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| Boats on the Thames, around 1850 (source) |
at London Bridge
A view of Southwark Catheral .
and across the river, the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral on Ludgate Hill
The front of St. James's Palace in Westminster, with the royal carriage out front
Nearby, Buckingham House
In the City of London,
the exterior of the Lord Mayor's House
the Royal Exchange
Jonathan's Coffee-House
The Stationer's Company
Barges on the Lee Navigation,
Construction of the Limehouse Cut,
using a Newcomen Engine,
The auditorium of the Drury Lane Theatre,
filled for a performance of Shakespearean comedy.
A middle class Georgian home, a cozy winter evening.
A family, adults with guests
nearby nder the light of the fireplace,
two young girls, sisters, are playing with paper dolls with a paper set of a castle and trees.
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| Interior of Theatre Royal,
Drury Lane. Circa 1808. This is the structure that was built in 1794, after the demolition of the previous structure in 1791, and burned down in 1809. According to the author Peter Thomson, for its first two centuries,
Drury Lane could "reasonably have claimed to be London's leading
theatre".For most of that time, it was one of a handful of patent theatres,
granted monopoly rights to the production of "legitimate" (meaning
spoken plays, rather than opera, dance, concerts, or plays with music) drama in London. (source) |
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| (source) The facade of the Drury Lane Theatre on Bridges Street. Added in 1775, this gave the theatre its first on-street entrance. |
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| (source) Cross-section of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral showing the brick cone between the inner and outer domes |
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| (source) The dome of St Paul's Cathedral. Looking west on the roof terrace of One New Change in the City of London. |
1768 Thames frozen over.
River Thames frost fairs were held on the tideway of the River Thames at London in some winters between the 17th century and early 19th century, during the period known as the Little Ice Age, when the river froze over. During that time the British winter was more severe than now, and the river was wider and slower, and impeded by Old London Bridge.1767 Navigation locks installed on the lower River Lea, a tributary of the Thames, on the canalised part of the river, which is now called the Lee Navigation. Further locks and canalisation take place during the succeeding centuries.
The River Lea flows through the old brewing and malting centre of Ware, and consequently transport by water was for many years a significant industry based there. Barley was transported into Ware, and malt out via the river, in particular to London1767 Construction begins on the Limehouse Cut to connect the lower reaches of River Lea with the Thames, allowing barges to avoid to long detour around the Isle of Dogs. By 1769, barges are using part of the canal.
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Opposition to the Stamp Act was not limited to the colonies. British merchants and manufacturers, whose exports to the colonies were threatened by colonial boycotts, pressured Parliament. The Act was repealed on March 18, 1766 as a matter of expedience, but Parliament affirmed its power to legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever" by also passing the Declaratory Act. There followed a series of new taxes and regulations, likewise opposed by the colonists.1765 Stamp Act (Duties in American Colonies Act 1765; 5 George III, c. 12) passed by Parliament, greatly exacerbating tension with the American colonies.
The Act placed a tax on legal documents, such as wills, that had been levied in Britain for many years but which was wildly unpopular in the American colonies, producing riots and organized resistance.
Like previous taxes, the stamp tax had to be paid in valid British currency, not in colonial paper money. The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in North America after the British victory in the Seven Years' War and its North American theater, the French and Indian War.1765 (Mar) John Hancock elected one of Boston's five selectmen.
1765 The Plays of William Shakespeare, annotated edition published by Samuel Johnson.
Johnson came to believe that there was a problem with the collections of Shakespearean plays that were available during his lifetime. He believed that they lacked authoritativeness, because they: "were transcribed for the players by those who may be supposed to have seldom understood them; they were transmitted by copiers equally unskillful, who still multiplied errors; they were perhaps sometimes mutilated by the actors, for the sake of shortening the speeches; and were at last printed without correction of the press."
Although Johnson was friends with actors such as David Garrick who had performed Shakespeare onstage, he did not believe that performance was vital to the plays, nor did he ever acknowledge the presence of an audience as a factor in the reception of the work. Instead, Johnson believed that the reader of Shakespeare was the true audience of the play
1764 (April 24) Former Daily Gazetteer newspaper begins publishing under the new title Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser
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| 1773 caricature of the exaggerated style of the macaroni (source) |
1764 (Apr) Sugar Act passed by Parliament.
After its victory in the Seven Years' War, the British Empire was deep in debt. Looking for new sources of revenue, the British Parliament sought, for the first time, to directly tax the colonies, beginning with the Sugar Act of 1764.
1764 Horace Walpole, son of first British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, writes to a friend of "the Macaroni Club, which is composed of all the traveled young men who wear long curls and spying-glasses"
Young men who had been to Italy on the Grand Tour had developed a taste for macaroni, a type of Italian food little known in England then, and so they were said to belong to the Macaroni Club. They would refer to anything that was fashionable or à la mode as "very maccaroni"
The "club" was not a formal one; the expression was particularly used to characterize fops who dressed in high fashion with tall, powdered wigs with a chapeau bras on top that could only be removed on the point of a sword. The shop of engravers and printsellers Mary and Matthew Darly in the fashionable West End of London sold their sets of satirical "macaroni" caricature prints, published between 1771 and 1773. The new Darly shop became known as "the Macaroni Print-Shop".
1764 Benjamin Franklin returns to London for a third time.
In 1764, Franklin was again sent to England to petition the King to make Pennsylvania a Royal colony rather than a proprietary province. Despite the defeat of France in the French and Indian War, the colony was racked by the strains of defending its frontier. Franklin arrived in London in December 1764 and returned to his home with the Stevensons in Craven Street.
Franklin's final stay in England was to last much longer than his first two visits. However his mission was obscured by commotion surrounding the Stamp Act, a fact that aroused great antipathy in America.(source)
1763 (Feb 10) Treaty of Paris ends the French and Indian War. France cedes all of New France east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain.
The British victory in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), known in British America as the French and Indian War, had been won only at a great financial cost. During the war, the British national debt nearly tripled, rising to almost £329 million by 1764. Post-war expenses were expected to remain high because the Bute ministry decided in early 1763 to keep ten thousand British regular soldiers in the American colonies, which would cost about £225,000 per year,.The primary reason for retaining such a large force was that demobilizing the army would put 1,500 officers, many of whom were well-connected in Parliament, out of work, This made it politically prudent to retain a large peacetime establishment, but because Britons were averse to maintaining a standing army at home, it was necessary to garrison most of the troops elsewhere.
1762 Remodeling of Buckingham House begins.
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| (source) George III in 1762 by |
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| (source) Cornoation Portrait of George III in 1762 by |
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| Buckingham House, around the year 1710 (source) |
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| (source)
Queen Charlotte and daughter Princess Charlotte. In 1767, Francis Cotes drew a pastel of Queen Charlotte with her eldest daughter Charlotte, Princess Royal. Lady Mary Coke called the likeness "so like that it could not be mistaken for any other person" |
1761 King George III marries Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, whom he met on their wedding day, in the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace. A fortnight later, both were crowned at Westminster Abbey. " George remarkably never took a mistress (in contrast with his grandfather and his sons), and the couple enjoyed a genuinely happy marriage."
1761 At Jonathan's Coffee-House, a club of 150 brokers and jobbers is formed to trade stocks.
The club built its own building in 1773 in Sweeting's Alley, which was dubbed the New Jonathan's, but was renamed the Stock Exchange.1760 (Oct. 25) George III, King of England, at age 22, upon the death of his grandfather George II, who dies at Kensington Palace in London. The new king is the third monarch from the House of Hanover, but unlike his two predecessors he was born in Britain, spoke English as his first language, and never visited Hanover.
