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than that Edward the Confessor held his Witanagemot at London, 

 and built and consecrated Westminster Abbey. As the coronation 

 church of the sovereigns of England from the time of Harold, and 

 on account of its proximity to the seat of English government, 

 Westminster Abbey has acquired a fame and importance in a 

 certain sense outvying St. Paul's. There was a chapel here pre- 

 viously built by Siebert in honour of St. Peter, and succeeded by 

 a church in 980 ; but this being demolished by the Danes, Edward 

 the Confessor built an abbey and church in 1065, of which there 

 is now little left, and Henry HI. commenced to rebuild it in 1220, 

 but the building was practically completed by Edward I., though 

 additions and improvements were made by Henry VH. 



A wonderful improvement in the appearance of the cities of the 

 country marked the advent of the civilizing Norman. In the 

 second year of his reign, William the Conqueror granted the 

 remarkable charter written in Anglo-Saxon, which still exists 

 among the archives of the City of London. There are but four 

 lines and a quarter, and the size of the sHp of parchment is 

 only six inches by one inch. It runs thus : " William the King 

 greets William the Bishop, Godfrey the Portreeve, and all the 

 Burgesses within London, both French and English. And I grant 

 that they be all law-worth, as they were in Edward the King's 

 days. And I will that each child be his father's heir after his 

 father's days. And I will not suffer that any man do you wrong. 

 God keep you." 



Within a few years handsome buildings arose in all parts of the 

 city; and in August 1077 occurred a great fire, "such a one, as 

 never was before, since London was founded." This constant 

 burning of large portions of the city is a marked feature of its early 

 history; and we must remember that, though churches, monas- 

 teries, and public buildings were rising on all sides, and built of 

 stone, the ordinary houses were small wooden structures. There 

 was also in 1090 a tremendous hurricane, which blew down six 

 hundred houses and many churches. A portion of tlie roof of 

 St. Mary's-le-Bow, in Cheapside, was carried off, and was forced 



