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Why did London become the Capital of England?

The ancient square mile which Rome founded was an entity of its own. It was a power and money centre, even before the Norman Conquest.

By Anton BlackPublished 3 years ago Updated 3 years ago 4 min read
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Why did London become the Capital of England?
Photo by Jurica Koletić on Unsplash

Technically, "London" didn't become the capital until after the 16th century. What we now call "the City of London" was an entity of its own, the ancient square mile Rome founded. And it still is in many ways. It was a power and money centre, even before the Norman Conquest.

Up through the Middle Ages, there was no fixed "capital" per se. The kings never stayed put in one place, they were moving about, and the capital was where the king was, not even where the government was. The government, at that time, were the king's ministers who handled (get it?) the day-to-day jobs.

During the reign of the Wessex kings, Winchester was the closest thing to an English capital.

The first permanent inhabitants of Winchester seem to have arrived in the Iron Age, sometime around 150 BC, when they founded both a hill fort and a trading village on the western side of the current city. Winchester would continue as the exclusive home of the Celtic Belgae tribe for the next two centuries or so.

Soon after the Romans docked at Richborough in Kent in 43 AD, troops advanced across southern Britain, capturing Iron Age hill fortresses if necessary and imposing Roman law on the locals.

However, circumstantial evidence suggests that the Belgae tribe in Winchester may have welcomed the invaders with open arms. The Begae's hill fort seems to have fallen into decay many years before the Romans came. The invading Romans did not even appear threatened enough to create a military fort in the area from which they could control the rebellious locals.

The Romans, however, began to build their own "new town" in Winchester.

This Roman town developed over the centuries of occupation into the capital of the region, with streets arranged in a grid to house the magnificent houses, shops, temples and public baths. By the 3rd century, stone walls had replaced the wooden town defence, and Winchester extended to almost 150 acres. In Roman Britain, Winchester was the fifth largest town.

Winchester, Along with other Romano-British towns, started to decline in importance around the 4th century. Things appear to have come to a rapid end when in AD407 the last Roman legions were withdrawn from Britain.

For the rest of the century and early part of the sixth century, England entered what we now call the Dark Ages.

During these Dark Ages, the Anglo-Saxons established themselves in southern and eastern England.

From around AD430, a host of Germanic migrants arrived in England, with Jutes from the Jutland peninsula (modern Denmark), Angles from Angeln in southwest Jutland and Saxons from northwest Germany. For the next hundred years or so, the invading kings and their armies established their kingdoms. Most of these kingdoms survive to this day and are better known as the English counties of Kent (Jutes), East Anglia (East Angles), Sussex (South Saxony), Middlesex (Middle Saxony) and Wessex (West Saxony).

It was the Saxons that attributed to a Roman settlement the word 'caster. So Venta Belgarum, in west Saxon Wessex, became Venta Caester before being adapted to Wintancaester and eventually fixed to Winchester.

From AD597, the new Christian faith started to expand throughout southern England, and in the middle of the 7th century, the first Christian church, the Old Minster, was built within Winchester Roman Walls. In 676, the Bishop of Wessex relocated his seat to Winchester, and as such, the Old Minster became a cathedral.

Although born at Wantage in Berkshire, Winchester's most prominent son is Alfred 'The Great'. Alfred (Aelfred) became ruler of the West Saxons after together with his brother beat the Danish Vikings in the Battle of Ashdown. In 871 at the young age of 21, Alfred was crowned King of Wessex and set Winchester as his capital.

So, back to London.

The kings had no real power over London. Edward the Confessor, who was 'technically' of the Wessex bloodline but spent his formative years across the Channel and didn't have a sentimental attachment to Winchester, built an abbey in Westminster, west of London. He also constructed a palace for the seat of government. With these, he hoped to draw power and wealth from that citadel to the east protected by a massive wall.

Edward died in January 1066.

In October, Duke William of Normandy arrived to take what he felt was his by right. After the Battle of Hastings, he travelled toward London, that centre of power. Not to London, mind you. Toward it. He circled, burning his way around it. But he knew he couldn't breach the wall. He made a deal with the London peeps that they would retain their special privileges in exchange for recognising him as their king. This arrangement has been in place ever since.

Now, thanks to Edward the Confessor, there was a ready-made power base just to the west of London.

William was duly crowned king in Westminster Abbey. Over time, the Treasury was moved from Winchester, which became that historic city with one train station (London now has over 600 train and underground stations). Meanwhile, houses were built between Westminster and London, and Greater London was formed, eventually swallowing up towns and villages in a 600 square mile area.

Note that the City of London has no national government facilities in it, save the Bank of England, which is separate. Government (Parliament, Whitehall, Downing Street, etc.), the Palace, the national entities are in Westminster, but as that is in what became the megapolis of "London", London is the capital.

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About the Creator

Anton Black

I write about politics, society and the city where I live: London in the UK.

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  • Marie Cadette Pierre-Louis2 years ago

    Very well explained!

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