therefore began to build the Tower, by means of which he could
not only keep the enemy out of London but could keep his own strong hand
upon the burghers. He took down a piece of the wall and enclosed twelve
acres of ground, in which he built his stronghold, within a deep and
broad ditch. The work was entrusted to Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester,
who left it unfinished when he died thirty years after.

The next great Charter of the City was granted by Henry the First. He
remitted the payment of the levies for feudal service, of tax called
Danegeld, originally imposed for buying off the Danes: of the murder
tax: of wager of battle, that is, that form of trial in which the
accused and the accuser fought it out, and from certain tolls. He also
gave the citizens the county of Middlesex to farm on payment to the
Crown of 300_l._ a year--a payment still made: they were to appoint a
Sheriff for the county: and they were to have leave to hunt in the
forests of Middlesex, Surrey, and the Chiltern Hills. They were also
empowered to elect their own justiciar and allowed to try their own
cases within their own limits.

[Illustration: TOWER IN THE EARLIER STYLE. CHURCH AT EARL'S BARTON.

(_The battlements are much later._)]

This was a very important Charter. No doubt, like the first, it was
stipulated as a price for the support of the City. William Rufus was
killed on Thursday--Henry was in London on Saturday. He must therefore
have ridden hard to get over the hundred and twenty miles of rough
bridle track between the New Forest and London. But the City supported
him and this was their reward.

We are gradually approaching the modern constitution of the City. The
Portreeve or first Magistrate, in the year 1189, in the person of Henry
Fitz Aylwin, assumed the title of Mayor--not Lord Mayor: the title came
later, a habit or style, never a rank conferred. With him were two
Sheriffs, the Sheriff of the City and the Sheriff of the County. There
was the Bishop: there was the City Justiciar with his courts. There were
also the Aldermen, not yet an elected body.

The Londoners elected Stephen King, and stood by him through all the
troubles that followed. The plainest proof of the strength and
importance of the City is shown in the fact that when Matilda took
revenge on London by depriving the City of its Charters the citizens
rose and drove her out of London and made her cause hopeless.

13. FITZSTEPHEN'S ACCOUNT OF THE CITY.