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London city foundation and origin of its name
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ProfessorVerb
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Why London is called London? ...
Wikipedia at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_London advises that the name Londinium is thought to be pre-Roman in origin although there is no consensus on what it means. According to Hugh D. Clout (2005):
Although excavations west of London have revealed the remains of circular huts dating from before 2000 BC, the history of the city begins effectively with the Romans. Beginning their occupation of Britain under Emperor Claudius in AD 43, the Roman armies soon gained control of much of the southeast of Britain. At a point just north of the marshy valley of the Thames, where two low hills were sited, they established Londinium, with a bridge giving access from land to the south.
The first definite mention of London refers to the year AD 60 and occurs in the work of the Roman historian Tacitus, who wrote of a celebrated centre of commerce filled with traders. In the same year, Iceni tribesmen under Queen Boudicca (Boadicea) sacked the settlement. From traces of the fires they set, it can be determined that the city had already begun to spread across the Walbrook valley toward the hill where St. Paul's Cathedral was later built. After the sack, the city was reconstructed, including a great basilica—an aisled hall 500 feet (150 metres) long.
On the same spot today stands Leadenhall Market, an 1881 creation of cast iron and glass. To protect the city, Cripplegate Fort was built by the end of the 1st century, with an amphitheatre nearby. The first half of the 2nd century was a prosperous time, but the fortunes of Londinium changed about AD 150, and areas of housing and workshops were demolished. A landward wall was built about AD 200 for defense. Remains of the wall can be seen at the edge of the Barbican (near the street called London Wall) and on Tower Hill. In medieval times the walls were rebuilt and extended, requiring new gateways in addition to the six Roman ones. During the 3rd century timber quays along the Thames and public buildings were rebuilt, and a riverside wall was constructed. An area of some 330 acres (about 135 hectares) was enclosed. Londinium in the 3rd and 4th centuries was less populous than in AD 125. When the legions were recalled to Rome early in the 5th century, there was widespread abandonment of property. What happened to London over the next two centuries is a matter of conjecture.
No records tell how or when London fell into Saxon hands, but it was still, or had once again become, a city of great importance by 597, when Pope Gregory I the Great sent St. Augustine to England from Rome. Aethelberht I, king of Kent, founded St. Paul's Cathedral, and Mellitus was installed as bishop there in 604. By the late 7th century London had emerged again as a major trading centre. Reinterpreting evidence from various excavations, archaeologists now argue that in the 8th century there was a large and apparently densely built-up settlement (at least 150 acres [60 hectares]) of craftsmen and traders just upstream of the depopulated Roman city and extending inland to what is now Trafalgar Square. The settlement was called Lundenwic; however, virtually nothing is known about this phase of London's history until the time of Alfred the Great (849–899) and the wars with the Danes, who invaded England in 865. A little farther west a church was founded on marshy Thorney Island in 785, later to be replaced by a great abbey (the Westminster) built at the behest of the pious Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor.
In: "London." Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-10120> [Accessed August 1, 2005].
Wikipedia at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_London advises that the name Londinium is thought to be pre-Roman in origin although there is no consensus on what it means. According to Hugh D. Clout (2005):
Although excavations west of London have revealed the remains of circular huts dating from before 2000 BC, the history of the city begins effectively with the Romans. Beginning their occupation of Britain under Emperor Claudius in AD 43, the Roman armies soon gained control of much of the southeast of Britain. At a point just north of the marshy valley of the Thames, where two low hills were sited, they established Londinium, with a bridge giving access from land to the south.
The first definite mention of London refers to the year AD 60 and occurs in the work of the Roman historian Tacitus, who wrote of a celebrated centre of commerce filled with traders. In the same year, Iceni tribesmen under Queen Boudicca (Boadicea) sacked the settlement. From traces of the fires they set, it can be determined that the city had already begun to spread across the Walbrook valley toward the hill where St. Paul's Cathedral was later built. After the sack, the city was reconstructed, including a great basilica—an aisled hall 500 feet (150 metres) long.
On the same spot today stands Leadenhall Market, an 1881 creation of cast iron and glass. To protect the city, Cripplegate Fort was built by the end of the 1st century, with an amphitheatre nearby. The first half of the 2nd century was a prosperous time, but the fortunes of Londinium changed about AD 150, and areas of housing and workshops were demolished. A landward wall was built about AD 200 for defense. Remains of the wall can be seen at the edge of the Barbican (near the street called London Wall) and on Tower Hill. In medieval times the walls were rebuilt and extended, requiring new gateways in addition to the six Roman ones. During the 3rd century timber quays along the Thames and public buildings were rebuilt, and a riverside wall was constructed. An area of some 330 acres (about 135 hectares) was enclosed. Londinium in the 3rd and 4th centuries was less populous than in AD 125. When the legions were recalled to Rome early in the 5th century, there was widespread abandonment of property. What happened to London over the next two centuries is a matter of conjecture.
No records tell how or when London fell into Saxon hands, but it was still, or had once again become, a city of great importance by 597, when Pope Gregory I the Great sent St. Augustine to England from Rome. Aethelberht I, king of Kent, founded St. Paul's Cathedral, and Mellitus was installed as bishop there in 604. By the late 7th century London had emerged again as a major trading centre. Reinterpreting evidence from various excavations, archaeologists now argue that in the 8th century there was a large and apparently densely built-up settlement (at least 150 acres [60 hectares]) of craftsmen and traders just upstream of the depopulated Roman city and extending inland to what is now Trafalgar Square. The settlement was called Lundenwic; however, virtually nothing is known about this phase of London's history until the time of Alfred the Great (849–899) and the wars with the Danes, who invaded England in 865. A little farther west a church was founded on marshy Thorney Island in 785, later to be replaced by a great abbey (the Westminster) built at the behest of the pious Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor.
In: "London." Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-10120> [Accessed August 1, 2005].
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