1760 City of London begins construction on Blackfriars Bridge. It opens in 1769. The lower section of the New Canal (formerly the River Fleet) from Ludgate Circus to the Thames is completely covered as "New Bridge Street" in order to accommodate the new crossing.
"The first fixed crossing at Blackfriars was a 995 foot long toll bridge designed in an Italianate style by Robert Mylne and constructed with nine semi-elliptical arches of Portland stone. It took nine years to build, opening to the public in 1769, and was the third bridge across the Thames in the then built-up area of London, supplementing the ancient London Bridge, which dated from several centuries earlier, and Westminster Bridge. It was originally named "William Pitt Bridge" (after the Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder) as a dedication, but its informal name relating to the precinct within the City named after the Blackfriars Monastery, a Dominican priory which once stood nearby, was generally adopted. It was later made toll free."
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| (source) Front page of The Gentleman's Magazine, London, May 1759. |
1758 to 1762 All houses and shops on London Bridge are demolished through Act of Parliament. The two center arches arere replaced by a single wider span to improve navigation on the river.
"The City of London responded to Westminster Bridge by removing the buildings on London Bridge and widening it in 1760–63."1757 Construction of the Lord Mayor of Londons's state coach at a cost of £1,065.0s.3d.
1757 Benjamin Franklin returns to London for a five-year stay.
"In 1757 he was sent to London as diplomat for the Pennsylvania Assembly, taking his son William (then aged 26) with him. There he took comfortable lodgings with the widowed Margaret Stevenson in her house at 36 Craven Street. Both Mrs. Stevenson and her daughter Polly were to become life-long friends of Franklin." (source)
1756 Diplomatic Revolution in Europe dramatically shifts alliances among the powers including the end of British-Austrian alliance. Britain now allies with Prussia against France and Austria (Anglo-Prussian alliance (1756).
1755 A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson, who had worked on it since 1746 at 17 Gough Square.
Until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary 173 years later, Johnson's was viewed as the pre-eminent English dictionary. According to Walter Jackson Bate, the Dictionary "easily ranks as one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship, and probably the greatest ever performed by one individual who labored under anything like the disadvantages in a comparable length of time".
1754 Stephen Theodore Janssen, MP, Stationer, becomes Lord Mayor of London.
1754 (May 28) Battle of Jumonville Glen, in present-day Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Start of the French and Indian War in North America,
A company of British colonial militia from Virginia under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Washington, and a small number of Mingo warriors led by Tanacharison (also known as "Half King"), ambushed a force of 35 Canadiens under the command of Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville. The British colonial force had been sent to protect a fort under construction under the auspices of the Ohio Company at the location of present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.1751 Remaining Chapel House of St. Thomas of the Bridge is acquired by a firm of stationers, run by partners Thomas Wright and William Gill, who later both became Lord Mayors of London.
1748 The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of Austrian Succession in Europe
The war ended in a decisive victory for Britain and Prussia. Britain's control of the seas and Prussia's formidable army proved to be a winning combination, despite the attempts of France, Austria and their European allies to preserve the balance of power. The growth of Prussia, dangerous to Austria, was welcomed by the British, who saw it as a means of balancing French power.1748 Jonathan's Coffee-House is destroyed by fire and rebuilt.
1747 Upper part of the former shrine of St. Thomas of the Bridge on London Bridge is removed. The lower story remains until bridge is demolished in 1832.
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1747 David Garrick becomes the manager at Drury Lane theatre.
Garrick served as manager and lead actor of the theatre until roughly 1766, and continued on in the management role for another ten years after that. He is remembered as one of the great stage actors and is especially associated with advancing the Shakespearean tradition in English theatre – during his time at Drury Lane, the company mounted at least 24 of Shakespeare's plays.
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| (source) John Rocque's 24-sheet map of London published in 1746 |
1746 A plan of the cities of London and Westminster, and borough of Southwark published
by John Rocque
The map, surveyed by John Rocque and engraved by John Pine, is a map of Georgian London to a scale of 26 inches to a mile. The map consists of twenty-four sheets and is 3.84 by 2.01 metres in overall size. Taking nearly ten years to survey, engrave and publish, it has been described as "a magnificent example of cartography ... one of the greatest and most handsome plans of any city".
The map was financed by people subscribing to obtain a copy – one guinea was paid as a deposit and two guineas when the map was received.
Much of the earlier surveying work needed to be repeated and by 1742 the scheme was close to collapse. There were 246 subscribers, one being Frederick, Prince of Wales, who later was to appoint Rocque as the royal cartographer. The Court of Aldermen of the City of London subsidised the undertaking and the map was dedicated to them and to the Lord Mayor
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| (source)The first page of the rhyme from an 1815 edition of Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (c. 1744). |
1744 (circa) Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book published, containing lyrics to "Oranges and Lemons" and "London Bridge is Falling Down."
London Bridge
Is Broken down,
Dance over my Lady Lee.
London Bridge
Is Broken down
With a gay Lady.
1743 (Jun. 27) Battle of Dettingen in the War of Austrian Succession. Kig George II becomes the last British monarch to lead an army into battle (against the French).
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| (source) Portrait of George Frideric Handel in a dark red coat with deep cuffs worn over a long gold brocade vest or waistcoat. His shirt has full sleeves gathered at the wrists with ruffles, 1756. |
1743 (Mar. 23) London premiere of Messiah by Handel, at Covent Garden Theatre.
1740 Revival of As You Like It at Drury Lane.
With Hannah Pritchard as Rosalind at Drury Lane in 1740, AYL recovered some of its accustomed shape. Even so, Celia, played by Kitty Clive, sang the "cuckoo" song (that had previously been imported from the end of Love's Labor's Lost into Love in a Forest) to accompany Thomas Arne's delightful settings of "Under the greenwood tree" and "Blow, blow, thou winter wind" in 2.5 and 2.7. Dances and a pantomime entitled Robin Goodfellow enlivened the festivities. The play became a special favorite at Drury Lane, appearing more often there from 1776 to 1817 than any other Shakespeare play; indeed, it was absent only thrice in forty-one seasons.
1740 Thames completely frozen over, resulting in one of the many Thames Frost Fairs during this era.
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| (source) Mansion House |
1739 Construction begins on Mansion House, a residence for the Lord Mayor of London, in the then fashionable Palladian style by the surveyor and architect George Dance the Elder. Construction is completed 1756.
The site, at the east end of Poultry, had previously been occupied by the "Stocks Market", which by the time of its closure was mostly used for the sale of herbs. The construction was prompted by a wish to put an end to the inconvenient practice of lodging the Lord Mayor in one of the City Halls. Construction was slowed by the discovery of springs on the site, which meant piles had to be sunk to form the foundations.
1737 The Licensing Act passed by Parilament mandating governmental approval of any play before it could be performed. The Act thereby creates something of a vacuum of new material to perform, and some of Shakespeare's surge in popularity during this period can be traced to its passage.
1736 William Pitt the Elder delivers his first speech in the House of Commons.
1736 A Short Historical Account of London Bridge, pamphlet by the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor.
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1736 Westminster Bridge, a new span across the Thames to accompany London Bridge, is approved for construction by Parliament. It opens in 1750.
