Gloucester has always been a town of importance, owing to its situation.
A Roman camp was formed here in A.D. 43, and later it was fortified with
a massive wall (of which the traces still survive), as befitted a
military post equal in importance to Cirencester, Winchester,
Chichester, and Colchester. Much of modern Gloucester rests on Roman
foundations.

After the Romans left Britain in 410 A.D., the country suffered from the
struggles between its petty kings, and from the invading hosts of the
Angles, Jutes, and Saxons. In the end Gloucester, or Gleawan-ceastre,
became one of the chief cities of the Mercian kingdom. Alfred held a
Witan in the town in 896. Athelstan--the reputed founder of St. John's
church--died in it in 940. King Edgar resided there in 965. Hardicanute
and Edward the Confessor both held Witans here, but William the
Conqueror must always be the central figure in the long line of notable
men connected with Gloucester. It was in Gloucester that he spent his
Christmas vacations when he could, and it was in the Chapter-House that
he took "deep speech" with his wise men, and ordered the compilation of
Domesday Book. His son and successor was often at Gloucester, and as
Professor Freeman wrote, "in the reign of Rufus almost everything that
happened at all, somehow contrived to happen at Gloucester." His death
was prophesied by the Abbot of Shrewsbury in a sermon in the Abbey, and
warning was sent to the king, but it was of no effect.

Henry I., Henry II., and John were frequently in the town, and the
youthful Henry III. was crowned in the Abbey in 1216. Later on he was
imprisoned in Gloucester by Sir Simon de Montfort. Edward I. held a
Parliament, which passed the celebrated Statutes of Gloucester. Edward
II., foully murdered in Berkeley Castle, was buried in the choir of the
Abbey.

Richard II., in 1378, held his famous Parliament in the Abbey precincts.
In this Parliament the House of Commons secured for itself the right of
controlling the financial arrangements of the nation.

Henry IV. and V. assembled their Parliaments in Gloucester, and from
Gloucester Richard III. is said to have issued the death-warrant of his
nephews. Henry VII. was well received as Earl of Richmond, when he
passed through the town on his way to Bosworth Field. Henry VIII., with
Anne Boleyn, is said to have spent a week in what is now the Deanery.
Later he visited the neighbourhood with Jane Seymour. Elizabeth visited
the tow