the condition of the citizens, and in their power and riches. Now follow
the enumeration of such benefits as redound to the prince and this realm
by this city: in which doing I profess not to rehearse all, but only to
recite and run over the chief and principal of them.
Besides the commodities of the furtherance of religion and justice,
the propagation of learning, the maintenance of arts, the increase of
riches, and the defence of countries (all which are before showed to
grow generally by cities, and be common to London with them), London
bringeth singularly these good things following.
By advantage of the situation it disperseth foreign wares (as the
stomach doth meat) to all the members most commodiously.
By the benefit of the river of Thames, and great trade of merchandise,
it is the chief maker of mariners, and nurse of our navy; and ships (as
men know) be the wooden walls for defence of our realm.
It maintaineth in flourishing estate the countries of Norfolk, Suffolk,
Essex, Kent, and Sussex, which as they lie in the face of our most
puissant neighbour, so ought they above others to be conserved in the
greatest strength and riches; and these, as it is well known, stand not
so much by the benefit of their own soil, as by the neighbourhood and
nearness which they have to London.
It relieveth plentifully, and with good policy, not only her own poor
people, a thing which scarcely any other town or shire doth, but also
the poor that from each quarter of the realm do flock unto it, and it
imparteth liberally to the necessity of the universities besides. It is
an ornament to the realm by the beauty thereof, and a terror to other
countries, by reason of the great wealth and frequency. It spreadeth the
honour of our country far abroad by her long navigations, and maketh our
power feared, even of barbarous princes. It only is stored with rich
merchants, which sort only is tolerable; for beggarly merchants do bite
too near, and will do more harm than good to the realm.
It only of any place in this realm is able to furnish the sudden
necessity with a strong army. It availeth the prince in tronage,
poundage, and other her customs, much more than all the rest of the
realm.
It yieldeth a greater subsidy than any one part of the realm; I mean
not for the proportion of the value of the goods only, but also for the
faithful service there used, in making the assess, for no where else
be men taxed so near to their just value as in London; yea, many are
found there, that for their countenance and credit sake, refuse not to
be rated above their ability, which thing never happeneth abroad in the
country. I omit that in ancient time the inhabitants of London and other
cities were accustomably taxed after the tenth of their goods, when the
country was assessed at the fifteenth, and rated at the eighth; when the
country was set at the twelfth, for that were to awake a sleeping dog;
and I should be thought “_dicenda, tacenda, locutus_,” as the poet said.
It only doth and is able to make the prince a ready present or loan of
money.
It only is found fit and able to entertain strangers honourably, and to
receive the prince of the realm worthily.
Almighty God (_qui nisi custodiat civitatem, frustrà vigilat custos_)
grant that her majesty evermore rightly esteem and rule this city; and
he give grace, that the citizens may answer duty, as well towards God
and her majesty, as towards this whole realm and country. Amen.
AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING THE EXAMINATION OF SUCH CAUSES AS HAVE
HERETOFORE MOVED THE PRINCES EITHER TO FINE AND RANSOM THE CITIZENS OF
LONDON, OR TO SEIZE THE LIBERTIES OF THE CITY ITSELF.
These all may be reduced to these few heads; for either the citizens
have adhered, in aid or arms, to such as have warred upon the prince, or
they have made tumult, and broken the common peace at home; or they have
misbehaved themselves in point of government and justice; or finally,
and to speak the plain truth, the princes have taken hold of small
matters, and coined good sums of money out of them.
To the first head I will refer whatsoever they have done, either in
those wars that happened between King Stephen and Maude the empress,
being competitors of the crown, or between King John and his nobles,
assisting Lewis, the French king’s son, when he invaded the realm; for
it is apparent by all histories that the Londoners were not the movers
of these wars, but were only used as instruments to maintain them. The
like is to be said of all the offences that King Henry III., whose whole
reign was a continual warfare, conceived against this city, concerning
the bearing of armour against him; for the first part of his reign was
spent in the continuation of those wars that his father had begun with
Lewis; and the rest of his life he bestowed in that contention, which
was commonly called the Barons’ wars: in which tragedy London, as it
could not be otherwise, had now and then a part, and had many a snub
at the king’s hand for it: but in the end, when he had triumphed over
Simon Montford at Evesham, London felt it most tragical; for then he
both seized their liberties and sucked themselves dry; and yet Edictum
Kenilworth, made shortly after, hath an honourable testimony for London,
saying, “_Te London laudamus_,” etc. As for the other offences that
he took against the Londoners, they pertain to the other parts of my
division.