1735 The Daily Gazeteer begins publishing in London, printed for T. Cooper, at the Globe in Pater-Noster Row by W. Arnall et al. It is published after 1746 under various similar names until 1797.
1735 Handel's first season of operas begins at Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.
1734 The first ballet is presented at Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, a production of Pygmalion. "Marie Sallé discarded tradition and her corset and danced in diaphanous robe."
1733 British Parliament passes the Molasses Act, imposing a tax of six pence per gallon on imports of molasses from non-English colonies.
Parliament created the act largely at the insistence of large plantation owners in the British West Indies. The Act was not passed for the purpose of raising revenue, but rather to regulate trade by making British products cheaper than those from the French West Indies. The Molasses Act greatly affected the significant colonial molasses trade.1732 John Barber, Stationer, becomes Lord Mayor of London.
1732 (Dec. 7) Theatre Royal, Covent Garden openes in Covent Garden .
At its opening, John Rich, actor-manager of the Duke's Company, who had commissioned the building of the theater, is carried by his actors in processional triumph into the theatre for its opening production of William Congreve's The Way of the World.
1731 The London Merchant opens, one of the most popular plays of the century in London It was playwright George Lillo's most famous work. A tragedy that follows the downfall of a young apprentice due to his association with a prostitute, it is remarkable for its use of middle and working class characters. First performed at the Drury Lane Theatre on June 21, 1731, The London Merchant became one of the most popular plays of the century.
1731 The London Coffee House opens on Ludgate Hill. It is later frequented by Joseph Priestley and Benjamin Franklin.
1731 (Jan) The Gentleman's Magazine is founded in London by Edward Cave. It runs uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It iss the first to use the term magazine (from the French magazine, meaning "storehouse") for a periodical. Samuel Johnson's first regular employment as a writer for the magazine.
1731 Britain and Austria conclude an alliance to limit French power in Europe.
1728 John Rich, actor-manager of the Duke's Company at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, commissions The Beggar's Opera from John Gay. The success of this venture provides him with the capital to build the Theatre Royal, designed by Edward Shepherd, at the site of an ancient convent garden (Covent Garden).
1727 (Jun. 22) George II (age 43), son of George I (Hanover), becomes king of England upon the death of his father.
1725 First visit of Benjamin Franklin to London.
"Franklin’s first visit to England was in 1725 where he expanded his knowledge of the printing trade. The area where he took up residence, Little Britain, was a great centre for printers and booksellers, and a lively hub of political and religious debate – founder of the Methodist church John Wesley regularly preached nearby.
Franklin returned to America the next year, where he set up his own printing business, publishing one of America’s first high-circulation newspapers, the Pennsylvania Gazette, as well as Poor Richard's Almanack, a series of homespun wisdom, still widely quoted today, which he published in 1733 through 1758. (source)
1723 Revival of As You Like It on Drury Lane.
"A revival of sorts took place at Drury Lane in 1723, but in the kind of altered form that was the fate of many a Shakespearean play in the Restoration and eighteenth century. Charles Johnson's adaptation, called Love in a Forest, borrowed the play-within-the-play of "Pyramus and Thisbe" from Midsummer in order to provide entertainment for Duke Senior and his forest mates. Some lines imported from the first act of Richard II added intensity to the confrontation of Orlando and the wrestler Charles, who was now transformed into "the fencer Charles" so that refined eighteenth-century audiences could enjoy a rapier duel in place of the inelegant and lower-class wrestling match. Colley Cibber, the lead actor, made sure that his role of Jaques was sufficiently central by arrogating the passage about the sobbing deer to himself rather than to the First Lord in 2.1. This Jaques proceeded to fall in love with Celia, wooing her with some witty remarks taken from Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. The love tribulations of Silvius and Phoebe and of William and Audrey, along with the antics of Sir Oliver Martext and Corin, disappeared to make room for the added material. Virtue triumphed: Charles confessed that he had been suborned by Orlando's brother Oliver to accuse Orlando of treason, whereupon Oliver died the instructive death of a stage villain." (source)
1722 Lord Mayor of London issues decree to relieve severe congestion on London Bridge: "all carts, coaches and other carriages coming out of Southwark into this City do keep all along the west side of the said bridge: and all carts and coaches going out of the City do keep along the east side of the said bridge." This has been suggested as one possible origin for the practice of traffic in Britain driving on the left."
1721 Robert Walpole (born 1676) becomes first de facto Prime Minister of Great Britain, assuming the titles of .First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader of the House of Commons
Speck says that Walpole's uninterrupted run of 20 years as Prime Minister "is rightly regarded as one of the major feats of British political history.... Explanations are usually offered in terms of his expert handling of the political system after 1720, [and] his unique blending of the surviving powers of the crown with the increasing influence of the House of Commons."1720 (summer) Collapse of the share prices of the South Seas Company (South Seas Bubble)
In Great Britain, a considerable number of people were ruined by the share collapse, and the national economy greatly reduced as a result. The founders of the scheme engaged in insider trading, using their advance knowledge of when national debt was to be consolidated to make large profits from purchasing debt in advance. Huge bribes were given to politicians to support the Acts of Parliament necessary for the scheme.
1720 (Dec. 29) Haymarket Theatre opens in the West End, on a site slightly north of its current location.
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1719 Robinson Crusoe published by Daniel Defoe.
The book was published on 25 April 1719. Before the end of the year, this first volume had run through four editions. By the end of the 19th century, no book in the history of Western literature had more editions, spin-offs and translations (even into languages such as Inuktitut, Coptic and Maltese) than Robinson Crusoe, with more than 700 such alternative versions, including children's versions with mainly pictures and no text.
The term "Robinsonade" was coined to describe the genre of stories similar to Robinson Crusoe.
1718 Edition of John Playford's The Dancing Master is published with a tune for "London Bridge is Falling Down" with lyrics (melody differs from contemporary version).
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| (source) Georg Frideric Handel (left) and King George I on the Thames River, 17 July 1717. Painting by Edouard Hamman (1819–88). |
1717 (Jul. 17) Premiere of the Water Music by Handel, composed in response to King George I's request for a concert on the River Thames.
The first performance of the Water Music suites is recorded in the The Daily Courant, the first British daily newspaper. At about 8 p.m. on Wednesday, 17 July 1717, King George I and several aristocrats boarded a royal barge at Whitehall Palace, for an excursion up the Thames toward Chelsea. The rising tide propelled the barge upstream without rowing. Another barge, provided by the City of London, contained about 50 musicians who performed Handel's music. Many other Londoners also took to the river to hear the concert. According to The Courant, "the whole River in a manner was covered" with boats and barges. On arriving at Chelsea, the king left his barge, then returned to it at about 11 p.m. for the return trip. The king was so pleased with the Water Music that he ordered it to be repeated at least three times, both on the trip upstream to Chelsea and on the return, until he landed again at Whitehall.1715 First running of the Doggett's Coat and Badge, a rowing race on the Thames, which is the oldest continuously run race in the world.
Originally, it was raced every August 1 against the outgoing (falling or ebb) tide, in the boats used by watermen to ferry passengers across the Thames.1714 George Louis, Elector of Hanover and son of Sophie, ascends the throne of Great Britain as George I on the death of Anne.
"Following the Act of Settlement 1701 which prohibited Catholics from inheriting the British throne, George ascended the throne as Anne's closest living Protestant relative. In reaction, Jacobites attempted to depose George and replace him with Anne's Catholic half-brother, but their attempts failed."
