There is some confusion between many Leofstans and Alwins, one of whom signs as moneyer the coins of Henry II. about 1160—Alwin on Lund. Mr. Round has shown that in 1165 a Henry Fitzailwin Fitzleofstan with Alan his brother were landholders, apparently in Essex.[209] Stow says that Leofstan was a goldsmith; but here he may be confusing another Leofstan, as this fact does not seem to have been given in the list of sheriffs. Munday contradicted Stow as to Mayor Henry’s grave being at Holy Trinity, and says he was buried at St. Mary Bothaw, and not as “avowed by Mr. Stow.” Stow’s authority, however, must have been this same list of sheriffs, for that notes that “he was buried at the entrance to the chapter of the Church of Holy Trinity, under a marble slab.” Mr. Round has done much to clear up the history of our first mayor in the Dictionary of National Biography, the Archæological Journal, and his Commune of London; but every detail is valuable of the head of the City Republic of whom the citizens said, “Come what will, in London we will never have another king except our mayor, Henry Fitailwin of London Stone.”[210] Henry was mayor for nearly twenty years, and was followed in 1212 by Roger Fitz Alan—can he have been Henry’s nephew?
Hustings.—This court is mentioned in the charter of Henry I., and in a passage in the so-called Laws of the Confessor the Hustings Court is said to have been founded of old in imitation of and to continue the royal customs of Great Troy. FitzStephen also repeats the legend that the laws of the city were derived from the Trojans, and the passage from the Laws of the Confessor was copied into the Liber Albus. It was suggested nearly three centuries since by Munday, that “Troy weight” is the ancient standard weight of London, and carries on the legend of Brutus to this day; but this is not borne out by the facts, although it is frequently reasserted, as in Brewer’s Phrase and Fable. Munday says, “The weight used for gold and silver called Troy weight was in the time of the Saxons called ‘the Hustings weight of London,’ and kept there in the Hustings. So an ancient record in the Book of Ramsey (sect. 32, 127): ‘I Æthelgiva Countess, etc., bequeath two silver cups of twelve marks of the Hustings weight of London.’”[211] This is interesting as an early notice of the Hustings Court, which is thought by some to have originated under the Danish rule; but the word “Thing” occurs in one of the earliest English laws. It was a Court of Record; the best account of it is given by Dr. Sharpe in his Calendar of Wills.
The Court of Hustings was not, it appears, necessarily associated with the Guildhall. A Ramsey Charter of 1114-30 speaks of a purchase of a house being completed “in the presence of the whole Court of Hustings of London in the house of Alfwine, son of Leofstan.”[212]
CHAPTER X
LONDINIUM
“London was built on the first spot going up the river where any considerable tract of dry land touches the stream. It is a tract of good gravel, well supplied with water, not liable to flooding, and not commanded by neighbouring higher ground.”—Lord Avebury, Scenery of England.
From the standing-ground of what is known of London in the Middle Ages, I have endeavoured to reach back towards Londinium Augusta. To set out adequately all the data that we have for reconstructing the Roman city would require a treatise from a specialist. I can only venture here a rapid glance in conclusion at the more salient features of the ancient town. Much in recent years has been written as to a still earlier London than that included within the circuit of Roman walls which held what is now known as the City. It is at once evident that the early city must have had a nucleus and a greater density in one part than in others; and every evidence goes to show that this earliest centre was situated on the east side of the Walbrook at the head of London Bridge. We have the facts of the position of the Bridge itself, and the suitability of the site; the evidence that important buildings were densely packed in this district, while outside of it they were more and more scattered; and also that no graves have been found within this area. Mr. Roach Smith thought that certain remnants of thick walls found near Cannon Street in the south and Cornhill in the north were probably parts of earlier city walls. He says: “Here and there during excavations, walls of great thickness, which may be referred to walls of circumvallation, were intersected. The extraordinary sub-structures which were cut through in Bush Lane and Scott’s Yard indicate a south-east boundary wall with a flanking tower. In Cornhill another thick wall which seemed to point towards the Bank of England was met with.” Then, in a passage already referred to above, he concludes that old London Bridge pointed to the axis of this earlier Londinium, the centre or carfax of which was at the intersection of Gracechurch Street and East-Cheap. He was inclined to place the earlier north wall along the course of Cornhill and Leadenhall Street, the east wall in the direction of Billiter Street and Mark Lane, the south in the line of Thames streets, and the west on the eastern bank of the Walbrook—an irregular square with four gates, corresponding with Bridge Gate, Bishop’s Gate, Ludgate, and Aldgate.[213]