Next after this, against whom the Londoners did put on arms, followeth
King Edward II., who in the end was deprived of his kingdom, not by
their means, but by a general defection both of his own wife and son,
and almost of the whole nobility and realm besides. In which trouble,
that furious assault and slaughter committed by them upon the bishop of
Excester, then treasurer of the realm, is to be imputed partly to the
sway of the time wherewith they were carried, and partly to a private
displeasure which they had to the bishop.
Finally cometh to hand King Richard II.; for these three only, in all
the catalogue of our kings, have been heavy lords to London, who also
had much contention with his nobility, and was in the end deposed. But
whatsoever countenance and aid the city of London brought to the wars
and uproars of that time, it is notoriously true that London never led
the dance, but ever followed the pipe of the nobility. To close up this
first part, therefore, I affirm, that in all the troublesome actions
during the reign of these three kings, as also in all that heaving in
and hurling out that afterward happened between King Henry VI. and King
Edward IV., the city of London was many times a friend and fautor, but
never the first motive or author of any intestine war or sedition.
In the second room I place a couple of tumultuous affrays that chanced
in the days of King Richard I.; the one upon the day of his coronation
against the Jews, which, contrary to the king’s own proclamation, would
needs enter the church to see him sacred, and were therefore cruelly
handled by the common people. The other was caused by William with the
long beard, who after that he had inflamed the poor people against the
richer sort, and was called to answer for his fault, took Bow church for
sanctuary, and kept it, castle-like, till he was fired out.
Here is place also for the stoning to death of a gentleman, servant
to the half-brother of King Henry III., which had before provoked the
citizens to fury by wounding divers of them without any cause, 1257;
for the riotous fray between the servants of the goldsmiths and the
tailors, 1268; for the hurly burly and bloodshed between the Londoners
and the men of Westminster, moved by the young men upon an occasion of
a wrestling on St. James’ day, 1221; and made worse by one Constantine,
an ancient citizen, for the brawl and business that arose about a
baker’s loaf at Salisbury place, 1391; for the which, and some other
misdemeanours, King Richard II. was so incensed by evil counsel against
the Londoners, that he determined to destroy them and raze their city:
and for the fight that was between the citizens and sanctuary men of St.
Martin’s, 1454, under King Henry VI.: and finally, for the misrule on
evil May-day 1519, and for such other like, if there have been any.
To the third head may be referred the seizure of their liberties, for
a false judgment given against a poor widow, called Margaret Viel,
1246; the two several seizures in one year, 1258, for false packing in
collections of money and other enormities; and finally the seizure made
by King Edward I. for taking of bribes of the bakers, 1285. But all this
security in seizing and resuming of the liberties, which was in old time
the only ordinary punishment, was at length mitigated by King Edward
III. and King Henry IV., in their statutes before remembered.
In the last place stand those offences, which I repute rather taken
than given, and do fall within the measure of the adage, “_Ut canem
cædas, cito invenias baculum_:” for King John, in the 10th of his reign,
deposed the bailiffs of London, because they had bought up the wheat in
the market, so that there was not to serve his purveyors. King Henry
III., his son, compelled the Londoners to pay him five thousand pounds,
because they had lent to Lewis, the French king, the like sum, of a good
mind to dispatch him out of their city and the realm, at such time as
the protector and the whole nobility fell to composition with him for
his departure. And the same king fined them at three thousand marks for
the escape of a prisoner out of Newgate, of whom they took no charge;
for he was a clerk, prisoner to the bishop of London, under the custody
of his own servants; and as for the place, it was only borrowed of the
Londoners to serve that turn. Hitherto of these things to this end, that
whatsoever misdemeanour shall be objected out of history against London,
the same may herein appear, both in its true place and proper colour.
