Part 1

A SOURCE BOOK OF LONDON HISTORY

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO 1800

EDITED BY

P. MEADOWS, M.A.

LONDON G. BELL AND SONS, LTD. 1914

PREFACE

If the study of History is to be made really valuable from either the recreative or the educational point of view, it is necessary to have frequent recourse to original sources and contemporary writings; they introduce a certain quality of reality and vividness, a kind of historical atmosphere, which is most essential to a true appreciation of the subject. This fact is now generally recognised, and many collections of sources are available for the student of English History. In this volume will be found a selection of passages, generally from contemporary sources, relating to the history of London. It is quite impossible, of course, in a small book to do justice to every aspect of the subject; and it has seemed best to give special prominence to those events which concern the City as a whole, its growth, its corporate life, and its connection with national affairs.

Besides a vast mass of general contemporary literature, a large number of the most important and interesting documents dealing with London history have already been printed; but all this material is very scattered, and frequently rather inaccessible to the general reader. The Histories by Maitland and Noorthouck, published in the eighteenth century, contain translations of charters and other documents; Riley's "Memorials" is invaluable for the fourteenth century; and many useful suggestions have been derived from Besant's "Survey of London."

The spelling of the extracts has generally been modernised, but in a few cases the original text has been exactly followed.

It is hoped that the chronological arrangement of the passages, the care which has been taken in selecting them so as to illustrate events or circumstances of definite importance in the history of the City, and the introductory remarks attached to each extract, will save this volume from being merely a collection of historical scraps, and will enable it to be of real use to all who are interested in the story of London.

