History of London
Where To See Historic London
I. Romans &Vikings
London has been inhabited in one form or another for over two thousand years. When Julius Caesar's Roman army invaded England in 55 BC, a small settlement of Celtic tribesmen lived on the north bank of the River Thames. Less than a century later - following the conquests of the Emperor Claudius' armies - the Romans had established the garrison port of Londinium nearby. The port was soon to become a bustling city of merchants, soldiers, and citizens.
This early London got off to an inauspicious start, being razed to the ground by Queen Boadicea of the local Iceni tribe less than 20 years after it's foundation. The town soon recovered from this setback however, as the Romans consolidated their hold on England and established an infrastructure to administer this new province of the Empire.
The riverside port of Londinium soon gained in prominence as Roman galleys sailed up the Thames with goods from the outer reaches of the empire and left on the return voyage laden with the produce of the British Isles. Baths, temples, and a spacious forum (market place) were constructed to service the growing population- which by 200 AD had reached 50,000.
The next two centuries in the story of Londinium were largely uneventful, although occasional civil strife and increasing incursions by 'barbarian' tribes were placing some pressure on the Roman garrisons in Britain. By the early years of the fifth century the Roman Empire was under threat from all sides, eventually disintegrating and being divided up by various tribal groupings. London was deserted to the invading Saxon tribe of central Europe.
London became a backwater town over the succeeding centuries, as tribalism replaced the civilizing influence of the Romans, and trade diminished. The 'Dark Ages' had descended on Europe.
In the ninth century the Viking invaders emerged from the cold lands of Scandinavia and grabbed large chunks of the British Isles from the Anglo-Saxon inhabitants. The Vikings established their own towns in the north (Jorvik - modern day York being most notable), but London too was conquered by this new wave of occupiers.
Norman Conquest & The Growth of a Capital City
London's long period of stagnation came to an end in the eleventh century, when the last successful invasion of Britain took place at the hands of William of Normandy. Crowning himself King of England, William set about consolidating his kingdom with a series of initiatives designed to establish a lasting dynasty.
As the seat of a new kingdom, London again flourished. The merchant classes became more influential as trade again became the lifeblood of the city, setting up their own guilds and institutes to regulate and oversee commercial activity. By this time, London was appointing its own mayor, and the first national parliament sat in Westminster in 1240.
Life in medieval London was not easy - disease and poverty were common, and the Plague of 1348 decimated half of the population in one awful summer. However, even this setback could not halt the growth of the city for long, nor its influence spreading.
By the sixteenth century London had become the heart of a budding world power, being a key player in the areas of trade and commerce, leader of expeditions to the New World, and host to a flourishing cultural and scientific community. The careers of explorers Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh, and playwrights William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe blossomed at this time, while England's position on the world stage was skilfully manipulated during the long reign of Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.
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