facts about london

One of the first books I bought when I got to London in September was "London The Biography" by Peter Ackroyd. I had been very slowly making my way through it. It was too thick to carry around, so I'd read it for a few minutes before bed every night as a taste of the city I was exploring as much as I could after work and on weekends. I finally motored my way through the rest of the book and finished it a while back. In true history nerd fashion, I made notes of the points I wanted to remember / share with you. And I also made a point of going to see some of the things I was reading about. So, without further ado, I present for you several random trivial facts about the history of the City of London. This may turn into a multi-post posting since things are going to get typographically dense.

A few key dates of olden tymes:

BC 54: Caesar's first expedition to Britain. (First known instance of sub-par Caesar salad served in London homes)

AD 41: The Roman invasion of Britain.
c. AD 43: The naming of Londinium.*

* The name Londinium is thought to be pre-Roman (and possibly pre-Celtic) in origin, although there has been no consensus on what it means. It was common practice for Romans to adopt native names for new settlements. A common theory is that it derives from a hypothetical Celtic placename, Londinion which was probably derived from the personal name Londinos, from the word lond, meaning 'wild'.
** There is an excellent wikipedia article about the period of Roman occupation here

AD 60 – The burning of London by Boudicca*

* Boudicca was a queen of the Brittonic Iceni tribe of what is now known as East Anglia in England, who led an uprising of the tribes against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire.
** Read more about this amazing woman here.

AD 61-122 – The rebuilding of London
c. AD 190 – The building of the great wall
AD 407 – The Roman withdrawal from London
AD 457 – Britons flee London to evade the Saxons
AD 490 – Saxon domination over London
AD 851 – London stormed by Vikings
AD 959 – A great fire in London: St. Paul’s burned
AD 1066 – The taking of London by William The Conqueror

(to be continued)