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Overview
London has been under attack for literally centuries.London Under Attack charts the military history of the capital from Roman times until the Second World War. Throughout this period London was at the centre of hostilities, not always instigated by foreign enemies, but more often from its own inhabitants or those from other parts of Britain. As well as the terrible Blitz on London during the Second World War, earlier conflicts which made an impact on the city are also documented, including the Civil Wars of twelfth and seventeenth centuries, the war between King John and the barons, uprisings against the poll tax, the uprising against Queen Mary's marriage to Philip of Spain, the Gordon Riots, the riots and deaths at the funeral of Queen Caroline in the nineteenth century and numerous other uprisings and conflicts that have mainly been forgotten in the twenty-first century. London Under Attack is a must-read for all those interested in military history as well as the turbulent history of our nation's capital.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780752476223 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The History Press |
| Publication date: | 11/08/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 160 |
| File size: | 15 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
| Age Range: | 12 Years |
Read an Excerpt
London Under Attack
From Caesar to Hitler
By Michael Foley
The History Press
Copyright © 2010 Michael FoleyAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7524-7622-3
CHAPTER 1
ROMAN LONDON
Although some historians like to argue that London existed before the Romans arrived on our shores, there has been little evidence found to prove this. Thornbury, writing in the late nineteenth century in Old And New London, suggested that the capital of the Cassivellanus tribe, attacked by Caesar during his invasion, might have been on the spot where London stands today. Walter Armstrong suggests in his 1880s book The Thames From Its Rise To The Nore, that the settlement that stood on the site before the Romans arrived was called Llyn-Did and was a Celtic fortified village on the bank of the Wallbrook stream. He also stated that this was the site of the first Roman fort in the area between what is now Mincing Lane and Cannon Street station.
The position of London has been important to almost everyone since the Romans arrived so it is not implausible to suggest that those around before the Romans would have also found it so. One of the Time Team programmes was concerned with digging out a Bronze Age structure on the bank of the Thames at Vauxhall which could have been a home, a jetty or even a bridge – perhaps the first bridge to cross the Thames in what we know as London. The finds of Bronze Age spearheads in the Thames nearby also seem to point to pre-Roman life in the area. The area was described as being just above the tidal head of the river where salt water met fresh water, which would have been an important site for Bronze Age man. Whether this means that an actual settlement existed on the site is not as clear. It could have been some kind of religious site that was often visited but not settled on.
There is no doubt, however, that London did become an important settlement once the Romans settled in Britain. According to some it was eventually to become a walled town with five gates: Ludgate, Bishopsgate, Aldersgate, Aldgate and Bridgegate. According to Collingwood in The Archeology of Roman Britain, the Roman city covered 330 acres and had a population of around 15,000. Much of the Roman wall was built around AD 200 and also included an earlier fort that had been the original Roman military site.
Up until the eighteenth century there were a number of remnants of the Roman wall still standing, but as London grew these were demolished or were built over and were only rediscovered later. In 1763 the remains of a Roman tower were found in Houndsditch while part of the Roman wall was found at Tower Hill in 1852. Bombing during the Second World War also revealed several other remains of the Roman defences.
A Dr Stukeley supposedly found evidence of a Roman camp at St Pancras, called the 'Brill', by the old church in 1758. As with many suspected finds, proof seemed to be in short supply and this find was later derided by a Mr B. Woodward in a Gentleman's Magazine of 1866.
* * *
It seems that the first major conflict that London had to face was the attack by the forces of Boudicca and her Iceni tribe and their allies, including the Trinovantes, in AD 60. The city seems to have been completely destroyed along with the majority of its inhabitants, which at that time almost completely comprised of civilians. The main area of the city then was believed to be around the King's Cross area and the aptly named Battle Bridge. In 1842 a stone was found in the area marked with the symbols of one of the Roman legions that was supposedly part of Gaius Suetonius Paulinus' army which defeated Boudicca, although this battle did not take place in London. Despite Boudicca's destruction, London was to grow again, and stronger and better than it had been before.
There does seem to have been another battle in London during the Roman habitation of Britain. This took place when Carasius declared himself Emperor of Britain and was defeated in 293. His successor was Allectus who was then attacked by Constantius Chlorus to regain control of Britain for Rome in 296. There would seem to have been some fighting in London when Allectus' men fled there from the invading forces. The County Hall ship, found in 1910 when County Hall was being built, was thought to have been one of Allectus' warships as one of his coins was found with the wreckage.
CHAPTER 2SAXON LONDON
After the Romans left Britain there is a period of uncertainty about what happened in London. There are views that the Saxon invaders who came when the Romans left had little use for towns. Surely this does not mean that all the inhabitants of London followed suit and left as well?
