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In the growing city of London, much of the politics of the Middle Ages(1200-1500) revolved around a three-way struggle for power between the king, the aristocracy, the Church and the Lord Mayor and city guilds.
The Birth of the Parliament
In the early Middle Ages the king and his court were travelling through the whole country. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Palace of Westminster became the seat of law and government. The Model Parliament was held in Westminster Hall in 1295, presided over by EdwardI and attended by barons, the clergy and representatives of knights and burgesses. The first steps to peronal rights and political liberty had already been taken in 1215 with the Magna Charta, which was signed by King John. In the fourteenth century subsequent assemblies gave rise to the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
The relations between the monarch and the city were never good. Londoners guarded their privileges with selfrighteous intransigence. They also resisted all attemps by successive kings to squeeze money. Successive kings were forced to get money from Jewish and Lombard moneylenders. But the city merchants were as intolerant of foreigners as of royal authority.
City Status & Commercial Clout
Independence and self-regulation were the privileges which were granted by the Norman kings and were extended by the monarchs which are followed them. In 1119 the city was formally recognised as a commune and, in 1197, won control of the Thames, including lucrative fishing rights. In 1215 the city right "to elect every year a major" was confirmed by King John. The major had a position of great authority over the Sheriff and the Bishop of London.
In the next two centuries the influence of th trad and craft guilds increased as trade with Europe grew. There were many imports over the London bridges: fine cloth, furs, wine, spices and precious metals. Also port dues and taxes were paid to custums officials. The city´s markets drew produce from miles around. There were also street markets around Westcheap(Cheapside) and Eastcheap. They were crammed with a variety of goods. Also foreign traders and craftsman settled around the port. The population of the city grew from about 18,000 in 1100 to over 50,000 in the 1340s.
The Black Death & The Peasants´ Revolt
The bad hygiene became a big problem in the city. Water was provided in cisterns at Cheapside and elsewhere, but the supply was limited. There was no proper sewage system, and in the streets around Smithsfield butchers dumped the entrails of slaughtered animals.
These conditions provided the ground for the greatest catastrophe of the Middle Ages: the Black Death of 1348-49. Rats on ships from Europe carried the plague to England. 30 per cent of the English population died because of it. Though the epidemic abated, it was to recure in London on several occasions during the next three centuries. These outbreaks left the labour market shorthanded, causing unrest among the overworked peasants. The imposition of a poll tax caused the Peasants´ revolt. Led by Jack Strew from Wessex and Wat Tyler from Kent, thousands marched on London in 1381. The Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered, the Savoy Palace on the Strand was destroyed and hundreds of prisoners were set free. Wat Tyler was fatally stabbed by Lord Mayor William Walworth as the 14-year-old Richard II rode out to visit the rioters. The other ringleaders were subsequently rounded up and hanged. But no more poll taxes were imposed.
The death of Wat Tyler(left) and Richard II adressing the peasants(right).
Churches and monasteries
London had a large number of parish and monastic churches. There was also the great Gothic cathedral of St. Paul. The majority of Londoners were allowed access to the major churches, but the lives of most of them revolved around their own local parish places of worship. Many churches were linked to particular craft and trade guilds.
The crusading Knights Templars and Knights Hospitallers were two of the earliest religious orders to settle. But the increasingly unruly Templars were disbanded in 1312 by the Pope. The surviving church of St. Barthalomew-the-Great and the names of St. Helen´s Bishopsgate, Spitalsfields and St. Martin´s-le-Grand are all reminders of these early monasteries and convents. The friars were social workers who lived outside the city walls. Their names are still in evidence around Fleet Strreet and the west of the city.
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