The History of London Part 20

~burghers~ or burgesses: citizens of a borough.

~Guildhall~ contains the necessary offices and accommodation for the guild or corporation, town clerk, &c., the City library, museum and law courts, and a great hall that will hold 7,000 persons.

~feudal claims~: demands made on their tenants by owners under the feudal system. Such demands were usually for military service or something equivalent.

~Matilda~, daughter of Henry I., and mother of Henry II., and widow of the Emperor Henry V. of Germany, was the opponent of Stephen (1100-1135) in the civil war of his reign. She gave London as 'a demesne' to the Earl of Ess.e.x, with the Tower as his castle.

~Danegeld~, or Dane money: a tax raised to buy off the Danes.

~Sheriff~, or shire-reeve, governor of a shire, was the king's representative in each shire: he collected the revenue, called out and led the soldiers, and 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.

~const.i.tution~: 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 n.o.bleman 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~ (p.r.o.nounced _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 a.s.signed 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.