The people, places and events that have shaped our history and culture
In the sixteenth century, London had no international wholesale market matching the best in Europe, in particular the Antwerp Bourse. In 1571, a prominent City trader named Thomas Gresham put that right, when he and others financed the building of an exchange on a site provided by the Mercers livery company. Queen Elizabeth I opened [...]
Conflict and ConquestConsolidationThe arrival of the Roman Empire in the Iberian Peninsula resulted from struggles for dominance in the western Mediterranean with the Carthaginian Empire, located in present-day Tunisia Despite the efforts of Hannibal in leading a force across the Strait of Gibraltar up through Spain and into Italy during the so-called Punic Wars, Carthage [...]
Hung Drawn and Quartered26–27 Great Tower St, London EC3R 5AQ And now the FrenchWilliam, Duke of Normandy, was aghast at the news that Harold Godwinson had been crowned King Harold II at Westminster Abbey in December 1065. He believed he had been promised succession of the English crown by his pious uncle, King Edward the [...]
Williamson’s Tavern1 Groveland Ct, London EC4M 9EH Barbarians at the gatesWith a power vacuum in London (and throughout Britain) the Saxons and their allies, the Angles, had it easy. Without a military force the Romano- British were defenceless and the invaders practically walked in. The Saxons, a semi-nomadic culture, found the Roman stone walls and [...]
The Red Lion23 Crown Passage, London SW1Y 6PPThe Court of St James’s When Henry acquired York Place, he also purchased 20 acres of land to its west (from a Christian mission to St. James for lepers) and created a private royal hunting park. Here, Henry built a lodge to meet with his favourites and have [...]