e been the true character of the man and
the real motive of his action, it is certain that he had a large
following. When Hubert Walter, the justiciar, sent to arrest him,
"Longbeard" took refuge in the church of St. Mary-le-Bow. Thither he was
followed by the king's officers--described by a not impartial chronicler as
men devoid of truth and piety and enemies of the poor.(175)--who with the
aid of fire and faggot soon compelled him to surrender. On his way to the
Tower, he was struck at and wounded by one whose father (it was said) he
had formerly killed;(176) but this again may or may not be the whole
truth. A few days later he and a number of his associates were
hanged.(177)

(M117)

Two years before his death at Chaluz, Richard, with the view of aiding
commerce, caused the wears in the Thames to be removed, and forbade his
wardens of the Tower to demand any more the toll that had been accustomed.
The writ to this effect was dated from the Island of Andely or Les Andelys
on the Seine, the 14th July, 1197, in the neighbourhood of that fortress
which Richard had erected, and of which he was so proud--the Chateau
Gaillard or "Saucy Castle," as he jestingly called it. The reputation
which the castle enjoyed for impregnability under Richard, was lost under
his successor on the throne.

(M118)

Soon after John's accession we find what appears to be the first mention
of a court of aldermen as a deliberative body. In the year 1200, writes
Thedmar (himself an alderman), "were chosen five and twenty of the more
discreet men of the city, and sworn to take counsel on behalf of the city,
together with the mayor."(178) Just as in the constitution of the realm,
the House of Lords can claim a greater antiquity than the House of
Commons, so in the city--described by Lord Coke as _epitome totius
regni_--the establishment of a court of aldermen preceded that of the
common council.

(M119)

When, after thirteen years of misgovernment, during which John had enraged
the barons and excited general discontent by endless impositions, matters
were brought to a climax by his submission to the pope, it was in the city
of London that the first steps were taken by his subjects to recover their
lost liberty. On the 25th August, 1213, a meeting of the clergy and barons
was held in the church of St. Paul; a memorable meeting, and one that has
been described as "a true parliament of the realm, though no king presided
in it."(179) Stephen Lang