London

Who holds it

Name

Henry FitzAilwin

Title

Mayor of London

Since

1189 by the city's own reckoning; first named as mayor in 1194 (in office for life, until his death on 19 September 1212)

Born

Before 1165 (he and his brother Alan inherited their father's lands in 1165)

Family

Son of Ailwin; wife Margaret; sons Peter, Alan, Thomas and Richard. His house is behind St Swithin's church by London Stone; his country manor is Watton-at-Stone in Hertfordshire, with property at Edmonton, in Surrey and in Kent.

Confidence

high

The only mayor of London elected for life. The mayoralty grew out of the commune the Londoners swore in October 1191; no royal charter recognises the mayor until John's charter of 9 May 1215.

Lord in 1200

The king. The citizens hold the city and the shrievalty of London and Middlesex of him at a fee farm by John's charter of 1199, and choose their own sheriffs. The mayor heads the commune in fact, without royal recognition.

Overlord

King John

Allies and rivals

The crown, which taxes the city heavily and sold it the 1199 charters; the Tower's constable; the weavers' gild; the bishop and the religious houses with their sokes; Southwark and Westminster at its edges.

How things stand that morning

Self-governing under its mayor and sheriffs, loyal to John, paying for its charters. No disorder recorded this winter.

Wealth

Trade and tolls, rents and the exchange. No figures.

Military

The city walls and the armed citizens; the Tower, Baynard's Castle and Montfichet's Tower.

Threats

• Royal tallages and the quarrel over who pays them
• The poor citizens' grievances that FitzOsbert voiced in 1196
• Fire: the great fire of 1212 is ahead

Charter

Henry I's charter (about 1130-33; its authenticity is debated) gave the citizens Middlesex at farm and the right to choose their sheriff and justiciar. Henry II confirmed their customs but kept the farm in his hand. On 8 October 1191, when the barons and Count John turned on the chancellor Longchamp, John and the justiciar Walter of Coutances granted the Londoners their commune. Richard confirmed the city's liberties (1194) and in 1197 ordered the weirs removed from the Thames.

John's three charters of 1199: (1) a general confirmation of liberties with freedom from toll and lastage in his lands overseas; (2) the conservancy of the Thames, extended to the Medway; (3) the sheriffwick of London and Middlesex at fee farm with power to appoint their own sheriffs, notified at Bonneville-sur-Touques on 5 July 1199. All three are in force on 1 January 1200. Later and not yet: the charter of 1202 abolishing the weavers' gild, and the charter of 9 May 1215 allowing the annual election of the mayor.

Council

The mayor (Henry FitzAilwin) with the aldermen of the wards (about two dozen wards, each under an alderman; Portsoken's alderman is the prior of Holy Trinity Aldgate). The two sheriffs, elected yearly at Michaelmas, who also serve as sheriffs of Middlesex: for 1199-1200 Roger de Desert and James the Alderman. The court of husting meets weekly at the Guildhall; the folkmoot assembles at St Paul's Cross. The commune's oath of 1193 names the mayor and a body of skivini (echevins) with other good men.

Communities

The Jewry, the largest in England, around the street called the Jewry by Westcheap, with its cemetery outside Cripplegate and the chest of chirographs; in 1199 John named Jacob of London presbyter of the Jews of England. The Cologne merchants. Flemish and Norman traders. The Templars at the New Temple outside Ludgate (church consecrated 1185) and the Hospitallers at Clerkenwell. The cathedral of St Paul's under Bishop William of Sainte-Mere-Eglise (consecrated May 1199), the priories of Holy Trinity Aldgate and St Bartholomew Smithfield, and more than a hundred parish churches.

Fairs and markets

St Bartholomew's fair at West Smithfield (feast of St Bartholomew, 24 August), the priory's by Henry I's grant; the Friday horse market at Smithfield; daily markets in Westcheap and Eastcheap; the fish markets at Billingsgate and Queenhithe.

