with the other! To the east of the Wall rose the White Tower, to the west Baynard's Castle (where Ludgate Hill Station now stands). The city as we know it began to take shape. Cheapside became its great market. Landmarks with which we are familiar were in course of construction.

All over London rose Norman churches. Bishop Maurice began his 200-year-long task, the rebuilding of St. Paul's, which he surrounded with a wall pierced by six gates. St. Martin's le Grand, St. Bartholomew's, Smithfield, Holy Trinity, Aldgate, date from this time. It is impossible to visualize any city of this, or the succeeding, period unless it is realized that Christianity was the greatest force in life. Cities were composed of churches, religious foundations, and castles; the monastery was the great social force of the age: the guardian of art, science, literature, education, medicine. So great was the wave of building in London that it is said that in the reign of Henry I all labourers became either bricklayers or carpenters.

The Knights Hospitallers of St. John took up their abode in Clerkenwell, the Templars in Holborn, afterwards moving to Fleet Street in 1184. London Bridge was rebuilt by Peter of Colechurch. This was the bridge which was to span the Thames for 650 years.

Norman London was a city of castles, churches, and huts. The most vital thing in it was that sturdy civic independence which made it a unique city state among the feudal cities of a conquered country which yet had no nationality.

Plantagenet London (1154-1485):-An age of social and political growth in which London became one of the great cities of mediaeval Europe. The framework of the Government was constructed, the law was codified,

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and from the feudal system emerged the farmer and the free labourer. Troubles on the land, which culminated in the Peasants' Revolt, led to a general increase of town populations, in which, of course, London shared.

At the very beginning of this long constructive period of 331 years Magna Charta laid stress on the liberties of London. The first mayor of London replaced the port-reeve. The Eight Crusades (1095-1254) were a profound influence on London and brought her into direct touch with international events. During the Hundred Years' War with France, London shared with Paris the position of the Royal city. Henry VI was crowned king of France in Paris A.D. 1431. London had her first experience of social revolt in the rebellion led by Wat Tyler in 1349, and in this period Geoffrey Chaucer's pen "moved over bills of lading.'

What a brilliant, colourful city it was through which Chaucer moved to his duties at Westminster or by the river. From the windows of the gatehouse at Aldgate, where he lodged for many years, he looked out into open country. He would take the pleasant eastern road and walk over grass to the Nunnery of Stratford-atte-Bowe, where, no doubt, he saw Madam Eglentyne, who spoke “ful faire and fetisly." He moved through crowded London streets in which something was always happening: a king to be supported or resisted, a foreign war or a rumour of war, a pirate in the Thames, a great tourney, or a "riding " along Chepe, with the fountains spouting wine and the rich citizens of London casting gold into the streets from silken balconies. Chaucer's work is a rare storehouse of Plantagenet types. Between his lines we can read the first signs of the religious revolt which was to lead in the next age to the sweeping away of monk, friar, and pardoner. Wycliffe's Bible, the first

great English prose classic, assisted at the birth of the English language, and in 1362 English supplanted French as the official tongue in Parliament and law court. In London was staged the opening scenes of the birth of the English as a nation.

Just as Norman London witnessed the rise of the monks, so Plantagenet London saw the rise of the preaching friars, who, at the beginning of the period, arrived proud of their poverty, and, at the end, were as rich and powerful as the monks. Once more London saw a wave of religious buildings rise up. The Black Friars settled on the site which still bears their name. The Wall of London was altered in 1276 to include their building within the boundary. The Grey Friars settled in Cornhill and afterwards in Farringdon Within, the Austin Friars in Broad St. Ward, the White Friars (or Carmelites) between Fleet Street and the Thames, the Crutched Friars in the parish of St. Olave, Hart Street.

William Fitz Stephen, chaplain to Thomas à Becket, who wrote his eulogy of the City of London in the reign of Henry II, said that, in addition to St. Paul's, London possessed 13 large conventual churches and 126 parish

churches.

The City Walls were pierced by strong and welldefended gates. Originally, Stow points out, there were only four gates, namely, Aldgate for the E., Aldersgate for the N., Ludgate for the W., and Bridegate over the river Thames for the S. In the time of Henry II (according to Fitz Stephen) there were seven double gates in the City Wall, but of these the names are not given. They may have been as follows :-(1) Postern, near the Tower of London, (2) Aldgate, (3) Bishopsgate, (4) Aldersgate, (5) Newgate, (6) Ludgate, and (7) Bridgegate. Subsequent openings in the wall were a postern called Moor

gate, a postern from Christ's Hospital towards St. Bartholomew's in Smithfield, and a postern at Cripplegate.

The following few details of the gates of London may be added.

Aldgate, a gate towards the eastern side of the City Wall, was so called, it is believed, on account of its great antiquity. It was one of the first mediaeval four gates of the city, and had double doors. It was demolished in 1606, and a new gate, on a more ornamental plan, built on its site. Two Roman soldiers were represented on the outside; on the city side stood a large figure of Fortune and gilded figures of Peace and Charity.

Aldersgate. This was situated near the Church of St. Botolph. The gate had many vicissitudes. Its name is said to have been derived from the abundant growth of elder trees, and the gate is supposed to have been one of the four original entrances through the City Wall. The gate which Stow describes was taken down in 1617 and rebuilt immediately from designs by G. Christmas, who is also supposed to have designed Northumberland House. A figure of James I mounted on horseback was one of the chief ornaments, and was flanked by figures in niches representing the prophets Jeremiah and Samuel! Heads of several of the regicides were set up on this gate. The Great Fire of London damaged it considerably, but it was repaired, and in 1761 it was sold and removed.

Bishopsgate is said to have been so named after the bishops of London who maintained it. It was rebuilt in 1471 and again about 1731, and demolished in 1760.

Cripplegate. This gate, an entrance to the city through the northern part of the wall, is said to have borne the name Cripplegate long before the period of the Norman Conquest. It was not a main gate, but a