keeping the citizens in awe, as he had now began to suspect their fidelity, his numerous exactions having excited great murmurs.

In the year 1086, says Stow," a devouring fire spread abroad over almost all the principall cities of England; the Church of St. Paul's in London was burnt, with the most part of the Citie, which fire began at the entry of the west gate, and consumed to the east gate. Maurice, then Byshoppe of London, afterward began the foundation of the newe Church of St. Paul, a worke that men of that time judged would never have been finished, it was then so wonderfull. King William gave toward the building of the east ende of this Church, the choyce stones of his castell, standing neare to the banke of the river Thames, at the west ende of the Citie. After Maurice, Richard, his successor, did also wonderfully increase the same Church, purchasing of his own cost, the large streets about it, where were wont to dwell many lay people, which ground he began to compasse about with a strong wall of stone, and gates: and King Henry the First gave to the sayd Richard, Bishop of London, so much of the mote or wall of the castell on the Thames side, to the south, as shoulde bee needfull, to make the sayde wall of the Church, and so much as should suffice to make a way without the wall on the north side, &c."

It is a remarkable fact, that the Domesday Book, which is usually so minute in regard to our principal towns and cities, is wholly silent in respect to London. It only mentions a vineyard in Holborn belonging to the Crown, and ten acres of land nigh Bishopsgate, (now the Manor of Norton Falgate,) belonging to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's:'t yet certainly, continues Mr. Ellis, no mutilation of the manuscript has taken place, since the account of Middlesex is entire, and is exactly coincident with H 2 the

This confutes the opinion of Maitland, Noorthouck, &c. that the Tower was built on the same spot where William had constructed a fort at the beginning of his reign.

+ Mod. Lond. p. 13.

the abridged copy of the Survey, taken at the time, and now lodged in the office of the King's Remembrancer in the Exchequer."

In the fourth of William Rufus, anno 1090, upwards & 600 houses, and many churches, were blown down in London by a tremendous Hurricane, which occurred in the month of November:* the Tower of London was also broken;'+ and about two years afterwards, great part of the City was again destroyed by fire. In the succeeding years the Tower was repaired by Rufus, and strengthened by additional works; and in 1097 and 1098, the same King built the great Hall at Westminster, where, on his return from Normandy in 1099, he kepte his feast of Whitsuntide very royally.'t

On the decease of Rufus, in 1100, the Throne was seized by his younger brother, Henry, who was crowned at London within five days afterwards; and, as a reward for the ready submission of the Londoners to his usurped authority, he granted to the city an extensive charter of privileges. This is the earliest record that is known to exist, in which the ancient customs and immunities of London are particularly noticed; though Maitland's supposition, that the City, before the grant of this charter, was "intirely subject to the arbitrary will of the King,"§ is manifestly erroneous; for the charter given by the Conqueror was still in force; and, however general in its terms, it furnishes full proof that the citizens were in possession of independent franchises. Among the privileges granted or confirmed by Henry, was the perpetual Sheriffwick of Middlesex; exemption from scot and lot, dane-gelt, trial by battle, impleading without the walls, payment of tolls, &c. with liberty to make reprisals on any borough or town exacting toll from any citizen of London; and the still more extraordinary liberty of seizing for debt, the goods (if found within the City) of

*Flor. Wig. Chron. Lib. II. and Will. Malms. de Vit. Will. II.

the

the borough, town, or county, wherein he remains who shall owe the debt,' provided he has not cleared himself in London.' The ancient right of the citizens to hunt in the chaces of Middlesex, Surrey, and the Chiltern district, was also confirmed by this charter. The Sheriffwick was granted in consideration of a feefarm rent of 3001.

In 1125, a solemn Synod was held in London by Cardinal John Cremensis, the Pope's Legate, to enforce the celibacy of the clergy; and in the following year, the King, with all the states of the realm,' came from Winchester to London, " and there, at the King's commandment, William the Archbishop, and the Legate of the Romish Church, and all other Bishops of the English nation, with the Nobilitie, tooke an othe to defend against all men the kingdome to his daughter, if she survived her father; except, that before his decease, he begate some sonne to succeede him."* Another Synod or Council was held in London in 1129.