Militia

The citizens in arms muster under the city's banner, carried by the castellan of Baynard's Castle, Robert FitzWalter, as chief banneret. William FitzStephen (writing about 1173) boasted that London could put 20,000 horsemen and 60,000 foot in the field: a gross exaggeration. In 1191 the Londoners opened their gates to John and the barons and penned Longchamp in the Tower.

Walls and castle

The Roman wall from the Tower to Ludgate with its gates (Ludgate, Newgate, Aldersgate, Cripplegate, Bishopsgate, Aldgate) and the bars marking the liberties outside. The Tower at the east end (royal, Tower of London); Baynard's Castle (FitzWalter) and Montfichet's Tower at the west end.

Trade and crafts

The wine trade from Gascony, Poitou, Normandy and the Rhine (the Vintry; the merchants of Rouen at Dowgate; the men of Cologne at their Guildhall on the Thames, protected by Henry II and freed of its rent by Richard in 1194); wool and hides to Flanders; cloth (the king's weavers' gild, which pays him a farm and which the city wants abolished); furs, goldsmiths' work, the royal exchange and mint, the largest in England. The port at Queenhithe and Billingsgate. London Bridge is being rebuilt in stone under Peter of Colechurch (since 1176, finished 1209).

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. Michaelmas 1200New sheriffs (Simon of Aldermanbury and William FitzAlice by the city lists) take office.Depends on: The citizens' election Stopped by: Royal intervention
2. 1202 (beyond 1200)John accepts the city's offer and abolishes the weavers' gild.Depends on: The city paying Stopped by: The weavers outbidding the city

Places of note

• Guildhall: The husting and the commune
• St Paul's Cross: The folkmoot
• Smithfield: Horse market and St Bartholomew's fair
• New Temple: Templars' English headquarters

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The charters, mayor and sheriffs are well recorded; the ward structure is described from later evidence.

On the map: The city within the walls and its liberties out to the bars. Middlesex, whose shrievalty the citizens farm, is the shire record Middlesex.

Primary sources for England

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond, Jocelin of Brakelond (about 1198 to 1203). An inside account of Bury St Edmunds under Abbot Samson, written while the events were fresh. Read online
• Chronicle of Melrose, Anonymous (monks of Melrose abbey) (about 1173 to 1270, in many hands; the 1200 entries are near contemporary). The main Scottish annal for the year, kept at a Cistercian house on the Tweed. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Chronicle of the Princes, Anonymous (Welsh translation of a lost Latin chronicle kept at Strata Florida) (Latin original to about 1282, compiled from contemporary annals; Welsh versions about 1300 and later). The native Welsh record of the year. Read online
• Chronicle; Deeds of the Kings, Gervase of Canterbury (Chronica about 1188 to 1199; Gesta Regum about 1199 to 1210). The Chronica stops in 1199, so for 1200 the witness is the briefer Gesta Regum, which notes John's peace with Philip, the coronation of Isabella at Westminster on 8 October 1200, and matters touching Canterbury: the archbishop Hubert Walter as chancellor, the cathedral priory's quarrel with him, and the Lambeth college dispute lately settled by the pope. Read online
• English Chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall, Ralph of Coggeshall (about 1200 to 1224, in stages). Short but independent entries for 1200 from a Cistercian house in Essex: John's levy on the Cistercians and the carucage, the peace with Philip, the king's new marriage and the queen's coronation, and the death of Hugh of Lincoln. Read online
• Flowers of History, Roger of Wendover (about 1220 to 1235 at St Albans). For 1200 Wendover is mostly Howden rewritten, so he is a second witness only where he adds St Albans material: a long account of Hugh of Lincoln's last months, death and funeral, and anecdotes about John's conduct toward the Cistercians and his new queen. Read online
• Images of History, Ralph de Diceto (about 1188 to 1202). A London view of the year from the dean of St Paul's, who knew the justiciar and the bishops personally. Read online

22 more in the sources library for The British Isles.