The History of London by Walter Besant (best classic books TXT) 📕

administered justice.

~Justiciar~: judge. It was one of the privileges of the City to have a judge of its own to try cases within its own limits.

~stipulated~: bargained for.

~constitution~: form of government.

~priory~: a house for monks or nuns under the rule of a prior or prioress.

~St. Katherine Cree~: this church is in Leadenhall Street, near Aldgate. Cree in this name is for Christ.

~Portsoken~ is one of the City wards near Aldgate and the Minories.


13. FITZSTEPHEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CITY.

PART I.

~St. Bartholomew the Great~ in Smithfield is part of St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

~St. Ethelburga~ is in Bishopsgate Street, not far from Liverpool Street Railway Station.

~crypt~ is a chapel or vault underground.

~St. Swithin's Church~ is near Cannon Street Railway Station. 'London Stone,' supposed to be a Roman milestone, is let into the wall of this church. St. Swithin, to whom the church is dedicated, was a Saxon Bishop of Winchester, under whose care the youth of Alfred was spent at Winchester.

~Thomas Becket~, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in his own cathedral by four knights, who thought they were executing the wishes of Henry II. (1170 A.D.).

~conventual~: attached to convents.

~Palatine~ usually means 'held by a nobleman who has had royal powers given him.'

~Westminster~ is named after a minster first erected there of wood about 604 A.D.: it was thus distinguished from St. Paul's, which was the 'East Minster.' The site was a marshy spot, then called Thorney, or Thorn Island.

~Charing Cross~ is named from the memorial cross built there by Edward I. in 1294 in honour of his queen, Eleanor, who was brought for burial from Lincoln to Westminster, and each place (nine) where her body rested was marked by a similar cross. ('Charing' is a corruption of the French _chere reine_, dear queen.)

~Cheapside~: the important street running between St. Paul's and the Mansion House is so called because its site was the side--the south side--of the Chepe, or old London market.

~East Chepe~, or the East Market, has given its name to Eastcheap, a street running from the City towards the Tower.

~mercer~: a merchant selling woollens and silks.

~folkmotes~: the meetings of the folk or tribe: they met in arms in the Saxon times, and were presided over by the alderman.


14. FITZSTEPHEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CITY.

PART II.

~Tyburn~: a brook which gave its name to the place Tyburn, where the Marble Arch now stands.

~Westbourne~: this brook has given its name to Westbourne Park, in Paddington.

~Holywell~ may be remembered by Holywell Street, in the Strand.

~Clerkenwell~ is named after the Parish Clerks' Well, round which they used to perform their 'mysteries.'

~quarterstaff~: a long staff used as a weapon of defence, and held in the middle and also one quarter way from the end.

~tabor~: a kind of small drum beaten with one drumstick.

~consuls~: the chief magistrates of Rome: two of them with equal power came into office every year.

~senatorial~: appointed and controlled by the senate or governing council of Rome.

~venison~ (pronounced _ven'-zon_): the flesh of deer.

~cleric~: a clergyman.

~abbot~: the head of an abbey or monastery.

~magnate~: a great man, a man of great wealth and rank. (Latin _magnus_, great.)

~metropolitan~: the bishop of a metropolis or chief cathedral city, as Canterbury is the metropolis of England in this sense.

~ordinances~: laws, commands.


15. LONDON BRIDGE. PART I.

~Architect~: one who designs buildings and superintends the building of them.

~Jewry~: the district in a town inhabited by the Jews; for in early times the Jews were not allowed to live where they liked, but only in quarters assigned to them. The street now called Old Jewry turns out of the Poultry, on the north side.

~essential~: something very important and that cannot be done without.

~intercommunication~: intercourse; dealings between people which are made much easier by having good roads and bridges to travel on.

~La Rochelle~: a seaport in France on the Atlantic, some distance north of Bordeaux.

~Saintes~: a French town about thirty-eight miles from La Rochelle.

~St. Thomas Becket~, the murdered Archbishop of Canterbury, who was canonised, that is, named a saint after his death.

~titular~: giving his name to the bridge.

~crypt~: an underground or lower room used as a chapel or burying-place.


16. LONDON BRIDGE. PART II.

~King Edward I~: 1272-1307 A.D.

~haberdashers~: dealers in 'small wares' such as cotton, tape, needles, and pins.

~Hans Holbein~: a celebrated German painter who came to live in England and was introduced to Henry VIII.

~marine painters~: artists who excel in painting boats, ships, and sea scenes. (Latin _mare_, the sea.)

~'shooting' the bridge~: passing through the arches in a boat.

~Queen Henrietta~ was the queen of Charles I. of England. After the Civil War she withdrew to France, where she died in 1669.

~Rubens~: a very celebrated Flemish painter, born in 1577, died at Antwerp in 1640.

~Sir Thomas Wyatt~ headed a rebellion in Kent, which was provoked by Mary's marriage with Philip of Spain and the restoration of Roman Catholicism. He was about to cross London Bridge, but finding this impossible crossed the Thames at Kingston. The rising was a failure, and Wyatt was executed, 1554.

~Sir William Wallace~: a brave Scotch gentleman who led the Scotch against Edward I., who was trying to deprive Scotland of its independence. Wallace was finally taken and executed as a traitor at Tyburn, 1305.

~Jack Cade~ headed a rebellion in Kent in 1450 through dissatisfaction with the government of Henry VI.: 30,000 rebels gathered on Blackheath, but the movement ended in failure and Cade was slain.

