[1. THE FOUNDATION OF LONDON. PART I.]
Æneas: a Trojan prince who escaped from Troy when it was destroyed by the Greeks.
Venus, the Roman Goddess of Love and Beauty, was the mother of Æneas.
Troy: a famous city in the north-west corner of Asia Minor. It was destroyed by Greek invaders about 1,000 years before Christ, and the stories connected with it form one of the chief subjects of Greek and Latin poets.
Troynovant means New Troy.
Constantine the Great was Emperor of Rome, that is, of all the then known world from 305 to 337 A.D. He was the first Roman Emperor to adopt and favour Christianity. Constantinople is named after him, and was made by him the capital of the Empire.
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a British historian of the twelfth century. He was made Bishop of St. Asaph in 1152. His 'histories' are largely made up of stories, such as that about Brutus, which nobody believes now.
historical document: a piece of writing that can be used to prove some event in the history of past times.
architecture: the art of building; the style in which houses are built.
Cornhill: a street in the City of London running west to east from the Royal Exchange into Leadenhall Street. It was probably named after a family of that name, and not from any corn market on the site.