On the death of Henry the First, in 1135, the Crown was usurped by Stephen, who being assisted by the chief Prelates and Ecclesiastics, though in direct violation of their late oath to defend the rights of the Empress Maud, or Matilda, and by the citizens of London, met with little opposition to his claim. In the following year, a fire beginning near London Stone, consumed eastward to Aldgate, and westward to St. Erkenwald's Shrine in St. Paul's Church, together with London Bridge, which was then of wood.' In 1139 the citizens purchased from Stephen, the right of appointing their own Sheriffs, for 100 marks of silver.‡

6

During the contest for empire between Stephen and the Empress, the Londoners were in general firm in their allegiance to Stephen; and, even after he had been made prisoner at the battle of Lincoln, in 1140, by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, they continued to support his cause. This greatly irritated the haughty Maud, who, on the ascendancy of her affairs, "resolved to revenge herself upon her enemies; and as the citizens of London were the H 3 principal,

principal, she began with them, by making a convention with Geffrey, Earl of Essex, wherein she granted to him all the possessions which his grandfather, father, or himself, had held of the Crown, in lands, tenements, castles, and baliwicks, among which were the Tower of London, and the Sherifiwicks of London and Middlesex, at a fee-farm rent of 300l. per annum, as they had been held by his grandfather. And, as a greater mortification to the citizens, Matilda granted to Geffrey also, the office of Chief Justiciary of their City, and of the County of Middlesex; so that no person whatsoever could hold pleas, either in the City or County, without his special permission. This convention was ratified by the Empress upon oath, and attested by divers of the prime nobility; for the performance of which, several of the English and Norman nobility were given as hostages; and, as a farther corroboration of the same, it was to be confirmed by all the English clergy under her dominion."*

About this time, 1141, a general Council was summoned to meet at Winchester by the Pope's Legate, as a preliminary measure to the recognition of the Empress as Queen of England; yet the Deputies from the Magistracy of London, and the Barons who had retired thither, instead of assenting to the proposal, required that Stephen should be set at liberty, though without success. Shortly afterwards, from motives of policy, the City was surrendered to Matilda, who entered it in much pomp, and taking up her residence at Westminster, prepared for her coronation.

The extreme arrogance of Maud, and her disdainful refusal to revive the laws of Edward the Confessor, for which the citizens had petitioned, occasioned her to lose the Crown that now seemed so fully within her grasp. The Bishop of Winchester, who thought his own services were not enough rewarded, fomented the popu lar discontents so strongly, that a conspiracy was formed to seize the person of the Empress in her palace; but she being timely apprised of the scheme, secured her safety by flight. Soon afterwards,

* Maitland's Lond. p. 31, from Hen. Hunt. Will. Malms. Madox's Hist. Exch. &c.

wards, she was besieged in Winchester by Stephen's adherents, of whom the Londoners composed the chief body; and Robert, the brave Earl of Gloucester, her brother, having been made prisoner, was subsequently exchanged for the King. Through this event, and the steady assistance of the Londoners, Stephen obtained a complete ascendancy; yet the Tower of London, which had been fortified for Geffrey, Earl of Essex, held out till 1143, when that nobleman having been made prisoner at St. Alban's, was obliged to consent to its being given up, together with his Castles of Warden and Plessy. In the same year a Synod, or Council, was held in London, in which Stephen obtained the promise of an aid from the Clergy, on engaging to protect the Church. Another Council was held by Stephen in this City, in 1152, for the purpose of securing the accession of Eustace, his son; but the opposition and subsequent flight of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and some other Bishops,' prevented the fulfilment of the King's design: Stow says it was defeated by the 'subtil policy of Thomas Becket," who thus early begun to display that contumacious spirit which distracted the kingdom in the following reign.

Henry the Second is stated to have granted to the citizens, a charter confirmatory, &c. of the one bestowed by his grandfather, Henry the First; yet the names of the subscribing witnesses, as printed by Maitland,† and others, are calculated to excite strong doubts as to its authenticity. Among the witnesses, are Robert, Bishop of London, Philip, Bishop of Bath, Edward, Bishop of Exon, and Richard de Lucy, the Chief Justiciary. Now as Henry came to the Throne in 1154, and Richard de Lucy died in 1179, it is evident that the charter, if genuine, must have been given some time within the period bounded by those years; yet, on referring to Godwin, § Le Neve, Newcourt,¶ &c. it will be found, that the only Bishops of London who lived at the time