AD 1066-1500 Late medieval

The south-east was the most prosperous and advanced area of England in medieval times. The royal household was most often based in Westminster in London, Parliament sat there with increasing frequency from the 13th century AD, and Westminster Abbey became the burial ground for English kings. In 1476, William Caxton set up the first successful printing press in England at Westminster. The court was a focus for artists and craftsmen of all kinds. Noblemen and bishops built houses in or near the city.

London was the largest town in Britain – its busy port and markets made it the centre of English trade, society and culture. Its citizens ranged from wealthy merchants organised in guilds (societies), to paupers, all with a sense of their own worth. One of the clauses in the Magna Carta, signed by King John in 1215, stipulated that London should have ‘all its ancient liberties and free customs’. The Peasants Revolt of 1381, the first major popular rising in England, against the poll tax, began in Essex and spread to Kent before being crushed in London.

Constant war with France meant that channel ports and the southern counties bore much of the brunt of raising troops and ships, but they also meant work for shipbuilders, and all those who provided supplies for the armies.