FITZSTEPHEN’S DESCRIPTION OF LONDON
OF THE SITUATION OF THE SAME
Amongst the noble and celebrated cities of the world, that of London,
the capital of the kingdom of England, is one of the most renowned,
possessing above all others abundant wealth, extensive commerce, great
grandeur and magnificence. It is happy in the salubrity of its climate,
in the profession of the Christian religion, in the strength of its
fortresses, the nature of its situation, the honour of its citizens, and
the chastity of its matrons; in its sports too it is most pleasant, and
in the production of illustrious men most fortunate. All which things I
wish separately to consider.
OF THE MILDNESS OF THE CLIMATE
There then
“Men’s minds are soft’ned by a temp’rate clime,”
not so however that they are addicted to licentiousness, but so that
they are not savage and brutal, but rather kind and generous.
OF THE RELIGION
There is in St. Paul’s church an episcopal see: it was formerly
metropolitan, and, it is thought, will be so again, should the citizens
return to the island: unless perhaps the archiepiscopal title of St.
Thomas, and his bodily presence there, should always retain that dignity
at Canterbury, where it now is. But as St. Thomas has ennobled both
these cities, London by his birth, and Canterbury by his death, each of
them, with respect to the saint, has much to allege against the other,
and with justice too. As regards divine worship, there are also in
London and in the suburbs thirteen larger conventual churches, besides
one hundred and thirty-six lesser parochial ones.
OF THE STRENGTH OF THE CITY
On the east stands the Palatine tower, a fortress of great size and
strength, the court and walls of which are erected upon a very deep
foundation, the mortar used in the building being tempered with the
blood of beasts. On the west are two castles strongly fortified; the
wall of the city is high and thick, with seven double gates, having on
the north side towers placed at proper intervals. London formerly had
walls and towers in like manner on the south, but that most excellent
river the Thames, which abounds with fish, and in which the tide ebbs
and flows, runs on that side, and has in a long space of time washed
down, undermined, and subverted the walls in that part. On the west
also, higher up on the bank of the river, the royal palace rears its
head, an incomparable structure, furnished with a breastwork and
bastions, situated in a populous suburb, at a distance of two miles from
the city.
OF THE GARDENS
Adjoining to the houses on all sides lie the gardens of those citizens
that dwell in the suburbs, which are well furnished with trees, spacious
and beautiful.
OF THE PASTURE AND TILLAGE LANDS
On the north side too are fields for pasture, and a delightful plain of
meadow land, interspersed with flowing streams, on which stand mills,
whose clack is very pleasing to the ear. Close by lies an immense
forest, in which are densely wooded thickets, the coverts of game,
stags, fallow-deer, boars, and wild bulls. The tillage lands of the city
are not barren gravelly soils, but like the fertile plains of Asia,
which produce abundant crops, and fill the barns of their cultivators
with
“Ceres’ plenteous sheaf.”
OF THE SPRINGS
There are also round London, on the northern side, in the suburbs,
excellent springs; the water of which is sweet, clear, and salubrious,
“’Mid glistening pebbles gliding playfully:”
amongst which, Holywell, Clerkenwell, and St. Clement’s well, are of
most note, and most frequently visited, as well by the scholars from the
schools, as by the youth of the city when they go out to take the air in
the summer evenings. The city is delightful indeed, when it has a good
governor.
OF THE HONOUR OF THE CITIZENS
This city is ennobled by her men, graced by her arms, and peopled by a
multitude of inhabitants; so that in the wars under King Stephen there
went out to a muster, of armed horsemen, esteemed fit for war, twenty
thousand, and of infantry sixty thousand. The citizens of London are
respected and noted above all other citizens for the elegance of their
manners, dress, table, and discourse.
OF THE MATRONS
The matrons of the city are perfect Sabines.
