When the Angles, Saxons and Jutes began settling across England in the wake of the Roman retreat in the early fifth century, the city they found on the north bank of the Thames was hardly a city at all. Within its walls were the great abandoned ruins of antiquity, ‘the works of giants’ as one Anglo-Saxon poet put it, and little else. For hundreds of years the site was patchily inhabited, but two features indicated its future importance. In 604, the first Bishop of London was appointed, leading to the continuous presence of Christianity and the founding of St Paul’s Cathedral; and down the river, the emergence of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Lundenwic near where Covent Garden is today confirmed the area’s prime position as a trading centre.
By the time Alfred repelled the Danes in the ninth century, London’s value had been realised, and the symbolic movement of the royal court from Winchester to Westminster under Edward the Confessor set London’s trajectory. In this episode, Rosemary is joined by Matthew Davies, professor of urban history at Birkbeck, to trace this story of London through the multiple invasions, grand projects and power struggles that took it from a field of ruins to a flourishing medieval capital.
Reading by Duncan Wilkins
Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up:
Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applesignuplr
Other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/scsignuplr
Further reading in the LRB:
Eamon Duffy on Westminster: https://lrb.me/lrep301
Ferdinand Mount on Henry III: https://lrb.me/lrep304
Tom Shippey on Alfred: https://lrb.me/lrep302
Ysenda Maxtone Graham on the Strand: https://lrb.me/lrep303
Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk
