The Story of London

The story returns for a brief moment outside the normal timeline to ask ourselves some crucial questions- here, at the start of the Tudor age, what was the prevailing mindset of the Londoners of the period? How did they conceptualise themselves and a world that was brutal compared to our own conditions? How did they fundamentally differ from people living today? An important set of questions because it will hopefully help explain everything that is to come.A deep dive into attitudes towards health, diet, grief, alcohol, risk assessment and faith.Cover shows a detail of ‘Venus and Mars’ by Sandro Botticelli, c.1485

Welcome to the Age of the Tudors… and we begin with an busy episode filled with Henry VII’s immediate impact upon the city, a epidemic killing thousands and two Mayors, a marriage of a Mercer that reveals hidden insights into life in London, the formation of the Beefeaters, and why the merchants of The City and the new King, found themselves getting off on the wrong foot… all of this and more to be found in this weeks Chapter.Cover contains a detail of “A Young Man,” painted ca. 1490 by Andrea Solario.

Covering the reign of Henry VII, all the way to the death of his granddaughter, Elizabeth I, the 6th Book of the Story of London is an immense dive into the life of the city- its people, its events and its ever changing face. W wild and detailed account of life in London, where some of the residents were to embed themselves into our very national consciousness, and where the children of poor residents were to rise to the highest levels of society. A wild and fascinating journey lies ahead… welcome then to Book 6 of The Story of London- Glorianna!Cover features the ‘Whitehall Mural’ by van Leemput, after Hans Holbein the Younger, 1667

And this is it… a bumper Chapter as we focus on the event that was to change the history of London irrevocably; how the hell a complete non-entity like Henry Tudor was able to suddenly and dramatically take the throne of England; and along the way, have London witness an amazing local woman with impressive powers of reinvention; arguably the most awkward statement ever made by a king in the cities history, and the prototype of all future pushy showbiz mothers… Book 5 of The Story of London, concludes with the final twist in the Wars of the Roses.

The Wars of the Roses began their final spasm, and in this chapter we explore how Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Lord Protector of England, sitting in the mansion of a rich London Grocer near Bishopsgate, would, over a series of a few weeks, turn into Richard III, King of England. But more than the traditional narrative, it is an exploration of London in those weeks- what did they hear, what did they see, and above all, how did they respond. From mobs pouring into Westminster Abbey, to a significant moment of silence in the Guildhall, from crowds listening in stunned silence around St Paul’s Cross, to cheering the coronation, London witnessed and partook in all events. How loyal were they to this man? Were they indeed, as Shakespeare later called them, his ‘duteous citizens’? Cover contains a detail of The Princes in the Tower by John Everett Millais (1878).