"During George's reign, the powers of the monarchy diminished and Britain began a transition to the modern system of cabinet government led by a prime minister."1711 Parliament creates the South Seas Company, joint-stock company, as means to pay off the national debt.
All holders of the national debt would be required to surrender it to a new company, the South Sea Company, which in return would issue shares to the same amount.
The company was also granted a monopoly to trade with South America, hence its name. At the time it was created, however, Britain was involved in the War of the Spanish Succession and Spain controlled South America. There was no realistic prospect that trade would take place and the company never realised any significant profit from its monopoly.
Nevertheless, company stock rose greatly in value from its flotation price as it expanded its operations dealing in government debt. Harley was rewarded for the scheme by being created Earl of Oxford.1710 Sir Richard Grosvenor obtains a licence to develop Grosvenor Square and the surrounding streets in Mayfair. Development is believed to have commenced in around 1721. Grosvenor Square comes one of the three or four most fashionable residential addresses in London from its construction until the Second World War, with numerous leading members of the aristocracy in residence.
1710 Investigation of the national debt by a commission headed by Robert Harley , Chancellor of the Exchequer, reveals the government owes the shocking sum of £9,000,000, without any allocated income to pay it off.
The government at this time had become reliant on the Bank of England, a privately owned company, chartered 16 years previously, which had obtained a monopoly as the lender to Westminster, in return for arranging and managing loans to the government. The government had become dissatisfied with the service it was receiving and Harley was actively seeking new ways to improve the national finances
1710 British Parliament passes its first copyright law, the Copyright Act 1709, further weakening the monopoly of the Stationer's Company.
1708 (Oct. 28) Topping out of the cathedral dome at St. Paul's, performed by Wren's son Christopher Jr and the son of one of the masons. Cathedral is declared complete in 1711.
1707 Parliaments of England Scotland agree upon an Act of Union which the kingdoms into a single political entity, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and established the rules of succession as laid down
1703 Buckingham House, townhouse retreat in Westminster, is constructed for the Duke of Buckingham.
1702 (Mar. 11) Initial publication of The Daily Courant, the first British daily newspaper. It is produced by Elizabeth Mallet at her premises next to the King's Arms tavern at Fleet Bridge in London. It lasts until 1735, when it was merged with the Daily Gazetteer. .
The newspaper consisted of a single page, with advertisements on the reverse side. Mallet advertised that she intended to publish only foreign news and would not add any comments of her own, supposing her readers to have "sense enough to make reflections for themselves."
Mallet soon sold The Daily Courant to Samuel Buckley, who moved it to premises in the area of Little Britain in London, at "the sign of the Dolphin". Buckley later became the publisher of The Spectator.
1702 Death of William III. Crown reverts to Anne, who leads a political offensive against the Nonconformists.
Daniel Defoe was a natural target, and his pamphleteering and political activities resulted in his arrest and placement in a pillory on 31 July 1703, principally on account of his pamphlet entitled The Shortest-Way with the Dissenters; Or, Proposals for the Establishment of the Church, purporting to argue for their extermination. In it, he ruthlessly satirised both the High church Tories and those Dissenters who hypocritically practised so-called "occasional conformity"
1701 English Parliament passes Act of Settlement 1701, prohibiting Catholics from inheriting the British throne. The Act makes Sophia, Electress of Hanover, a granddaughter of King James I, the heiress presumptive to the throne of England after the current Queen Anne.
"Although over fifty Roman Catholics bore closer blood relationships to Anne, the Act of Settlement 1701 prohibited Catholics from inheriting the British throne."
1698 Jonathan's Coffee-House on Exchange Alley, founded in 1680, becomes the de facto origin of the London Stock Exhcange.
The coffee house was used by John Castaing to post the prices of stocks and commodities, the first evidence of systematic exchange of securities in London. That year, other dealers expelled from the Royal Exchange for rowdiness migrated to Jonathan's (along with Garraway's Coffee-House).
1695 The monopoly of the Stationer's Company is diminished.
1694 Royal Charter granted to the Bank of England. Headquarters opens soon after on Threadneedle Street in the City of London.
1688 Edward Lloyd begins offering marine insurance at his coffee house on Tower Street.
"This establishment was a popular place for sailors, merchants, and ship-owners, and Lloyd catered to them with reliable shipping news. The coffee house soon became recognised as an ideal place for obtaining marine insurance. The shop was also frequented by mariners involved in the slave trade. Historian Eric Williams notes: "Lloyd's, like other insurance companies, insured slaves and slave ships, and was vitally interested in legal decisions as to what constituted 'natural death' and 'perils of the sea'." Lloyd's obtained a monopoly on maritime insurance related to the slave trade and maintained it up through the early 19th century."1688 Glorious Revolution. Privileges of the City of London that were stripped by Charles II are restored by William and Mary. Daniel Defoe becomes one of William's close allies and a secret agent.
1685 Daniel Defoe takes part in the the ill-fated Monmouth Rebellion against James II but gains a pardon, by which he escaped the Bloody Assizes of Judge George Jeffreys.
1684 Daniel Defoe, age 23, marries Mary Tuffley, the daughter of a London merchant.
Defoe entered the world of business as a general merchant, dealing at different times in hosiery, general woollen goods, and wine. His ambitions were great and he was able to buy a country estate and a ship (as well as civets to make perfume), though he was rarely out of debt. In 1684, Defoe married Mary Tuffley, the daughter of a London merchant, receiving a dowry of £3,700 – a huge amount by the standards of the day. With his debts and political difficulties, the marriage may have been troubled, but it lasted 50 years and produced eight children.
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During the Great Frost of 1683–84, the worst frost recorded in England the Thames was completely frozen for two months, with the ice reaching a thickness of 11 inches (28 cm) in London. Solid ice was reported extending for miles off the coasts of the southern North Sea (England, France and the Low Countries), causing severe problems for shipping and preventing the use of many harbours. Near Manchester, the ground was frozen to 27 inches; in Somerset, to more than four feet. |
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| (source) Account of Frost Fair on the Thames in 1608. |
1683 Privileges of the City of London are stripped by King Charles II in a writ of Quo Warranto.
1683 Sadler's Wells Theatre opened in Islington, north of the London city walls. It operates as a "Musick House", with performances of opera, as it was not licensed for plays.
1680 Jonathan's Coffee-House in Exchange Alley is founded by Jonathan Miles.
1680 The River Fleet, a tributary of the Thames flowing through the City of London, is canalized and converted into the New Canal under the supervision of Robert Hooke.
Newcastle Close and Old Seacoal Lane recall the wharves that used to line this canal, especially used by the coastal coal trade from the North East of England.1676 Sir Thomas Davies, Stationer, becomes Lord Mayor of London, the first recorded individual of this occupation to hold the office.
1674 New theater opens at Drury Lane replacing the original which burned in 1672. It is used for performances for over 120 years before being replaced.
1673 The Stationer's Company offices on Ave Maria Lane open after the rebuilding from the fire. The present interior dates from this time.
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| Final approved design of St. Paul's (source) |
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1669 Christopher Wren is assigned the task of replacing the destroyed structure at St. Paul's.
1667 Paradise Lost by John Milton is published by Samuel Simmons.
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1666 (Sept. 2-5) Great Fire of London. St. Paul's Cathedral, which sits atop Ludgate Hill on the highest point of the City of London, is gutted. The Stationer's Company offices at Abergavenny House in Ave Maria Lane burn down along with books to the value of about £40,000. The existing damage on London Bridge from the 1632 fire acts a fire break, preventing the spread of the fire across the river.