OF THE SCHOOLS
The three principal churches possess, by privilege and ancient dignity,
celebrated schools; yet often, by the favour of some person of note,
or of some learned men eminently distinguished for their philosophy,
other schools are permitted upon sufferance. On festival days the
masters assemble their pupils at those churches where the feast of the
patron saint is solemnised; and there the scholars dispute, some in the
demonstrative way, and others logically; some again recite enthymemes,
while others use the more perfect syllogism. Some, to show their
abilities, engage in such disputation as is practised among persons
contending for victory alone; others dispute upon a truth, which is the
grace of perfection. The sophisters, who argue upon feigned topics,
are deemed clever according to their fluency of speech and command of
language. Others endeavour to impose by false conclusions. Sometimes
certain orators in their rhetorical harangues employ all the powers
of persuasion, taking care to observe the precepts of the art, and to
omit nothing apposite to the subject. The boys of the different schools
wrangle with each other in verse, and contend about the principles of
grammar or the rules of the perfect and future tenses. There are some
who in epigrams, rhymes, and verses, use that trivial raillery so much
practised amongst the ancients, freely attacking their companions with
Fescennine licence, but suppressing the names, discharging their scoffs
and sarcasms against them, touching with Socratic wit the failings of
their schoolfellows, or perhaps of greater personages, or biting them
more keenly with a Theonine tooth. The audience,
“well disposed to laugh,
With curling nose double the quivering peals.”
OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE AFFAIRS OF THE CITY ARE DISPOSED
The artizans of the several crafts, the vendors of the various
commodities, and the labourers of every kind, have each their separate
station, which they take every morning. There is also in London, on
the bank of the river, amongst the wine-shops which are kept in ships
and cellars, a public eating-house: there every day, according to the
season, may be found viands of all kinds, roast, fried, and boiled, fish
large and small, coarser meat for the poor, and more delicate for the
rich, such as venison, fowls, and small birds. If friends, wearied with
their journey, should unexpectedly come to a citizen’s house, and, being
hungry, should not like to wait till fresh meat be bought and cooked:
“The canisters with bread are heap’d on high;
The attendants water for their hands supply:”--DRYDEN.
Meanwhile some run to the river side, and there every thing that they
could wish for is instantly procured. However great the number of
soldiers or strangers that enters or leaves the city at any hour of
the day or night, they may turn in there if they please, and refresh
themselves according to their inclination; so that the former have no
occasion to fast too long, or the latter to leave the city without
dining. Those who wish to indulge themselves would not desire a
sturgeon, or the bird of Africa, or the godwit of Ionia, when the
delicacies that are to be found there are set before them. This indeed
is the public cookery, and is very convenient to the city, and a
distinguishing mark of civilisation. Hence we read in Plato’s Gorgias,
“Juxta medicinam esse coquorum officium, simulantium et adulationem
quartæ particulæ civilitatis.” There is, without one of the gates,
immediately in the suburb, a certain smooth field in name and in
reality. There every Friday, unless it be one of the more solemn
festivals, is a noted show of well-bred horses exposed for sale. The
earls, barons, and knights, who are at the time resident in the city,
as well as most of the citizens, flock thither either to look on or buy.
It is pleasant to see the nags, with their sleek and shining coats,
smoothly ambling along, raising and setting down alternately, as it
were, their feet on either side: in one part are horses better adapted
to esquires; these, whose pace is rougher but yet expeditious, lift up
and set down, as it were, the two opposite fore and hind feet together;
in another the young blood colts, not yet accustomed to the bridle,
“Which upright walk on pasterns firm and straight,
Their motions easy, prancing in their gait.”--DRYDEN.
in a third are the horses for burden, strong and stout-limbed; and in
a fourth, the more valuable chargers, of an elegant shape and noble
height, with nimbly moving ears, erect necks, and plump haunches. In
the movements of these the purchasers observe first their easy pace,
and then their gallop, which is when the fore-feet are raised from
the ground and set down together, and the hind ones in like manner,
alternately. When a race is to be run by such horses as these, and
perhaps by others, which in like manner, according to their breed, are
strong for carriage, and vigorous for the course, the people raise a
shout, and order the common horses to be withdrawn to another part of
the field. The jockeys, who are boys expert in the management of horses,
which they regulate by means of curb-bridles, sometimes by threes, and
sometimes by twos, according as the match is made, prepare themselves
for the contest. Their chief aim is to prevent a competitor getting
before them. The horses, too, after their manner, are eager for the
race; their limbs tremble, and, impatient of delay, they cannot stand
still; upon the signal being given, they stretch out their limbs, hurry
over the course, and are borne along with unremitting speed. The riders,
inspired with the love of praise and the hope of victory, clap spurs to
their flying horses, lashing them with their whips, and inciting them by
their shouts. You would think with Heraclitus, that all things were in
motion, and that Zeno’s opinion was altogether erroneous, when he said,
that there was no such thing as motion, and that it was impossible to
reach the goal. In another quarter, apart from the rest, stand the goods
of the peasants, implements of husbandry, swine with their long sides,
cows with distended udders,
“Oxen of bulk immense, and woolly flocks.”