~Sir Thomas More~: the good and learned chancellor of Henry VIII., and author of a famous book called 'Utopia.' He was executed as a traitor in 1535.

~St. Thomas-on-the-Bridge~: that is, Thomas Becket, to whom the bridge was dedicated.

~pageant~: a splendid show or procession.

~ex-apprentice~: one who has been once an apprentice.


17. THE TOWER OF LONDON. PART I.

~Dominate~: to lord over, to overawe, to be master of. (Latin _dominus_, a master, lord.)

~Crusade~: an expedition under the banner of the _Cross_ to recover the Holy Land from the Turks. Richard I. went on the third Crusade in 1191.

~antiquaries~: people who study ancient things.

~mediaeval~: made during the middle ages; the period, roughly speaking, between the time of the Romans and the reign of Henry VII. (400-1485).

~lieutenant~: an officer in command of the Tower.

~keep~: the strongest part of a fortress or castle.

~insignia~: the badges of any office.

~menagerie~: a collection of wild animals.

~Queen Anne Boleyn~, to marry whom, Henry VIII. divorced Catherine of Aragon. She was the mother of Queen Elizabeth.

~Lady Jane Grey~ was proclaimed Queen by the Duke of Northumberland on the death of Edward VI., but the attempt to prevent Mary's accession was a failure, and Lady Jane Grey was executed in 1554.

~Guy Fawkes~: a conspirator who tried to blow up the King and Parliament in 1605.

~The unfortunate princes~ were Edward V., son of Edward IV., and the rightful king, and Richard Duke of York, his younger brother, murdered in the Tower by the usurper Richard III., 1483.


18. THE TOWER OF LONDON. PART II.

~Allegiance~: the duty due from a subject to his liege the sovereign.

~Lord Hastings~ was executed by order of the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III., in 1483 for supporting the side of Edward V. and his relations.

~ordnance~: artillery, cannon, big guns.

~antipast~: aftertaste.

~clerk~: a clergyman, a scholar, because in early times all learning was confined to the clergy.


19. THE PILGRIMS.

~ague~: a fever coming on at intervals, with fits of shivering.

~isolation~: living away from outside communication, a lonely position like that of men on an _island_ cut off from the rest of the world.

~Flemings~: the people of Flanders, a district now comprising parts of Belgium, South Holland, and North France.

~Walsingham~: a place in the north of Norfolk, where was a famous shrine.

~Glastonbury~: a small town near Wells, in Somersetshire.

~Compostella~: a place in Spain where is the shrine of St. James, the patron saint of Spain.

~Chaucer~: the great early English poet, born in London 1328, died 1400.

~expiation~: making amends for, atonement.

~Holy Sepulchre~: the burial place of our Lord at Jerusalem, to rescue which from the Turks was the object of the Crusades.


20. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL.

~Endowment~: money given for the permanent support of an institution, such as a church, hospital, or school.

~Hospitaller~: one in charge of a hospital. The term is generally applied to the Knights of St. John, who built a hospital for sick Crusaders at Jerusalem.

~shambles~: a slaughter-house.

~Whittington~, originally an apprentice in London, became a wealthy mercer, thrice Lord Mayor, and knighted. He died in 1423, without children, and left his wealth for public objects, such as the one in the text.

~Dissolution of the religious houses~, carried out by Henry VIII. in 1536-1540 for the sake of the plunder they afforded.

~Chloroform~: a colourless liquid which when inhaled produces complete insensibility to pain.

~Norman windows~: that is, built in a style introduced by the Normans. The rounded tops of doors and windows maybe seen in the illustration on p. 44.

~lanthorn~: a raised construction on the roof, with horn or glass sides to give light.

~clinical~: in attendance at the bedside of patients.

~residential college~: where they reside or dwell.

~convalescent hospital~: where those who have had some illness may get quite well and strong again.


21. THE TERROR OF LEPROSY.

~Leprosy~: a terrible disease of the skin and blood, once prevalent in Europe, now mostly confined to the East.

~lazar~: a leper; one suffering from a foul disease like Lazarus in St. Luke xvi.

~congregate~: flock together, crowd with.

~stringent~: strict.

~statutes~: rules or laws.

~Book of the Jewish Law~: that is, the book Leviticus.

~ulcerates~: is afflicted with ulcers or sores.

~Mass~: the celebration of the Lord's Supper in the Roman Catholic Church.

~Burton Lazars~: a village one mile from Melton Mowbray, in Leicestershire. Here, on account of its excellent sulphur springs, the chief leper-hospital was established in the reign of Stephen.

~hereditary~: transmitted from parents to children.


22. THE TERROR OF FAMINE.

~24 shillings a quarter~: this is not far from the present price of wheat, which gives us cheap bread. But in 1257 24_s._ would be equivalent to at least 20_l._ in our money.

~retainers~: those in the service of a nobleman and wearing his livery and badge.

~Hanseatic merchants~: merchants trading with the Hanse cities in Germany (among which was Hamburg) who had formed a league for self-protection about the twelfth century.

~granary~: a place for storing up grain or corn.


23. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. PART I.

~460 feet~: the loftiest spire in England, that of Salisbury Cathedral, is about 404 feet.

~its length was at least 600 feet~: the present cathedral, the third on the site, is 500 feet long.

~shrine~: a receptacle for relics and other sacred things. (The word means a 'chest.')

~aisle~ (pronounced _[=i]le_) is the side or wing of a church.

~scribe~: a writer. In those early times so few