P. M.

CONTENTS

DATE PAGE

TO 1066. LONDON BEFORE THE CONQUEST 1

1066. THE CONQUEROR'S CHARTER 4

1085. LONDON ENVIRONS IN DOMESDAY 4

_c._ 1130. HENRY I.'S CHARTER 8

1141. MATILDA IN LONDON 10

_c._ 1173. A NORMAN PICTURE OF LONDON 12

1177. DISTURBANCES IN THE CITY 17

1189. ORDINANCES CONCERNING BUILDING 19

1191. THE LIBERTIES OF THE CITY CONFIRMED 22

1199. JOHN'S THIRD CHARTER 23

1202. LONDON BRIDGE 25

1249. OPPRESSION BY HENRY III. 27

1258. INTERFERENCE BY BARONS 29

1282. THE STEELYARD 31

1282. THE PRESERVATION OF PEACE AND ORDER 33

1311. THE CITIZENS AND EDWARD II. 36

1319. CONSTITUTIONS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY 37

1326. A REVOLT AGAINST EDWARD II. 40

1329. A PROCLAMATION OF EDWARD III. 42

1347. ARTICLES OF THE HEAUMERS AND OF THE HATTERS 44

1350. REGULATIONS CONCERNING WAGES AND PRICES 46

1364. THE CHARTER TO THE DRAPERS 49

1365. A LETTER FROM EDWARD III. 51

1374. A LEASE TO GEOFFREY CHAUCER 52

1375. THE CITY ARMS 54

1381. WAT TYLER IN LONDON 56

_c._ 1400. LONDON LICKPENNY 62

1406. WHITTINGTON'S SECOND MAYORALTY 66

1413. THE PERSECUTION OF THE LOLLARDS 68

1415. IMPRISONMENT FOR REFUSING OFFICE 70

1419. OATHS OF THE MAYOR AND ALDERMEN 72

1450. JACK CADE IN LONDON 74

1464. THE MAYOR'S DIGNITY 78

1485. REGULATIONS CONCERNING STRANGERS 79

1510. THE MARCHING WATCH 82

1514. DESTRUCTION OF FENCES 84

1517. MORE'S DESCRIPTION OF LONDON 85

1517. EVIL MAY DAY 88

1519. THE PAPAL LEGATE IN THE CITY 91

1525. WOLSEY AND THE CITIZENS 93

1527. THE APPRENTICES 95

1533. A WATER PAGEANT 98

1549. LATIMER'S EXHORTATION TO LONDON 100

1553. MARY'S SPEECH TO THE CITIZENS 102

1554. SORANZO'S REPORT ON LONDON 105

1566. THE ROYAL EXCHANGE 106

1575. A LORD MAYOR'S SHOW 107

1587. LONDON AND THE ARMADA 110

1592. THE CITY'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE STAGE 111

1593. A PLAGUE ORDER 115

1598. LONDON SCHOOLS 121

1600. A GERMAN VIEW OF LONDON 123

1609. LONDON AND ULSTER 125

1626. THE DEMANDS OF CHARLES I. 129

1629. THE KEEPING OF THE SABBATH 131

1640. THE CITY'S PETITION TO CHARLES I. 132

1642. LONDON UNDER THE EARLY STUARTS 134

1643. A PROCLAMATION AGAINST THE CITY 136

1653. CROMWELL IN LONDON 138

1660. LONDON AND THE RESTORATION 140

1661. STATE OF LONDON BEFORE THE PLAGUE 144

1665. THE PLAGUE 146

1666. THE FIRE 148

1666. A PROCLAMATION OF CHARLES II. 156

1667. EVELYN'S PLANS FOR REBUILDING 159

1671. AN ACT CONCERNING THE STREETS 162

1679. A LORD MAYOR'S PROCLAMATION 164

1681. THE POPISH PANIC 169

1681. POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS 169

1688. LONDON AFTER JAMES II.'S ABDICATION 172

1689. A LORD MAYOR'S DAY 174

1716. GAY'S "TRIVIA" 177

1720. THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE 179

1725. DEFOE'S DESCRIPTION OF LONDON 181

1733. A PETITION AGAINST THE EXCISE BILL 183

1741. THE LONDON STREETS 185

1743. THE LOYALTY OF THE LONDON MERCHANTS 187

1780. THE GORDON RIOTS 188

1791. LONDON'S TRADE 191

HISTORY OF LONDON

LONDON BEFORE THE CONQUEST.

References to London in the early chronicles are comparatively few; under Roman rule it took the place for which it was fitted by its geographical situation—a commercial port, and it flourished or decayed as trade prospered or declined. The Saxon invaders did not care for walled towns, and London was neglected; moreover, they did not care for commerce, and there was no need for a commercial centre or port. The unsettled condition of the country made it impossible for the city to prosper, and the invasions of the Danes further interfered with its growth. But in spite of all these drawbacks, London was definitely marked out from the first as the best and most convenient centre for trading and commercial activity; and Alfred fully realised the importance of the city not only for purposes of trade, but as a bulwark of national defence.

The following are the most important passages in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relating to London. Its importance as a military station appears to have been very great in the time of Cnut, to judge by the efforts he made to capture the town; and the proportion of tribute paid in 1018 seems to show that the population and wealth of the city must have been very considerable.

=Source.=—_The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle._

AN. 457. Hengist and Æsc his son fought against the Britons at the place called Cregan Ford, and there slew four thousand men; and the Britons then forsook Kent and in great terror fled to London.

AN. 886. In this year the army again went west, which had before landed in the east, and then up the Seine, and there took winter-quarters at the city of Paris. In the same year king Ælfred restored London; and all the Angle-race turned to him that were not in the bondage of the Danish men; and he then committed the burgh to the keeping of the aldorman Æthered.

AN. 894.... Then those who dwell with the Northumbrians and with the East Angles gathered some hundred ships, and went south about, and besieged a work in Devonshire by the north sea; and those who went south about besieged Exeter. When the King heard that, he turned west towards Exeter with all the force, save a very powerful body of the people eastwards. These went on until they came to London, and then, with the townsmen and with the aid which came to them from the west, marched east to Benfleet. Hæsten was then come there with his army, which had previously sat at Middleton (Milton); and the great army also was come thereto, which had before sat at the mouth of the Limen, at Appledore. Hæsten had before wrought the work at Benfleet, and was then gone out harrying, and the great army was at home. They then marched up and put the army to flight, and stormed the work, and took all that there was within, as well money, as women and children, and brought all to London; and all the ships they either broke in pieces, or burned, or brought to London, or to Rochester.

AN. 994. In this year came Olaf (Anlaf) and Svein to London, on the Nativity of St. Mary (Sept. 8th), with ninetyfour ships, and they were obstinately fighting against the town, and would also have set it on fire. But they there sustained more harm and evil than they ever weened that any townsmen could do to them. For the holy mother of God, on that day, manifested her mercy to the townsmen, and delivered them from their foes.

AN. 1016.... And the ætheling Eadmund went to London to his father. And then, after Easter, King Cnut went with all his ships towards London. Then it befell that King Æthelred died before the ships came. He ended his days on St. George's mass day (April 23rd): and he held his kingdom with great toil and difficulty, while his life lasted. And then, after his end, all the "witan" that were in London, and the townsmen, chose Eadmund for King; and he boldly defended his kingdom while his time was. Then came the ships to Greenwich in the Rogation days (May 7th); and within a little space they went to London, and they then dug a great ditch on the south side, and dragged their ships to the west side of the bridge, and afterwards ditched the town without, so that no one could pass either in or out; and they repeatedly fought against the town, but they boldly withstood them. Then before that, King Eadmund had gone out; and he rode over Wessex, and all the folk submitted to him. And shortly after that, he fought against the army at Pen by Gillingham. And a second battle he fought after Midsummer at Sherston (Sceorstân), and there was great slaughter made on each side, and the armies of themselves separated. In that battle the aldorman Eadric and Ælmær Dyrling gave aid to the army against king Eadmund. And then a third time he gathered a force and went to London, all north of the Thames, and so out through Clayhanger, and saved the townsmen, and drove the army in flight to their ships. And then, two nights after, the king went over at Brentford, and then fought against the army, and put it to flight; and there were drowned a great many of the English folk, by their own carelessness, those who went before the force, and would take booty. And after that, the king went into Wessex, and collected his force. Then the army went forthwith to London, and beset the city around, and obstinately fought against it, both by water and by land. And Almighty God saved it.

