WhyWaitForever - London - History

Contemporary accounts of great historial events provide an immediacy and impact that third party accounts written with hindsight can only approach. History repeats and those most involved in responding to unfolding events seem least able to learn from the experience of their predecessors.

London was a settlement at a point where the River Thames could be crossed with relative ease.

The Romans remodelled the settlement into a Roman city. London then had all the facilities of a major Roman provincial town. After the Romans retreated the city remained as an important settlement.

Outside London the Anglo-Saxons reorganised the countryside moving dwellings closer together into defendable groups. These became the villages and hamlets of today.

Written history began with the Romans continued with the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and expanded in leaps and bounds after the Norman Conquest. Today many people have heard of the Doomsday Book and the Magna Carta. Wat Tyler and the Peasants Revolt are first warnings that the world needs to change and for the better. Leaders cannot stand against the tides of history for very long.

To the three certainties of birth, death and taxes there is an inevitable trend away from belief in the irrational towards understanding and reliance on reason and rational thought. The reformation and the enlightenment are major factors in building confidence and setting the stage for the industrial age and the triumphs of technology. Progress results from a combination of a period of revolution followed by a period of consensus and peacemaking.

Be warned; reading contemporary accounts means visiting the minds of those times and seeing the ignorance and prejudice at first hand. It is shocking that zenophobia and racial prejudice stretch into our own time. It is comforting that the numbers today are so few.

1588 - WhyWaitForever - London - The Spanish Armada contains a contemporary description of the attempted invasion.

1605 - WhyWaitForever - London - Gunpowder Plot contains a contemporary description of the Gunpowder Plot (now known as Bonfire Night).

1649 - WhyWaitForever - London - Execution of King Charles I contains a contemporary description of the execution and aftermath.

1665 - WhyWaitForever - London - Great Plague of London contains a contemporary description of the disaster.

1666 - WhyWaitForever - London - Great Fire of London contains a contemporary description of the disaster.

Centuries of struggle over the rights of Royalty, Lords, the Church, Parliament and the people, underpinned by laws of statute and of precedent have forged our society and influenced the world.