Hello everyone, and welcome to the History of England, episode 120, who was then the

general man. Now then, last week what Tyler, Jack Straw, John Ball and their furious rebels

had streamed away from Blackheath towards London Bridge in the gate. Somehow they had

to get through that gate, they had to get over that drawbridge. But before we go on,

I think it would be good to back up just a bit, and talk about the state of London at this

time, both physically and politically. It could well be annoying many people, we have

a love hate relationship here in the good old U of K about London. Sometimes I hate hate

relationship, and I would love to be doing history of York, and Norwich, and Brazil, and loads

of other places. But hate it or low that London was, and still is a beast, and the epicenter

of political power. And it is all rather fascinating or I find it so. But sorry, okay?

Physically first then. I am going to refer to a map I have posted on the Interweb, which gives you

an idea of the main topology. With its population of around 40,000, London remained far and away

the largest town in England, and the only city of a significant size in European terms.

But it had fallen massively since its height of 100,000 before the plague. And even to keep

the 40,000 population up, it needed constant immigration, with a catchment area of at least 120

miles. But think about that, 40,000 people, and many in modern terms, it's titchy tiny, the size

of a small market town. The majority of the population is within the square mile of the city,

so put away your thoughts of modern London if you know it in any way.

Rightly or wrongly, I think of the middle of London as stretching from sort of Westminster

all the way to the end of the city. But in the middle ages, London was basically the city

and nothing else. Westminster was a separate town. So if you go to the map, you'll see the city

wall stretching around the city, and the bridge, that is at the heart of it. In the southern

...