AN. 1018. In this year the tribute was paid over all the Angle-race: that was in all two and seventy thousand pounds, exclusive of what the townsmen of London paid, which was ten and a half thousand pounds.

THE CONQUEROR'S CHARTER (1066).

William of Normandy might be able, by force of arms, to make himself master of England, but not until London opened her gates to him could he be really King. He preferred negotiation to attack, and in return for the support of the citizens he promised to abide by the laws of Edward the Confessor, and maintain the rights of the City. Shortly after his coronation he gave the citizens his famous Charter, the first of a long series of charters; in it are conveyed in the fewest possible words the largest possible rights and privileges. The Charter, which is really a compact between the King and the citizens rather than a grant from the former to the latter, indicates three all-important points with the greatest clearness and precision. They are, first, the rights of a freeman, as understood at the time, and according to the English customs, were to be secured to every man; second, every man was to have the right of inheritance; and third, no one was to stand between the City and the King.

William the King friendly salutes William the Bishop, and Godfrey the portreve, and all the burgesses within London, both French and English. And I declare, that I grant you to be all law-worthy, as you were in the days of King Edward; and I grant that every child shall be his father's heir, after his father's days; and I will not suffer any person to do you wrong. God keep you.

LONDON ENVIRONS IN DOMESDAY (1085).

In 1085 William the Conqueror, according to the Chronicle, "sent over all England into every shire his men, and let them inquire how many hundred hides were in each shire, and what land and cattle the King himself had in the shire, and what rent he ought to receive yearly in each. He let them also inquire how much land his archbishops had, and his other bishops and his abbots, and how much every man had who held land within the kingdom, as well on land as on cattle, and how much each was worth."

This Domesday Survey did not include the City of London, but the suburbs are described as in Middlesex. The most striking fact with regard to these suburbs is that nearly the whole of the land immediately bordering the City was in the hands of the Church; all round London was a broad belt of ecclesiastical manors, and this fact interfered considerably with the extension of the City. The privileges of London citizens were confined rigidly to the town within the walls; we notice that at the time of Domesday Book the adjacent country was very sparsely inhabited, and the expansion of the residential area outside the City boundaries was a slow process, often hindered by the ecclesiastical authorities.

_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 seven villanes of half a hide each; and nine villanes of half a virgate each; and forty-six cottagers of one hide; they pay thirty shillings a year. There are four mills of four pounds and sixteen shillings save fourpence. Meadow sufficient for twenty-five ploughs. Pasture for the cattle of the village, and fifteen shillings. Pannage for five hundred hogs and forty shillings. Its whole value is forty-eight pounds; and it was worth the same when received; in King Edward's time fifty pounds. This manor was and is part of the see.

_Fulham._—In Fvleham (Fulham) the Bishop of London holds forty hides. There is land to forty ploughs. Thirteen hides belong to the demesne, and there are four ploughs there. Among the freemen (franc) and the villanes are twenty-six ploughs; and ten more might be made. There are five villanes of one hide each; and thirteen villanes of one virgate each; and thirty-four villanes of half a virgate each; and twenty-two cottagers of half a hide; and eight cottagers with their own gardens. Foreigners and certain burgesses of London hold amongst them twenty-three hides of the land of the villanes. Thirty-one villanes and bordars dwell under them. Meadows for forty ploughs. Pasture for the cattle of the village. For half the stream ten shillings. Pannage for one thousand hogs, and seventeen pence. Its whole value is forty pounds; the like when received; in King Edward's time fifty pounds. This manor was and is part of the see.

_St. Pancras._—The canons of St. Paul hold four hides to Sem Pancratium (St. Pancras). There is land to two ploughs. The villanes have one plough, and another plough may be made. Wood for the hedges. Pasture for the cattle, and twenty pence. There are four villanes who hold this land under the canons, and seven cottagers. Its whole value is forty shillings; the same when received; in King Edward's time sixty shillings. This manor was and is in the demesne of St. Paul.

_Islington._—In Isendone (Islington) the canons of St. Paul have two hides. Land to one plough and a half. There is one plough there, and a half may be made. There are three villanes of one virgate. Pasture for the cattle of the village. This land is and was worth forty shillings. This laid and lies in the demesne of the church of St. Paul.