The Great Fire started at the bakery of Thomas Farriner (or Farynor) on Pudding Lane shortly after midnight on Sunday, 2 September and spread rapidly west across the City of London. The major firefighting technique of the time was to create firebreaks by means of demolition; this, however, was critically delayed owing to the indecisiveness of Lord Mayor of London Sir Thomas Bloodworth. By the time that large-scale demolitions were ordered on Sunday night, the wind had already fanned the bakery fire into a firestorm which defeated such measures. The fire pushed north on Monday into the heart of the City. Order in the streets broke down as rumours arose of suspicious foreigners setting fires. The fears of the homeless focused on the French and Dutch, England's enemies in the ongoing Second Anglo-Dutch War; these substantial immigrant groups became victims of lynchings and street violence. On Tuesday, the fire spread over most of the City, destroying St Paul's Cathedral and leaping the River Fleet to threaten Charles II's court at Whitehall, while coordinated firefighting efforts were simultaneously mobilising. The battle to quench the fire is considered to have been won by two factors: the strong east winds died down, and the Tower of London garrison used gunpowder to create effective firebreaks to halt further spread eastward.
The social and economic problems created by the disaster were overwhelming. Evacuation from London and resettlement elsewhere were strongly encouraged by Charles II, who feared a London rebellion amongst the dispossessed refugees. Despite numerous radical proposals, London was reconstructed on essentially the same street plan used before the fire.
1665-1666 Great Plague of London. Kills approximately 100,000 people.
The death toll reached a peak of 7,000 per week in the week of 17 September. Charles II, with his family and court, fled London in July to Salisbury; Parliament met in Oxford. All attempts by London public health officials to contain the disease failed, and the plague spread rapidly.1664 Proposal for new bridge over the Thames at Westminster is defeated by opposition from the City of London Corporation and the Thames boatmen.
1663 (May 7) Opening of Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, the first West End theatre, designed by Thomas Killigrew. It is destroyed by a fire nine years later and replaced by a new structure designed by Christopher Wren and given the renamed Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
1660 Restoration of the monarchy. Charles II becomes king. Two theatre companies receive license to perform: the Duke's Company and the King's Company. Performances were held in converted buildings, such as Lisle's Tennis Court.
1660 (probably) Daniel Defoe (originally Daniel Foe) is born in London, probably in Fore Street in the parish of St. Giles Cripplegate.He later added the aristocratic-sounding "De" to his name, and on occasion claimed descent from the family of De Beau Faux. His father James Foe was a prosperous tallow chandler and a member of the Worshipful Company of Butchers.
1660-1669 Period covered by the diary of Samuel Pepys.
1654 (by) Covent Garden, designed by Inigo Jones, falls into decline.
By 1654 a small open-air fruit-and-vegetable market had developed on the south side of the fashionable square. Gradually, both the market and the surrounding area fell into disrepute, as taverns, theatres, coffee-houses and brothels opened up.By the 18th century it had become a well-known red-light district.
1653 (Dec. 16) Oliver Cromwell sworn in as as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland on with a ceremony in which he wore plain black clothing, rather than any monarchical regalia. By law, he holds the position for life.
1653 The Compleat Angler published by Isaac Walton, "a celebration of the art and spirit of fishing in prose and verse," including descriptions of the River Lea.
1652 Opening of the first coffee-house in London (approximately 29 years after the first one in Vienna, and soon after the first ones in England at Oxford).
The first coffeehouse in London opened in 1652 in St Michael's Alley, Cornhill. The proprietor was Pasqua Rosée, the servant of a trader in Turkish goods named Daniel Edwards, who imported the coffee and assisted Rosée in setting up the establishment in St Michael's Alley, Cornhill
From 1670 to 1685, the number of London coffee-houses began to multiply, and also began to gain political importance due to their popularity as places of debate. By 1675, there were more than 3,000 coffeehouses in England.1649 (Jan 30) Charles I is executed for treason. He spends the last night before his execution at St James's Palace, where he had been confined.
The next day he walked under guard to the Palace of Whitehall, where an execution scaffold was erected in front of the Banqueting House. Charles was separated from spectators by large ranks of soldiers, and his last speech reached only those with him on the scaffold. He blamed his fate on his failure to prevent the execution of his loyal servant Strafford: "An unjust sentence that I suffered to take effect, is punished now by an unjust sentence on me."
The commission refused to allow Charles's burial at Westminster Abbey, so his body was conveyed to Windsor on the night of 7 February.
1648 (Dec. 6) The Rump Parliament is formed, as Colonel Thomas Pride purges the Long Parliament of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason.
1642 Playhouses in the Southwark theatre district are closed by the Puritan government.
1640 Charles I summons Parliament. The session will last until 1660 and become known as the Long Parliament.
1638 Charles I gives St. James Palace to Marie de Medici, the mother of his wife Henrietta Maria. Marie remained in the palace for three years, but the residence of a Catholic former queen of France proved unpopular with parliament and she was soon asked to leave for Cologne.
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Detail of Old London Bridge on the 1632 oil painting "View of London Bridge" by Claude de Jongh |
1630 Appearance of the horse-drawn coach in London. Decline in the use of watermen.
1630 First navigation lock is constructed on the Thames, upstream from London below Oxford.
1623 First Folio published as the first complete collection of the plays by William Shakespeare. Includes the first-ever publication of As You Like It.
The contents of the First Folio were compiled by Heminges and Condell; the members of the Stationers Company who published the book were the booksellers Edward Blount and the father/son team of William and Isaac Jaggard. William Jaggard has seemed an odd choice by the King's Men, since he had published the questionable collection The Passionate Pilgrim as Shakespeare's, and in 1619 had printed new editions of ten Shakespearean quartos to which he did not have clear rights, some with false dates and title pages (the False Folio affair).
The paper industry in England was then in its infancy and the quantity of quality rag paper for the book was imported from France. It is thought that the typesetting and printing of the First Folio was such a large job that the King's Men simply needed the capacities of the Jaggards' shop. William Jaggard was old, infirm and blind by 1623, and died a month before the book went on sale; most of the work in the project must have been done by his son Isaac.
1616 Death of William Shakespeare.
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An engraving by Claes Visscher showing Old London Bridge in 1616, with what is now Southwark Cathedral in the foreground. The spiked heads of executed criminals can be seen above the Southwark gatehouse. "By the Tudor era there were some 200 buildings on the bridge. Some stood up to seven stories high, some overhung the river by seven feet, and some overhung the road, to form a dark tunnel through which all traffic had to pass, including (from 1577) the palatial Nonsuch House. The roadway was just 12 feet ) wide, divided into two lanes, so that in each direction, carts, wagons, coaches and pedestrians shared a passageway six feet wide. When the bridge was congested, crossing it could take up to an hour. Those who could afford the fare might prefer to cross by ferry, but the bridge structure had several undesirable effects on river traffic. The narrow arches and wide pier bases restricted the river's tidal ebb and flow, so that in hard winters, the water upstream of the bridge became more susceptible to freezing and impassable by boat. The flow was further obstructed in the 16th century by waterwheels (designed by Peter Morice) installed under the two north arches to drive water pumps, and under the two south arches to power grain mills; the difference in water levels on the two sides of the bridge could be as much as 6 feet (2 m), producing ferocious rapids between the piers. Only the brave or foolhardy attempted to "shoot the bridge"—steer a boat between the starlings when in flood—and some were drowned in the attempt. The bridge was "for wise men to pass over, and for fools to pass under." |
1611 First printing of the King James Bible.
The original printing of the Authorized Version was published by Robert Barker, the King's Printer, in 1611 as a complete folio Bible. It was sold looseleaf for ten shillings, or bound for twelve. Robert Barker's father, Christopher, had, in 1589, been granted by Elizabeth I the title of royal Printer, with the perpetual Royal Privilege to print Bibles in England, Robert Barker invested very large sums in printing the new edition, and consequently ran into serious debt, such that he was compelled to sub-lease the privilege to two rival London printers, Bonham Norton and John Bill.