There, too, stand the mares fitted for the plough, the dray, and the
cart, of which some are big with foal, others have their frolicsome
colts running close by their sides. To this city, from every nation
under heaven, merchants bring their commodities by sea,
“Arabia’s gold, Sabæa’s spice and incense,
Scythia’s keen weapons, and the oil of palms
From Babylon’s rich soil, Nile’s precious gems,
Norway’s warm peltries, Russia’s costly sables,
Sera’s rich vestures, and the wines of Gaul,
Hither are sent.”
According to the evidence of chroniclers London is more ancient than
Rome: for, as both derive their origin from the same Trojan ancestors,
this was founded by Brutus before that by Romulus and Remus. Hence
it is that, even to this day, both cities use the same ancient laws
and ordinances. This, like Rome, is divided into wards; it has annual
sheriffs instead of consuls; it has an order of senators and inferior
magistrates, and also sewers and aqueducts in its streets; each class
of suits, whether of the deliberative, demonstrative, or judicial kind,
has its appropriate place and proper court; on stated days it has its
assemblies. I think that there is no city in which more approved customs
are observed--in attending churches, honouring God’s ordinances, keeping
festivals, giving alms, receiving strangers, confirming espousals,
contracting marriages, celebrating weddings, preparing entertainments,
welcoming guests, and also in the arrangement of the funeral ceremonies
and the burial of the dead. The only inconveniences of London are,
the immoderate drinking of foolish persons, and the frequent fires.
Moreover, almost all the bishops, abbots, and great men of England, are,
in a manner, citizens and freemen of London; as they have magnificent
houses there, to which they resort, spending large sums of money,
whenever they are summoned thither to councils and assemblies by the
king or their metropolitan, or are compelled to go there by their own
business.
OF THE SPORTS
Let us now proceed to the sports of the city; since it is expedient
that a city be not only an object of utility and importance, but also a
source of pleasure and diversion. Hence even in the seals of the chief
pontiffs, up to the time of Pope Leo, there was engraved on one side of
the Bull the figure of St. Peter as a fisherman, and above him a key
stretched out to him, as it were, from heaven by the hand of God, and
around him this verse--
“For me thou left’st thy ship, receive the key.”
On the obverse side was represented a city, with this inscription,
GOLDEN ROME. It was also said in praise of Augustus Cæsar and the city
of Rome,
“All night it rains, the shows return with day,
Cæsar, thou bear’st with Jove alternate sway.”
London, instead of theatrical shows and scenic entertainments, has
dramatic performances of a more sacred kind, either representations of
the miracles which holy confessors have wrought, or of the passions and
sufferings in which the constancy of martyrs was signally displayed.
Moreover, to begin with the sports of the boys (for we have all been
boys), annually on the day which is called Shrovetide, the boys of the
respective schools bring each a fighting cock to their master, and
the whole of that forenoon is spent by the boys in seeing their cocks
fight in the school-room. After dinner, all the young men of the city
go out into the fields to play at the well-known game of foot-ball. The
scholars belonging to the several schools have each their ball; and the
city tradesmen, according to their respective crafts, have theirs. The
more aged men, the fathers of the players, and the wealthy citizens,
come on horseback to see the contests of the young men, with whom, after
their manner, they participate, their natural heat seeming to be aroused
by the sight of so much agility, and by their participation in the
amusements of unrestrained youth. Every Sunday in Lent, after dinner, a
company of young men enter the fields, mounted on warlike horses--
“On coursers always foremost in the race;”
of which