed the Walbrook, which rose in the moor and ran into the river by means of a culvert. In the Norman time the Walbrook was one of the chief supplies of wat

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CHAPTER IX SOCIAL LIFE

Let us pass on to consider the daily life of the people. To begin with, they were a busy people; there were no idle men: everybody followed some pursuit; there were the wholesale merchants, the retailers, and the craftsmen. I have submitted a rough division of London streets into belts. In thinking of the aspect of the City, understand that there were no shops in the streets at all; nor was there any crying of things up and down the streets. All the retail trade was carried on in the markets, We

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CHAPTER X A NORMAN FAMILY

In Appendix K to Geoffrey de Mandeville , Mr. J. H. Round presents a little group, belonging to this period, of three families, together with a collection of facts and figures which, despite their scantiness, enable us to obtain more than a glimpse of the London Baron; the owner of manors and socs within and without the City; the merchant and the banker; the servant and the officer of the King; the Saxon who was also the companion and equal of the Norman nobles. “Few discoveries,” says Mr. Round

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APPENDIX I THE RIVER EMBANKMENT

Let us add to this account that of the discoveries made in the Parish of St. Michael Crooked Lane in connection with the approaches of the new London Bridge:— “On cutting through the present embankment of the river, it appeared, as might be expected, to be of comparatively modern construction. The outward wall was upright, and of Kentish rag, in courses of about fourteen inches, and about one foot in the bed. It was backed by quantities of chalk and great lumps of madrepore; the latter supposed,

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APPENDIX II THE RIVERSIDE DISCOVERIES

The following extracts from Archæologia, vol. iii., give fuller information on the results of excavation along the river-side. “It is well known that, to arrive at the solid clay in Thames Street for the purpose of planting foundations, a considerable depth must be attained. It must be remembered that, apart from the accumulation of centuries since the Roman occupation, the levels of this neighbourhood were greatly altered at the time of the Great Fire. The slope of the various hills leading fro

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APPENDIX III STRYPE ON ROMAN REMAINS

In the Appendix to his edition of Stow , 1720, Strype devotes a short chapter to the antiquities found in London, which I have thought of sufficient importance to be transcribed in full. “There are preserved, either in public Repositories, or in more private Custody, many Antique Curiosities: Found chiefly in digging Foundations for the Building of London after the great Fire, and occasionally at other Times. In the Repository of the Royal Society in Gresham College, there is a large Glass Urn,

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APPENDIX IV THE CLAPTON SARCOPHAGUS

Extract from a paper read before the Society of Antiquaries in 1867 (see L. and M. Archæological Society, vol. iii.). “The site is levelled ground, recently meadow-land and market-gardens, situate at rear of the London Orphan Asylum, Clapton, on the brow of the hill, passing down to the marshes and river Lea, within a few feet of an old path just demolished which ran from Homerton to Lea Bridge, viâ Booksby’s Walk, in the direction from south to north, and another way, for many years past but a

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APPENDIX V

“With one of these Norman burghers the life of St. Thomas brings us in contact, and, scanty as are the details of the story, they agree in a very striking way with the indications afforded us by the charter of the king. The story of the early years of Thomas Becket has very naturally been passed over with little attention by his modern biographers in their haste to fight the battle of his after-career. But long before he became St. Thomas, Archbishop Thomas, or Thomas of Canterbury, he was known

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