1609 Founding of Jamestown.
1606 The Stationer's Company buys Abergavenny House in Ave Maria Lane and moves out of Peter's College.
1605 (Nov) Gunpowder Plot. Failed attempt by disaffected provincial Catholics, including Guy Fawkes and others, to assassinate King James I and other officials by blowing up the House of Lords.
"The plot was revealed to the authorities in an anonymous letter sent to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, on 26 October 1605. During a search of the House of Lords at about midnight on 4 November 1605, Fawkes was discovered guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder—enough to reduce the House of Lords to rubble—and arrested. Most of the conspirators fled from London as they learned of the plot's discovery, trying to enlist support along the way. Several made a stand against the pursuing Sheriff of Worcester and his men at Holbeche House; in the ensuing battle, Catesby was one of those shot and killed. At their trial on 27 January 1606, eight of the survivors, including Fawkes, were convicted and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered."
1603 The Stationers of London form the English Stock, a joint stock publishing company funded by shares held by members of the Company. This profitable business gained many patents of which the richest was for almanacks including Old Moore's Almanack. The business employed out-of-work printers and disbursed some of the profit to the poor.
1603 The Duke of Bedford commissions Inigo Jones to make landscape improvements at Covent Garden. Jones' Italianate design becomes the model for future parks in the city.
1599 First performance of Shakespeare's As You Like It.
1599 The timbers of The Theatre are transported to Southwark, where they are used to construct the Globe Theatre in a new theatre district formed beyond the controls of the City of London corporation
1598 Survey of London by John Stow, historian.
His father, Thomas Stow, was a tallow chandler and John was born circa 1525 in the City parish of St Michael, Cornhill, then at the heart of London's metropolis.
The work for which Stow is best known is his Survey of London published in 1598, which is not only interesting for the quaint simplicity of its style and its amusing descriptions and anecdotes, but of unique value for its detailed account of the buildings, social conditions and customs of London in the time of Queen Elizabeth I. A second edition appeared in his lifetime in 1603, a third with additions by Anthony Munday in 1618, a fourth by Munday and Dyson in 1633, a fifth with interpolated amendments by John Strype in 1720, and a sixth by the same editor in 1754. The edition of 1798 was reprinted, edited by William John Thoms, in 1842, in 1846, and with illustrations in 1876.
1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada. Invasion of Britain thwarted.
1585 First mention of the the Crown Court at Old Bailey. Present structure dates from 1902.
1577 The Curtain theatre opens, built approximately 200 yards south of The Theatre in Shoreditch.
1577 First navigational lock constructed on the River Lea near Waltham Abbey outside London.
1576 First permanent playhouse in London, The Theatre, is constructed by James Burbage just north of the London city walls in Shoreditch.
1571 (Jan. 23) The Royal Exchange, forerunner of London Stock Exchange, opens in the City of London by Queen Elizabeth I, using the model of the Antwerp bourse.
"Only the exchange of goods took place until the 17th century. Stockbrokers were not allowed into the Royal Exchange because of their rude manners, hence they had to operate from other establishments in the vicinity, such as Jonathan's Coffee-House (after 1680). The original building for the Exchange was destroyed in 1666."1559 Elizabeth I is crowned and anointed by Owen Oglethorpe, the Catholic bishop of Carlisle, in Westminster Abbey. She is then presented for the people's acceptance, amidst a deafening noise of organs, fifes, trumpets, drums, and bells.
1557 The Stationer's Company receives a royal charter.
"Printing gradually displaced manuscript production so that, by the time the Guild received a Royal Charter of Incorporation on 4 May 1557, it had in effect become a Printers' Guild. In 1559, it became the 47th in City Livery Company precedence. At the time, it was based at Peter's College, which it bought from St Paul's Cathedral. During the Tudor and Stuart periods, the Stationers were legally empowered to seize "offending books" that violated the standards of content set down by the Church and State; its officers could bring "offenders" before ecclesiastical authorities, usually the Bishop of London or the Archbishop of Canterbury depending on the severity of the transgression. Thus the Stationers played an important role in the culture of England as it evolved through the intensely turbulent decades of the Protestant Reformation and toward the English Civil War."
The Stationers' Charter, which codified its monopoly on book production, ensured that once a member had asserted ownership of a text (or "copy") no other member was entitled to publish it. This is the origin of the term "copyright". Members asserted such ownership by entering it in the "entry book of copies" or the Stationers' Company Register. The Register of the Stationers' Company became one of the most essential documentary records in the later study of English Renaissance theatre. (In 1606 the Master of the Revels, who was responsible for licensing the performance of plays rather than their publication, acquired some overlapping authority over publication as well; but the Stationers' Register remained a crucial and authoritative source of information after that date too.) To be sure, enforcement of the rules was always a challenge, in this area as in other aspects of the Tudor/Stuart regime; and plays and other works were sometimes printed surreptitiously and illegally.1549 Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset begins construction of the first Somerset House along the Strand. After Seymour's execution at the Tower of London in 552, the property becomes property of the Crown. It is later used as a residence for Elizabeth I in London during the reign of her sister Mary.
1548 The shrine of Thomas Becket on London Bridge is dissolved as a place of worship and soon afterwards converted to secular use. The building is later used a dwelling and warehouse.
1540s Henry VIII seizes part of the Convent Garden ("Covent Garden") of Westminster Abbey and grants it to the Duke of Bedford.
1536 (May 19) Anne Boleyn is executed in the Tower of London.
1536 Henry VIII orders the dissolution of the monasteries in England, a process which lasts for the rest of his reign.
1534 Henry VIII acquires York Place from Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a powerful minister who had lost the King's favour. He renames it the Palace of Whitehall, and uses it as his principal residence.
1531 Construction begins on St. James's Palace in Westminster, commissioned by Henry VIII. It is finished give years laer in 1536.
1515 City of London Aldermen settle the order of preference between the 48 existing liveries (guilds), based on those companies' contemporary economic or political power.
1512 Fire destroys the royal residence at the Palace of Westminster.
1510 Henry VIII grants licenses to watermen on the Thames for exclusive rights to carry passengers on the river. A later Act of Parliament in 1555 formalized the trade of watermen by setting up a company to govern tariffs and reduce accidents. The new company had jurisdiction over all watermen plying between Windsor (in Berkshire) and Gravesend (in Kent).
1497 John Cabot (born Giovanni Caboto in Genoa, Italy) sails from Bristol under the commission of King Henry VII of England. He explores the coast of mainland North America, becoming the first known European captain to do so since the Vikings.