In the same village the canons themselves have two hides of land. There is land there to two ploughs and a half, and they are there now. There are four villanes who hold this land under the canons; and four bordars and thirteen cottagers. This land is worth thirty shillings; the same when received; in King Edward's time forty shillings. This laid and lies in the demesne of the church of St. Paul.

_Hoxton._—In Hochestone (Hoxton) the canons of St. Paul have one hide. Land to one plough, and it is now there; and three villanes hold this land under the canons. Pasture for the cattle. This land was and is worth twenty shillings. This laid and lies in the demesne of the church of St. Paul.

_Manor._—The canons hold Hochestone (Hoxton) for three hides. There is land to three ploughs, and they are there; and seven villanes who hold this land; and sixteen cottagers. It is worth in the whole fifty-five shillings; the same when received; in King Edward's time sixty shillings. This manor belonged and belongs to the church of St. Paul.

_Westminster._—In the village where the church of St. Peter is situate, the abbot of the same place holds thirteen hides and a half. There is land to eleven ploughs. Nine hides and one virgate belong to the demesne, and there are four ploughs therein. The villanes have six ploughs, and one plough more may be made. There are nine villanes of one virgate each; one villane of one hide; and nine villanes of half a virgate each; and one cottager of five acres; and forty-one cottagers who pay forty shillings a year for their gardens. Meadow for eleven ploughs. Pasture for the cattle of the village. Pannage for one hundred hogs. And twenty-five houses of the knights of the abbot and of other vassals, who pay eight shillings a year. Its whole value is ten pounds; the same when received; in King Edward's time twelve pounds. This manor was and is in the demesne of the church of St. Peter, of Westminster.

_Hampstead._—The Abbot of St. Peter holds Hamestede (Hampstead) for four hides. Land to three ploughs. Three hides and a half belong to the demesne, and there is one plough therein. The villanes have one plough, and another may be made. There is one villane of one virgate; and five bordars of one virgate; and one bondman. Pannage for one hundred hogs. In the whole it is worth fifty shillings; the same when received; in King Edward's time one hundred shillings.

In the same village Rannulf Pevrel holds under the abbot one hide of the land of the villanes. Land to half a plough, and it is there. This land was and is worth five shillings. This manor altogether laid and lies in the demesne of the church of St. Peter.

_Tyburn._—The abbess of Berking holds Tiburne (Tyburn) of the King; it answered for five hides. Land to three ploughs. There are two hides in the demesne, and there is one plough therein. The villanes have two ploughs. There are two villanes of half a hide; and one villane of half a virgate; and two bordars of ten acres; and three cottagers. Pasture for the cattle of the village. Pannage for fifty hogs. For herbage forty pence. It is worth in the whole fifty-two shillings; the same when received; in King Edward's time one hundred shillings. This manor always belonged and belongs to the church of Berking.

THE CHARTER OF HENRY I. (_circa_ 1130).

In William I.'s Charter the laws and customs of Edward the Confessor were confirmed. This was perhaps all that the citizens wanted at the time, but after a lapse of sixty years they desired a more explicit definition of their laws and liberties, and obtained it from Henry I. In his Charter the rights conferred by the Conqueror are not recited—probably they were taken as a matter of course—but for the rest, the citizens obtained all that they could reasonably ask or obtain by purchase. In one respect only was their freedom limited: the King reserved to himself the right of taxation, and in a medieval kingdom this was only to be expected. The City was encouraged to grow strong and wealthy, and the King might take its money freely for himself.

Among the more important points of this Charter may be noted the freedom of toll to assist the development of trade; the permission to refuse lodging to the King's household; the right of the citizens to appoint their own Justiciar; and the grant that they should not plead without the City walls, obviating the necessity of following the King's Court in its travels. Altogether, this is a most important Charter, both on account of the privileges it grants, and the light it throws on the government of the City.

Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, to the archbishop of Canterbury, and to the bishops and abbots, earls and barons, justices and sheriffs, and to all his faithful subjects of England, French and English, greeting.

Know ye that I have granted to my citizens of London, to hold Middlesex to farm for three hundred pounds, upon accompt to them and their heirs; so that the said citizens shall place as sheriff whom they will of themselves; and shall place whomsoever, or such a one as they will of themselves, for keeping of the pleas of the crown, and of the pleadings of the same, and none other shall be justice over the same men of London; and the citizens of London shall not plead without the walls of London for any plea. And be they free from scot and lot and danegeld, and of all murder; and none of them shall wage battle. And if any one of the citizens shall be impleaded concerning the pleas of the crown, the man of London shall discharge himself by his oath, which shall be adjudged within the city; and none shall lodge within the walls, neither of my household, nor any other, nor lodging delivered by force.