The idea of London being deserted during this period seems to be disproved by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. In AD 449, King Vortigern of Kent asked the Jutish leaders Hengist and Horsa for help against Pictish raiders. The Jutes landed at Ebbsfleet in Kent with their warriors and as more of their countrymen arrived they became an invasion force rather than an ally against the Picts. There was eventually a battle against the Kent people in 457 when the Jutes slew 4,000 of the men of Kent. According to the Chronicle, the men from Kent abandoned their lands and fled to the stronghold of London, which would seem to show that the city was still well-occupied and fortified.
From 601, London was the seat of a bishop but at about this time it became part of Mercia. It is a period of uncertainty in the history of the capital that was to last until the arrival of warlike visitors from the north in later centuries. In 825 Egbert of Wessex took London but it was soon to fall into foreign hands as it was in the ninth century that London was to become a city controlled by the Vikings. There were a number of attacks on the city by the Vikings; for example in 842 when a large number of the native population were slaughtered. Then, again, in 851 the Vikings attacked and destroyed most of London. At the same time they captured Canterbury and defeated the Mercians. They were, however, less successful against the kingdom of Wessex. There was another raid in 871, which led to a longer stay and a Viking army marched from Reading and spent the winter in London while making peace with the Mercians.
This period is a confusing one for the history of London. It was never a simple case of the Saxon population of London fighting the invading Vikings. Alliances changed quickly and one group of invaders might become allied to Saxons and find themselves fighting their own countrymen or those from other parts of Scandanavia.
London was, it seems, just another town that seemed to have lost the important position that it had held in Roman times. Eventually the Vikings stopped raiding and settled in the country, controlling much of the east including London. It seems that the town had extended beyond the old Roman walls at this time.
The re-emergence of London's importance to the country came when King Alfred took the town back by force from Viking control in 886 (this was after he had failed to do so in an attack in 882). From this point on it became the chief city of Mercia, then one of the most powerful kingdoms in Britain. Not that this stopped the attacks by the Vikings.
There was an incident between Alfred and the Vikings near London on the River Lea. It seems that the Vikings had fortified the area and had their ships drawn up in the river. There is a legend that Alfred changed the course of the river, trapping the Viking ships. Whatever did happen, it seems that the Vikings were driven off, leaving their ships behind.
In 994, Olaf, King of Norway, and Sweyn, King of Denmark, attacked London with ninety-four ships but were driven off despite their attempts to burn the city down. There was a wooden bridge across the Thames at this time and in 1008 when the Vikings returned they held the crossing. The defenders solved the problem by pulling the structure down.
In 1009 Sweyn had taken most of England but had still failed to capture London and many of his men died in the Thames while trying to cross the river and take the city. He eventually did take control of London, but then died soon after.
London was the scene of further battles between Canute, Sweyn's son, and Edmund Ironside in 1013, until the Viking Canute finally overcame his foe and became King of England. The conflict did not stop there, however, as Edmund successfully returned in 1014. After leaving, Canute returned in 1016 with 160 ships to fight Edmund again. While Canute burned and killed in the countryside, the new king Edmund gathered an army to fight him, which included the garrison of London. Edmund died around this time which was fortunate for his enemy and Canute became king once again.
By the time that Edward the Confessor became king in 1042, Saxon London had evolved from a collection of small huts and the king lived in what was considered great splendour for that time, at Westminster.
The conflict over London was not yet ended however, and recommenced when Harold Godwin was banished from the country after a disagreement with Edward. Harold later returned with his men, sailing up the Thames to London in 1052 where the population cheered his arrival. The population of Southwark decided to let Harold and his men pass through the bridge where they surrounded the king's smaller fleet. Even the king's men did not seem keen to fight Godwin which was part of the reason, no doubt, that Edward decided to welcome him back and even made his son the heir to the throne.
London Bridge was the only bridge in the area for many hundreds of years and was a structure that helped to defend the city on numerous occasions as it blocked the river to those trying to sail up the Thames. On the south bank Southwark became a buffer between those who wished to attack London and the city itself. The defence of the Southwark end of the bridge was usually quite firm. It was only breached during the much later peasants' revolts because someone helped them to get across by opening the gates.
CHAPTER 3NORMAN LONDON
The Saxon reign over London was to be short-lived and, following his victory at Hastings, William the Conqueror was crowned in London in 1066. The coronation was followed by an outbreak of violence that left many of the inhabitants of London dead and part of the city destroyed due, it seems, to a misunderstanding. Trouble at coronations was not an unusual event in the past and after his coronation, William built the Tower of London to keep the town's inhabitants in order. The tower was built close to the old Roman wall by Gundulf, the Bishop of Rochester.
Although Normans were the dominant force after William's success, not all Saxons lost out. Waltheof, Earl of Huntingdon, had opposed William but then joined him and married William's niece Judith. However, despite seemingly being on William's side Waltheof secretly still opposed the new king but his wife Judith informed her uncle of his deeds and he was executed. The earl's castle was later owned by Robert the Bruce who lost it because of his revolt against Edward I.