Cabot's first voyage was little recorded. A winter 1497/98 letter from John Day (a Bristol merchant) to an addressee believed to be Christopher Columbus refers briefly to it, "Since your Lordship wants information relating to the first voyage, here is what happened: he went with one ship, his crew confused him, he was short of supplies and ran into bad weather, and he decided to turn back."Since Cabot received his royal patent in March 1496, it is believed that he made his first voyage that summer.
On return to Bristol, Cabot rode to London to report to the King. On 10 August 1497, he was given a reward of £10 – equivalent to about two years' pay for an ordinary labourer or craftsman. The explorer was feted; Soncino wrote on 23 August that Cabot "is called the Great Admiral [note: as Christopher Columbus had been] and vast honour is paid to him and he goes dressed in silk, and these English run after him like mad". Such adulation was short-lived, for over the next few months the King's attention was occupied by the Second Cornish Uprising of 1497, led by Perkin Warbeck.
King Henry VII continued to support exploration from Bristol. The king granted Hugh Eliot, Robert Thorne and his son a bounty of ₤20 in January 1502 for purchasing the Gabriel, a ship for an expedition voyage that summer. Later in 1502 or early 1503 he paid Eliot a reward of ₤100 for a voyage, or voyages, in "2 ships to the Isle of new finding," as Newfoundland was called. This amount was larger than any previously accounted for in royal support of the explorations.1483 (Jun 22) War of the Roses. A sermon at Old St. Paul's Cathedral declares Richard of York the rightful king of England, following death of Edward IV. The citizens of London draw up a petition in his favor over Edward's sons. Richard is crowned king as Richard III at Westminster Abbey on July 6.
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1476 The first printing press in England is introduced by William Caxton, who sets up a press in Westminster. The first book known to have been produced there was an edition of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.
1473 The first book printed in the English language (Recueil des Histoires de Troye) by William Caxton, English printer, in Bruges
1440 Covering of the Walbrook, the short stream bisecting the City of London, begins by order of the Lord Mayor. By the 1560s, it is completely covered over.
The brook had played a very important role in the Roman settlement of Londinium, the city now known as London. The stream started in what is now Finsbury and flowed through the centre of the walled city, bringing a supply of fresh water whilst carrying waste away to the River Thames. Effectively dividing the settlement in two, it emerged just to the west of the present-day Cannon Street Railway Bridge. During Roman times it was also used for transport, with the limit of navigation some 200m from the Thames, at a point now known as Bucklersbury building. It was there the Romans built a port and temple to Mithras on the east bank of the stream.
John Stow, the historian of London, wrote about the Walbrook in 1598, saying that the watercourse, having several bridges, was afterwards vaulted over with brick and paved level with the streets and lanes where it passed and that houses had been built so that the stream was hidden as it is now
1403 The Stationer's Company (Guild of Stationers) is formed in London.
"In 1403, the Corporation of London approved the formation of a Guild of Stationers. At this time, stationers were either text writers, lymners (illuminators), bookbinders or booksellers who worked at a fixed location (stationarius) beside the walls of St Paul's Cathedral. Booksellers sold manuscript books, or copies thereof produced by their respective firms for retail; they also sold writing materials. Illuminators illustrated and decorated manuscripts."
1386 Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer. "The Father of English literature."
1385 Prior service as City Sheriff is added as a requirement to serve as Lord Mayor of London.
1381 (Jun 13) Peasant's Revolt across England under Wat Tyler. The rebels enter London and break into the Tower of London.
1354 Mayor of the City of London is granted the title "Lord Mayor" by King Edward III.
1350 King Edward III signs Act of Parliament prohibiting obstruction of the River Thames.
Structures had been built out into the river for fishing and milling purposes making the river unnavigable and an unregulated chaotic mix of boats.1347 Arrival of the Black Death to London, killing approximately 60% of the population in the next few years.
Geoffrey the Baker, Chronicon Anglia"The seventh year after it began, it came to England and first began in the towns and ports joining on the seacoasts, in Dorsetshire, where, as in other counties, it made the country quite void of inhabitants so that there were almost none left alive.
... But at length it came to Gloucester, yea even to Oxford and to London, and finally it spread over all England and so wasted the people that scarce the tenth person of any sort was left alive."
1305 William Wallace, Scottish rebel is executed and his head is placed on London Bridge (the first known example of this display).
1295 The Model Parliament, the first official Parliament of England, convenes at the Palace of Westminster.
1284 The City of London Corporation acquires charter for the maintenance of London Bridge (Bridge House Estates).
1275 Beginning of the proceedings of the Courts of Common Council and Aldermen in the City of London.
1245 Construction of the present structure at Westminster Abbey begins, under Henry III
1221 Arrival of the first Dominican friars (Blackfriars) to London.
1220 Construction begins on Southwark Priory (later known as Southward Cathedral). Completed 1440.
1215 Magna Carta is signed by King John. granting right of City of London to elect its own mayor
1209 Marble arch version of London Bridge is completed after thirty-three years of construction.
1197 King Richard I sells the Crown rights over the River Thames to the City of London Corporation, which attempts to issue licensing to boats on the river.
1189 City of London acquires right to have its own mayor, appointed by the sovereign. First holder of the office is Henry Fitz-Ailwin de Londonestone.
1185 Consecration of the Round Church (Temple Church), as the headquarters of the Knights Templar in the City of London.
1176 Construction begins on the new marble-arch London Bridge and the Chapel of St Thomas on the Bridge.
1170 (Dec. 29) Murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Canterbury Catheral, on the orders of King Henry II. The penitent king later commissions a new stone bridge across the Thames in place of the old, with a chapel at its center dedicated to Becket as a martyr.
1163 Construction of the last wooden version of London Bridge.
1138 Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), completed by Geoffrey of Monmouth. This pseudo-historical work is the source of much of the material for Arthurian legends.
This work is an imaginative and fanciful account of British kings from the legendary Trojan exile Brutus to the 7th-century Welsh king Cadwallader. Geoffrey places Arthur in the same post-Roman period as do Historia Brittonum and Annales Cambriae
1090 St. Peter's Abbey at Westminster is completed.
"The only extant depiction of Edward's abbey, together with the adjacent Palace of Westminster, is in the Bayeux Tapestry."1078 The White Tower (oldest part of the Tower of London) is constructed by William I. "It was a resented symbol of oppression, inflicted upon London by the new [Norman] ruling elite." The first prisoner is kept there in 1100.
The Tower was oriented with its strongest and most impressive defences overlooking Saxon London, which archaeologist Alan Vince suggests was deliberate. It would have visually dominated the surrounding area and stood out to traffic on the River Thames. The White Tower is a keep (also known as a donjon), which was often the strongest structure in a medieval castle, and contained lodgings suitable for the lord – in this case the king or his representative. According to military historian Allen Brown, "The great tower [White Tower] was also, by virtue of its strength, majesty and lordly accommodation, the donjon par excellence."
1067 First recorded royal charter of the City of London. William I, in the first year of his reign, grants the citizens of London a charter confirming the rights and privileges that they had enjoyed since the time of Edward the Confessor. Numerous subsequent Royal Charters over the centuries confirm and extend the citizens' rights
1066 (Oct) Norman conquest of England. William of Normandy invades England, defeating Anglo-Saxon king Harald II at Hastings. He is crowned William I of England at St. Peter's Abbey in Westminster on Dec. 25.
1065 (Dec. 28) Consecration of th new (unfinished) St. Peter's Abbey. Edward the Confessor dies one week later, on Jan. 3, 1066.
