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© Saul Boyle 2022
Description
Welcome to The Story of London, a podcast dedicated to telling the history of London as a single narrative tale; from its birth until the present day.
Each episode takes us along that tale, a chronicle of the most fascinating and vibrant city on Earth.
There is a lot of content in here and each listener can enjoy it in a variety of ways. You can listen to an episode by itself for a slice of life from London’s past; or, if you have a favourite period of time you want to explore, find the era and follow the Chapters in that section.
Or maybe you want to join us on the grand journey, starting at the beginning and following along? Whatever option, welcome to the chronological tale of this amazing place.
The Story of London covers events as they happened, from the actions of the great and the good, down to those of the poor and marginalised. We try to be as historically precise as possible, sometimes stumbling upon little gems of history that change the way we see the past, and never take ourselves too seriously.
Feel free to join us… new episodes every week.
184 Episodes
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In 1497 a veritable army of about 15,000 men from Cornwall turned up in south London, intent on bringing violence to the City. What follows is a grand tale of the queen deliberately remaining in the city, the Aldermen arming themselves to the teeth, and the campaign that followed. Along with this we examine three years where the King’s health took a sudden turn, the career of Perkin Warbeck came to a bloody end, trade CONTINUED to be a complicated mess for London’s merchants, and much more. From decaying public landmarks, to royal palaces burning to the ground, to the ritual of bloody executions, welcome to London here at the final years of the 15th Century.
The events and odd circumstances regarding the strange royal pretender to the throne of England, Perkin Warbeck, are often overlooked, and dismissed, rightfully, as a minor footnote in the grand saga of the Tudor dynasty. However at the time, it reveals a regime in crisis- a crisis that was to force London to have a front row seat, and which started many themes that are going to repeat themselves in the cities story to come… the rise of the use of spies, Tudor entanglement in Ireland, complicated trade situations and above all, the Tudors using their family for political purposes, all really begin now in these few years, as London continued to annoy King Henry VII.Cover shows detail of ‘Saint Sebastian’ by Lorenzo Costa, c.1490’s
In 1493 a young german found himself involved in what was a seemingly minor affair, caused by an incident with a young woman, and a slight sexual scandal. But this incident played out as London was seething with anti-German sentiment and anger; people were being laid off, wages were being cut, fortunes were suddenly being lost and because of the actions of a small bunch of powerful and great men 9and also the actions of a young con-man pretending to be the Duke of York), London was to find itself dealing with violent riots, armed men on the streets and an international incident on Thames Street!Join us as we discover how a small incident involving a rich German merchant, a young female servant and her employer illustrates the growing conflict between King Henry VII and the City of London…Cover includes a detail of ‘Portrait of a Man’ by Andrea Solari (c1490)
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).
A bumper episode that sees London suffering a fresh outbreak of the plague, Banks collapsing, cheeky church robbers, the sordid details of Edward IV’s lovers (including his London born mistress), and the sudden and dramatic shift in politics… the King dies, a coup is pulled off and then a counter coup, all done seemingly with the consent of London. But as Richard, Duke of Gloucester emerges as the main power in England, sat in a Grocers resplendent mansion over by Bishopsgate, he finds himself contemplating if he is about to commit the sins of father once again… Cover art ‘A Man and his Grandson’, ca. 1490 (Domenico Ghirlandaio) (1449-1494) Musée du Louvre, Paris
The events of the Wars of the Roses caused many changes in England, but the impact upon the economic and political landscape of London, is often overlooked. This episode, we take a short break from the nobles, the King, the intrigues of the Houses of York and Lancaster, to just look at what was happening in London and on its streets at the time… and also how forces beyond anyones control, changes in population, in wealth distribution, in social mobility, and wider forces of economic changes across Europe, saw that the most political powerful of all the Guilds of London to date, the Grocers Company, stumbled, and then fell from the dominant position they had once held. This then examines why we feel we are passing out of the medieval world and into something new- a new world being born before our very eyes.
The Roses of the Roses SEEMED to be over; and King Edward IV began to consolidate his rule over the land. What follows are 9 years where London begins to try and regain its equilibrium while Grocers and mercers fall out over who stands where in St Paul’s, where we examine the much overlooked ‘other’ duties of the cities Sargent-at-Arms; where suddenly the Hundred Years War seems to be starting again, and where the young and energetic Edward IV seems to turn from a eager young warlord, into a fat, vicious and dangerous spider… bringing order even at the cost of his close family.