The next conflict to affect London was after the death of Henry I. The heir of Henry was his daughter, Matilda, whose right to the throne had been seemingly safe when the barons swore allegiance to her. This included Stephen, nephew of Henry and grandson of William, who then went back on his promise and himself claimed the throne. With the support of the barons he became king in 1135.
Civil war broke out in 1139 between Stephen and Matilda. The population of London supported King Stephen in the civil war but the main conflict took place outside London. The reason for the Londoners' support was mainly because Matilda had abolished some of the liberties previously given to the city by her father, Henry I. There was one particular example of a conflict in the civil war taking place in London. Geoffrey de Mandeville had been the keeper of the Tower of London for Stephen. When Stephen was captured and held prisoner, Matilda arrived in the city and de Mandeville surrendered the tower to her. The population of the city then rose in revolt and Matilda was driven out of London. With his wife's help, Stephen once more became king. Eventually, however, he was succeeded by Matilda's son, Henry II.
* * *
At this time, Old Jewry was already a ghetto in medieval London and persecution of the non-Christian races was the norm. During the reign of King Stephen there were rumours that Jews were using children's blood in their ceremonies. This turned the population against them and led to persecution. Violence against the Jews was to become a regular event throughout medieval history and massacres were quite common. In fact, during the crusades period, the rhetoric of fighting for a Christian god led to the persecution of Jews simply because they were non-Christian. There was widespread violence against the Jews in London when Richard I was crowned. The king had passed a proclamation forbidding Jews to attend the coronation; this was for their own protection due to the bad feeling against them at the time. Richard was in fact hoping to obtain money from them to help finance his crusade. Unfortunately a number of rich Jewish merchants tried to join the festivities at Westminster Hall and were attacked; many of them were beaten to death. A rumour then spread that the king had ordered all Jews to be killed. Many Jewish houses were burned and the inhabitants murdered, often in the name of robbery rather than due to any real anti-Jewish feeling. In many cases killing Jews must have seemed a good way of getting out of repaying debts to them as the Jews were then the main money lenders at this time. The king had obviously not given this order as he then passed laws to protect the Jews, but persecution followed in other parts of the country such as York. Much of this, again, seemed to be provoked more by financial than religious reasons.
By this time the Tower of London had become a prison as well as a fortress and was used for the noblest prisoners in the country. The first of these had been Ralph Flambard, a favourite of William Rufus until the king's death. Flambard escaped from the tower, fled to France and was later pardoned. Important prisoners were treated more like guests in the tower and would pay for what they needed. The poorer prisoners were not as lucky and found themselves confined to the dungeons. This often included a number of Jews who were sent to the tower for what were often ridiculous reasons.
When Richard's brother, John, became king, he used a different approach and taxed the Jews first to gain money before killing them. Also during John's reign another civil war broke out when the rebel barons under Robert Fitzwalter were welcomed into London by the inhabitants. They then destroyed the houses of rich Jews to use the materials to strengthen the walls.
John was responsible for a number of conflicts in London even before he took the throne. In 1191, while King Richard was in Palestine, John and the bishops met in St Paul's Cathedral and accused William de Longchamps, one of the king's regents, of tyranny. Longchamps had paid £3,000 for the position of chancellor but had slowly gained more power in the country and had also become Bishop of Ely. After being excommunicated by the bishops he tried to hold onto power by holding the Tower of London. The population of the city, however, failed to support him and he eventually left the country.
The London population had grown restive during King Richard's absence on the crusade and were turning against the power of the Normans. When Richard returned from captivity a mob gathered and was led by William Fitz Osbert, also known as Longbeard. He asked the king to do something about the great oppression the people were suffering. Longbeard was arrested but then killed one of his captors before taking sanctuary in Bow Church. The church was set on fire to make him come out – which was one way of getting round the sanctuary rules! He was later executed at Tyburn.
When John later became king he agreed to the demands of the rebel barons to sign Magna Carta. He then went back on his word, however, and more civil war followed. To depose John, the barons invited Louis, the eldest son of the King of France, to take the crown of England. Louis was welcomed by the population when he arrived in London in 1216. A few months later, however, and they were happy to see him go after he was paid to leave and Henry III became a child king.
The twelfth century also saw the foundation of the Knights Hospitallers who at first tended the wounded but then became a military organisation similar to the Templars. They were based at Clerkenwell for some time but in 1237 they paraded through the city on their way to the crusades.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from London Under Attack by Michael Foley. Copyright © 2010 Michael Foley. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction,1. Roman London,
2. Saxon London,
3. Norman London,
4. London Becomes More English,
5. Tudor London,
6. Civil War,
7. Royal London Again,
8. The French and Napoleon,
9. Victorian London,
10. The Twentieth Century,
11. The Second World War,
12. The Post-War Period,
Bibliography,
Copyright,