We return with the story as we examine the circumstances that saw a drastic change in fortunes for the cities two most powerful residents- for Thomas Cromwell? His rise in power and status, and his leaving of a physical mark upon the very fabric of the city.

For Thomas More? The opposite. The driven man, rushing headlong towards his own death, the circumstances of his life making it impossible to avoid.

And around this, a city on the edge of panic, the politics of the new Queen, and much more, as the Story of London reaches the end of the saga of ‘The Boy from Milk Street’.

Cover features the Portrait of Thomas Cromwell, attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger, c.1533, Frick copy of original.

This week we examine the tale of Elizabeth Barton- holy woman, prophetess, political demagogue and the figure who openly defied Henry VIII over his desire to marry Anne Boleyn. But her story is one which drops us into a world of religious fervour, popular discontent, and public humiliation, as her extraordinary tale reveals the unspoken opposition and helplessness to what the king was doing…

Cover contains a detail from ‘Portrait of a Lady’ by Rogier van der Weyden, c.1460, often erroneously said to be a portrait of Elizabeth Barton.

The complex and convoluted tale of Henry VIII’s break with Rome continues as the myriad passions of the King run headlong into his own doubt, a sudden need for international travel, the issues caused by him consummating his relationship with Anne Boleyn and more.

Meanwhile Westminster was being completely rebuilt, lepers were being cast out onto the streets, and murderous cooks are being boiled alive- welcome to London at the start of the Reformation!

Cover features detail from ‘Portrait of Henry VIII’, c 1520’ by unknown artist.

Surprisingly, the forces that drove the most dramatic changes in England, were born, cultivated and found expression within London. The Story reaches a moment of grand political crisis- Chancellors fall, parliament flexes its muscles, the capricious King makes up arguments as he goes along, and London carries on, providing intellectual and emotional fuel for it all. And while this happens, Thomas More, the judge from Milk Street, ascends the highest position in all the land, while still presiding over cases of London criminality, and being the face of the kings sudden desire to start killing heretics… welcome to the open salvos of the Reformation.

Cover includes a detail of the portrait of Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger (1527),

A episode that explores one thing above all else- the rather soap opera type melodrama of Henry VIII seeking to end his marriage to Catherine of Aragon; but while this story dominates domestic and to a degree international politics over these years there is more than just that happening… London has to cope with drought and food shortages, a brutal outbreak of Sweating Sickness, and a growing campaign of religious dissent within the city. A fraught two years indeed…

Cover includes sketch by Hans Holbein the Younger, recently identified by one team as possibly being that of Anne Boleyn; this claim is contested by many.

The mid-1520’s was an era where London was witnessing events both strange and tumultuous; Thomas More was leading armed raids into the homes of German merchants; the war with the Holy Roman Empire against France, suddenly became a war with France against the Holt Roman Empire; where Christmas pageants saw the careers of senior lawyers left in ruins and where a rich young northerner got into trouble for falling in love with an English girl with French style.

This was a few years where the cities life was following a simple trajectory, carrying on as it always did, with new livery halls, and wild bonfires and celebrations and jousts at good news… but behind the mask of the era, something terrible was coming.

Cover includes detail from portrait of Martin Luther, by Lucas Cranach the Elder, c.1525

The early part of the 1520’s was filled with many tales; royal bestsellers provoking a flame war in print; royal visits that saw new bridges built over the Fleet River; scandalous and brutal murders involving beautiful young noble women. Around them all, London continues, coping with mild mass hysteria, Mayors who refuse to take their posts, and a plague outbreak that causes the city to go so quiet with fear, that December it was known as ‘The Still Christmas’.

Cover art features portrait of Charles V, copy by Ruben’s from an original by Titian.

The story re-focuses itself on the city over the next few years; quiet ones in the chronicle of the place, and yet ideal to look over London and its sense of place. By the end of this decade it was to undergo massive changes, so now is a perfect time to remind ourselves of how it looked and felt; from the rise of the booksellers of St Paul’s Churchyard, to the blatant militancy of the Guilds towards foreigners regardless of the Kings fury at the rioters in last chapter; from the curious case of the murder of a tailor whose death started a debate that was to have huge implications in the years to come, to how its houses were built- this is an episode about its sounds, its smells, its people and more.

The city was poised between two ideas of itself- the mythic Troynovant, ancient, unchanging, defined by its traditions; and the imaginary Amaurotum, its dark mirror as reflected in Thomas More’s bestseller, Utopia. And of the event in distant Germany which was to herald in the new age…

Cover features photograph of The London Wall.

On April 30th, 1517 a meeting between an Italian diplomat and the King of England takes place in Richmond Palace. This starts a sequence of events that sees London that night suddenly plunged into a cauldron of violence- a mob of young men rampage from one end of the city to another. And yet… no one is killed. The damage is slight. The riot is over as quickly as it began.

But what comes after that, starting the following dawn, is one of the more horrific events in London’s history; something so traumatic, it is felt a generation later and impacts upon the city for decades. Presenting part 2 of the tale of the Evil May Day Riot.

Cover contains detail of ‘The Taking of Christ’ by Caravaggio, 1602

May. 1517. London is rocked by a riot directed towards the foreigners living within its walls, an orgy of violence forever known as the ‘Evil May Day’. But just how bad were these riots? Were they as savage as the authorities made them out to be… or is the memory of them influenced by the response of a capricious and vengeful king?

The Story of London examines the background and events of this event to try and work out why the city found itself plunged into a sea of violence that summer, most of it done by men in uniform. This chapter we explore the context- the background of events in Europe, England and London that fed into the riots themselves…

Cover contains detail of ‘The Taking of Christ’ by Caravaggio, 1602