In 1471 London as a city came under a three pronged attack- well armed and well trained soldiers assailed London Bridge, Bishopsgate in the West End and Aldgate in the East End, while artillery showed shells from Southwark into London itself… one of the most overlooked moments of the cities history, coming as it did only a few weeks after a massive battle just north of the city in Barnet. The Story of London details one of the more exciting moments in its history with a detailed account of those mad few weeks.
We have reached 1469, and arguably the three most intense, most insane, years of the Wars of the Roses- the wild, forever unstable Kingdom was rocked as regimes rose and fell with alarming speed; two kings; two invasions from Europe; three separate governments, seemingly constant insurrections and rebellions… London found itself trying to cope with a failing nation around it. And upon its streets and within its civic buildings, drama and melodrama was played out, as the carnage began, with slow and terrible certainty, to draw itself closer to the capital.
Young, charismatic, intelligent, and highly popular in London, Edward IV seemed to have it all. For our city, his reign promised much, a new start, a new dawn even, of a king inclined to their sensibilities and with a long and prosperous reign before him. And yet, while the city became host to marvellous royal pageants and tournaments, it was still seeing show trials and executions, and the miasma of Civil War hung over everything. In truth, Edward IV was doomed, a young man who would never be able to solve the crisis the kingdom was in, and the decade, and this chapter, explores what went wrong…
After a weeks break due to ill health, the Story returns with an episode that unashamedly takes a short break from the grand narrative of the Wars of the Roses, to look at the politics and changing fortunes of London’s Grocers, Mercers, Wool Staplers and Merchant Adventurers in the aftermath of the city siding with the Yorkist faction. How did the city cope with the huge recession the civil wars had caused, and how did it recover… welcome then to Yorkist London.
The saga of London during the Wars of the Roses continues in this fast paced chapter, which covers one of the dramatic few months this nation has ever seen; the city had mostly sided with the Yorkists in the aftermath of the Siege of the Tower of London, but now they had to choose to whom they would swear allegiance to- and they did so in a most dramatic manner. While London as a community took one of the biggest gambles in the history of the City, events elsewhere rocked the nation as the size and scale of the fighting escalated into something this nation had never seen before…
1460… that one time, in London, the Tower of London started firing cannon and napalm into the nearby houses. Seriously. A chapter that explores the extraordinary moment when the Earl of Warwick took London, his father was placed in command of the city, and a small bunch of royalist nobles and a dodgy grocers fled into the Tower, and began a brutal stand off. The siege was an incredibly vicious moment, as the Wars of the Roses suddenly became all too real to the residents. Welcome to a bumper chapter exploring this amazing year in the tale of our city.
The Wars of the Roses are warming up, and London is trying NOT to pick a side… but the Queen is unleashing a smart campaign upon the city, turning Livery Companies upon one another, and political scandle rocks the community. This chapter is an examination into the full reasons why London ended up picking the side it did, as we immerse ourselves in the complicated world of the late 1450’s- dodgy Italians in London, dodgy Londoners in Southampton, a NEW war starting up in the north and medieval pirates making the city of London swoon… welcome to the chaos.
The tale of London in the Wars of the Roses continues as we examine the aftermath of the Battle of St Albans and the fall of the second protectorate of York; Italian merchants sleeping with married English women (allegedly), the King trying to make everyone hug it out, violent law students, prison riots, and a new wave of pirates- all form the backdrop to one of the most extraordinary moments in the cities history; the amazing story of how, over one later winter and early spring, a mayor tried to keep hundreds, if not thousands, of heavily armed soldiers staying in London, from kicking the hell out of one another!
And so we begin the tale of London in the Wars of the Roses, setting the scene, and dropping us straight into the city- as the Duke of York and the Duke of Somerset’s five year rivalry moves towards its bloody end on the streets of St. Albans, in London, the city was to see young Mercers attacking the homes of Italians, the Grocers company politically shift dramatically when one side is winning, to quickly following the other side, before just as quickly having to reverse course… and as disparate factions begin to come together due to circumstances in the rest of the country, a savage political protest takes place on Fleet Street… let the games begin!
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