"Edward was buried in the church, and nine years later his wife Edith was buried alongside him. His successor, Harold II, was probably crowned in the abbey, although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later the same year.
1042 King Edward the Confessor begins the building of a new St. Peter's Abbey in Westminster "to provide himself with a royal burial church." It is the first church in England built in the Romanesque style.
1016 to 1035 Reign of Canute the Great. Probable first use of the site of the Palace of Westminster as a royal residence.
1013 London undergoes a long Danish siege. King Æthelred is forced to flee abroad. He later returns with Norwegian king Olaf and reclaims the city from Danes, who defend the city from London Bridge, which is destroyed in the battle.
According to the saga, the Danes lined London Bridge and showered the attackers with spears. Undaunted, the Anglo-Saxon attackers pulled the roofs off nearby houses and held them over their heads in the boats. Thus protected, they were able to get close enough to the bridge to attach ropes to the piers and pull the bridge down, defeat the Vikings and ending the occupation of London. There is some speculation that the nursery rhyme "London Bridge is Falling Down" stems from this inciden
1002 First record of The Strand (strondway), the main thoroughfare along the north bank of the Thames linking London and Westminster.
994 Danes make unsuccessful attack on London.
978 London emerges de facto Anglo-Saxon capital of England as King Æthelred the Unready begins to favor the city issues his Laws of London from there.
960 Founding of Westminster Abbey (as St. Peter's Abbey) on Thorney Island, an eyot on the Thames near the natural ford at Westminster. Saint Dunstan, assisted by King Edgar, installs a community of Benedictine monks there,
900 AD (circa) London emerging as an important commercial centre, although the political centre of England remains at Winchester.
886 AD Anglo-Saxon rule restored in London under Alfred the Great, who makes peace with the Danes, establishing the River Lea as the boundary between their two domains. Lundenwic is abandoned and the settlement of London moves back into the renovated Roman city walls.
The old Roman walls were repaired and the defensive ditch was re-cut. These changes effectively marked the beginning of the present City of London, the boundaries of which are still to some extent defined by its ancient city walls.871 AD Viking invaders arrive at Londinium.
In 865, the Viking Great Heathen Army launched a large scale invasion of the small kingdom of East Anglia. They overran East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria and came close to controlling most of Anglo-Saxon England. By 871 they had reached London and they are believed to have camped within the old Roman walls during the winter of that year. Although it is unclear what happened during this time, London may have come under Viking control for a period.851 AD Viking raiding party of 350 ships arrives to plunder London.
842 AD Viking attack on London, described as "the Great Slaughter."
675 AD Founding of All Hallows-by-the-Tower Church in London on Tower Hill. Present structure contains fragments from this era, including an Anglo-Saxon arch with recycled Roman tiles that is the oldest surviving piece of church fabric in the city.
655 AD Christianization of most of Anglo-Saxon England by this time.
After 655, only Sussex and the Isle of Wight remained openly pagan, although Wessex and Essex would later crown pagan kings. In 686 Arwald, the last openly pagan king was slain in battle and from this point on all Anglo-Saxon kings were at least nominally Christian (although there is some confusion about the religion of Caedwalla who ruled Wessex until 688).604 AD London receives first post-Roman bishop, Mellitus. Founding of St. Pauls's Cathedral.
601 AD Æthelberht of Kent becomes the first Anglo-Saxon king to accept baptism.
600 AD (circa) Appearance of Lundenwic, an Anglo-Saxon trading settlement along the Thames approximately one mile west of the abandoned Roman fort at Londinium (
The early Anglo-Saxon settlement in the London area was not on the site of the abandoned Roman city, although the Roman London Wall remained intact. Instead, by the 7th century a village and trading centre named Lundenwic was established approximately 1 mile to the west of Londinium (named Lundenburh, or 'London Fort', by the Anglo-Saxons), probably using the mouth of the River Fleet as a trading ship and fishing boat harbour. In the early 8th century, Lundenwic was described by the Venerable Bede as "a trading centre for many nations who visit it by land and sea."595 AD Pope Gregory the Great appoints Augustine, a Benedictine monk, as missionary to restore Christianity to Britain. Augustine becomes the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 597.
500 AD (by) Roman Londinium largely abandoned by this date following invasion by Angles and Saxons into Britain.
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| End of Roman Rule in Britain up to 410 AD (source) |
Roman Emperor Honorius replied to a request by the Romano-Britons for assistance with the Rescript of Honorius, telling the Roman cities to see to their own defence, a tacit acceptance of temporary British self-government. Honorius was fighting a large-scale war in Italy against the Visigoths under their leader Alaric, with Rome itself under siege.
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| Romano-British Londinium (source)
A general outline of Roman London in late antiquity, with the modern banks of the Thames. Discovered roads drawn as double lines; conjectural roads, single lines. |
255 AD In response to Saxon raids, the Romans build a riverside wall at Londinium, .
180 to 225 AD Romans build a defensive wall around Londinium.
The wall would survive for another 1,600 years and define the City of London's perimeters for centuries to come. The perimeters of the present City are roughly defined by the line of the ancient wall. Six of the traditional seven city gates of London are of Roman origin, namely: Ludgate, Newgate, Aldersgate, Cripplegate, Bishopsgate and Aldgate (Moorgate is the exception, being of medieval origin).
122 AD Roman Emperor Hadrian visits Londinium, which is at its height. The city's forum and basilica are the largest north of the Alps. Within fifty years, however, Londinium begins to shrink in both size and population.
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70 AD The Romans construct a 56-mi road (later called Stane Street) linking their settlement at Chichester to their bridge across the Thames at Londinium. The first permanent wooden bridge dates from around this time.
"By the turn of the century, Londinium had grown to about 60,000 people, almost certainly replacing Camulodunum (Colchester) as the provincial capita."
60/61 AD At Londinium, the rebellion of the Iceni Britons under Queen Boudica forces the Roman garrison to abandon the settlement, which is then burnt to the ground. The rebellious Britons are later defeated at the Battle of Watling Street, andthe settlement at Londinium is reconstructed.
"It is said that the Roman Emperor Nero was so shaken by these events that he considered withdrawing from Britain altogether, but with the revolt brought to a decisive end, the occupation of Britain continued."
43 AD Roman conquest of Britain under Claudius. Romans soon begin paving Watling Street. At the crossing of the River Thames, they shift the route of the road slightly downstream from the Celtic ford to accommodate a pontoon bridge they construct---the first London Bridge, around 50 AD. On the north side of the bridge, and protected by a Roman garrison, a new Romano-British settlement begins to grow---Londinium.
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By this era, an ancient path across Britain, later known as Watling Street, is in use by the Celtic Britons as a route from the ports on the English channel to interior of the island. The path crosses the River Thames at a natural ford near present Westminster.55 and 54 BC Julius Caesar, Roman praetor of Gaul, attempts two invasions of Britain, the first such incursions by any Roman force.
The first invasion, in late summer 55, was unsuccessful: gaining the Romans little else besides a beachhead on the coast of Kent. The second invasion achieved more: the Romans installed a king, Mandubracius, who was friendly to Rome, and they forced the submission of Mandubracius's rival, Cassivellaunus. No territory was conquered and held for Rome; instead, all Roman-occupied territory was restored to the allied Trinovantes, along with the promised tribute of the other tribes in what is now eastern England.
"it may be said that [Caesar] revealed, rather than bequeathed, Britain to Rome" (Tacitus)
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