
Timeline
Another army of Danes landed in London and were joined by those at Reading. The army defeated Alfred at Wilton and so the king decided to pay the Danes some money to keep the peace.
Swein Fork-Beard and his son Canute sailed from Denmark to attack England. Again London defended itself and the Vikings moved elsewhere, taking Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria.
London was the last part of the country to accept Swein as the new king of England. Swein and his Viking army had already taken control of the Danelaw and the rest of the country accepted him as their new ruler. Swein's rule of the country would only last a few months.
Canute advanced on London for a fight with Aethelred but Aethelred died in the same month. London accepted Edmund Ironside as their ruler. Canute would have to defeat Edmund if he was to become King of England.
King Harold had to march south from Stamford Bridge to counter the threat of invasion from William the Conqueror.
Gundulf began work on the White Tower, the Tower of London.
Hugh de Payens may have been granted the land for the first Temple Church in London at this time. Consisting of an orchard, a cemetery, a round church. The position was possibly at the end of Chancery Lane. The temple was moved in 1161.
Matilda and her supporters entered London for her coronation. Her supporters included David I, king of the Scots. Geoffrey de Mandeville who controlled the Tower of London, abandoned his king as he saw Matilda had the upper hand. He joined her side and offered her the Tower of London. He did this to ensure he kept the Earldom of Essex which made him one of the most powerful barons of the time.
Being the superintendents of the Masons, the Knights Templars build their Temple in Fleet Street in London.
The Knights Templars moved their London temple to the new site between Fleet Street and the Thames.
Again King Henry's knowledge of law is used in a conflict. This time between Alfonso IX of Castile, and Sancho VI of Navarre. The meeting was held in London.
The post of Lord Mayor of London was introduced in this year. The first holder of the title was Henry FitzAilwin.
Fire broke out on the southern shore of the River Thames and crossed the river starting more fires on the northern shore. Many people were killed. Boats tried to rescue people trapped on London Bridge but the boats became overloaded and many drowned. This appears to be a big a disaster as the fire of 1666.
Promising the Barons safe passage, John met them in London to discuss their demands. John postponed any answer until Easter.
The gates to London were opened by a supporter of the rebellious Barons and the houses of Jews were targeted for ransacking and burning. The rebels called for those Barons still on the side of John to join them. The Tower of London held by John's supporters was too well defended to fall into the hands of the rebels.
King John put down a revolt in East Anglia. The Barons and the French kept hold of London.
A small French army landed in London. Their commander informed the rebel barons that Prince Louis would soon arrive from France.
On the pretence of removing his mother's jewels, Edward (I) entered the Knights Templar's Temple in London and ransacked the treasury, taking the proceeds to the Tower of London.
Simon's son was sent to London to raise money and troops. He diverted back through Winchester which was loyal to the king and then moved through Oxford and Northampton. Edward (I) moved from Worcester to Bridgnorth destroying bridges and means of allowing Simon who was on the Welsh side of the Avon from crossing back. The people of Bristol, friendly to Simon's cause sent ships to Newport to help Simon cross, but they were intercepted and destroyed by Edward.
Edward Balliol arrived in London and asked for men and money for Edward's French war.
The plague reached the shores of England first at Melcombe Regis in Dorset. By winter of the year, the plague had reached London.
The Statute of Staples. A law that fixed 15 towns as staple towns. A staple town was a town that was restricted in what it could sell to foreign merchants. The towns were Bristol, Canterbury, Carmarthen, Chichester, Cork, Drogheda, Dublin, Exeter, Lincoln, London, Newcastle, Norwich, Waterford, Winchester and York.
Both the Kentish and the Essex rebels move towards London.
The Essex rebels reach Mile End near Aldgate and the Kentish rebels reach Southwark.
An outburst of plague occurred sometime between 1405 and 1407 and the pestilence was so great that, according to the St. Albans chronicler, in London thirty thousand men and women were reported to have died in a short space of time. Henry IV is thought to have left London to wait for the plague to die out.
Before this year the exit through the London wall to the Moorfields area was through a small postern gate originally built by the Romans. A postern is a small gateway located in a secluded position where residents of the castle could escape in times of siege to either flee or attack the besiegers. It was decided to build a proper gate at the location.
Severe cold set in and lasted until February the next year. The Thames froze over forcing ships to unload futher down river than usual.
The rebels under the command of Jack Cade defeated a section of King Henry's army at Sevenoaks and entered London. The rebels ransacked the city and after crossing London Bridge to the south were prevented crossing back to the north by angry Londoners. The rebels were defeated and fled.
The Yorkists marched first to Canterbury where the officers in charge of protecting the town against them joined forces with the rebels. They then moved on and arrived at London on July 2nd. There they were welcomed by the Mayor of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Edward and Warwick were allowed to enter the city of London. The citizens of London had refused to let the Queen enter and so she returned north with the King.
Richard was welcomed into London by the Mayor and a procession led him to Blackfriars. Christmas was spent celebrating.
Reports reached London that the Queen was in labour and the birth was imminent. But the rumours turned out to be false and the celebrations that the news resulted in stopped.
The Royal Exchange in London was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham. The exchange and dealing in foreign currency had become very important and this put London at the heart of the process.
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See Also
Explore the White Tower
Explore all four floors of the White Tower at the Tower of London using the Unity 3d game engine.
A Medieval Mystery
There appear to be some strange connections between the fourteenth century Old Wardour Castle and ancient stone circle Stonehenge.
1: Location
Old Wardour Castle appears to be aligned to ancient sites in the Stonehenge landscape.
2: Alignment
Stonehenge is aligned to the Summer Solstice. Old Wardour has a very similar alignment.
3: Size
Could the builders of Old Wardour used mesaurements from Stonehenge to layout the geometrical keep?
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