The Story of London

Continuing and concluding the saga of the reign of Lady Jane Grey and her brief moment on the throne, the story follows the dramatic sudden twists, that were to see a London haberdasher suddenly become most important man in the kingdom for a few hours, London itself erupt into a wild two day spontaneous celebration fulled by copious amounts of booze, and the unlikely figure of a woman already known to suffer from fear induced paralysis, suddenly stare down the government of England… and seize the throne for herself.

Cover includes detail of portrait of Queen Mary I by unknown artist.

In July 1553, London witnessed a new Queen- Jane Grey, cousin of the late teenager Edward VI. her story is supposedly this tragic romantic tale of an innocent young woman placed upon the throne by an ambitious father-in-law…

But as this chapter will show? It was no such thing. To London, Jane WAS the Queen, and the regime behind her executed an almost faultless plan to make her queen, and to ensure the smooth running of the state. But one simple miscalculation made what was a smooth transition difficult… and a crisis will suddenly emerge where no crisis should have been. Around this, London carries on, starting life as loyal subjects of their new queen… over 18 days in July.

Cover includes detail of portrait of Jane Grey.

The last two years of the reign of Edward VI were VERY busy for London; there was a economic crisis to get out from under; there were brutal storms which devastated Flanders, which the cities merchants could exploit; there was the successful removal of the rights of the German merchants in the Steelyard. But it was also a time that saw a brutal epidemic of Sweating Sickness, wild expeditions to China leaving the docks of Deptford, and the rise in power of the son of a man who once ran the cities first true secret police force… but while all this was happening, the teenage King got it into his head to implement a policy to change the line of succession- suddenly dragging the nation to the brink of a civil war, and threatened the stability of the Tudor dynasty itself.

Cover includes extract of from profile of King Edward VI, holding the red rose of the royal house of Lancaster, in a portrait attributed to the court artist Guillim Scrots.

February 1551… and in a small town near London a terrible murder takes place; a man is killed by his wife and a large assortment of colourful characters, and the case of it creates an uproar that scandalises London all that year… and beyond. The crime became immortalised in poems, ballads, plays, and over 25 years later was included in detail in one of the great historical accounts of the history of England. What was it that so intoxicated the Tudor audiences that they were drawn back again and again to rehash the details so salacious? In this special chapter, made to celebrate our 4th anniversary, we examine the most detailed account of this event to see what it tells us about the time, and to witness an amazing story of London Grocers, criminal soldiers, and children who helped murder their own father.

Cover includes detail of a cover of Arden of Faversham, produced by the artist Hugh Ribbans.

Welcome to the first of two special episodes celebrating the 4th birthday of the Story of London! In the years 1548 and 1549, London existed under the reign of the child King Edward VI, and his Lord Protector, Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset… and was heading towards a series of political crisis that would rock it to its core. And the opening one begins now…

We see the tale why London’s merchants found themselves at odds with the protectorate regime; how it witnessed the country slip out from under the governments control; how a political disagreement became a crisis, and how suddenly, London the city was presented by a terrible choice… and a moment where one man of the Common Council of the city may have prevented a civil war. All of this, and the awfully sad loss of the remains of London’s ancient Patron Saint… and this is only the open salvo in the disaster to come.

Cover art includes a close up of the window to St Erkenwald, in Soulton Hall.

The Story returns with the second and final part of the aftermath of the death of Henry VIII- the grand ceremonies of death and rebirth carry on within London, as the new child king is welcomed, before London gets back to its usual type of issues- Aldermen who don’t want the job, ex-monks smuggling body parts out of the country, worried academic types recanting their beliefs at Paul’s Cross.

But over in Westminster, the new regime of the King’s Uncle began to build up their courage to unleash a series of dramatic evangelical reforms upon the land, reforms which would see the churches of our city forever changed, and the fate of one such sacred space was to have a profound impact upon the country which we see to this very day.

Cover art includes detail from ‘Portrait of a Gentleman, Said to be Sir Edward Seymour’ by unknown artist.

We are back with a two part examination of the immediate aftermath of the death of King Henry VIII- and look at the impact of his death upon his family (especially his children), the government of England and upon how London reacted to it all.

A nine year old boy was now on the throne of England… this changed everything. Lets find out how…

Cover features a detail from “An Allegory of the Tudor Succession” c.1590, Unknown painter

We return after a short break, and tell the story of London during the final two years of the reign of Henry VIII- a chapter that not only documents the declining health and mental state of the aging king, but also shows how right up to the end, his regime was as deadly and as vicious as ever.

This is London witnessing the trial of a noble whose cause became one London supported… even if he was the kind of man to wander the streets firing crossbows at passersby. Welcome to a city which reflected the paradoxical nature of the regime itself.

Cover shows detail of a sketch of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, credited to Hans Holbein the Younger.

1546- a year which saw the full tyranny of Henry VIII bloom across London; when the city was not being forced to buy tonnes of surplus wheat from the King; when it was not celebrating the end of the War with France; and when it was not almost burning the wives of cattle barons… it was dealing with a great many things.

One of these was the closure of its legal red light district over on Bankside, an event which actually caused the spread of illegal sex trade; but it also witnessed a wild year wherein the 6th wife of Henry VIII came within an inch of being arrested for heresy, and an amazing, and bold woman called Anne Askew found herself suffering a horrendous death upon Smithfield. Welcome to the last full year of the life of Henry VIII- it alls it gory detail.

Cover features Portrait of Anne Askew by Hans Eworth (1560)

The Story finds itself in the last years of the reign of Henry VIII- and we find our metropolis a place where innocent simple teenagers are burned alive, where security clampdowns see curfews and house searches, where ships explode on the Thames, where thousands of men leave the streets to march out to war, where the economy contracts, where no one is safe, and where all of this is caused by an obese, diseased, angry, foul tempered man, playing games with people and dragging all down into insanity.

Cover includes portrait of Henry VIII by Cornelis Metsys.