llow that Erkenwald built or rebuilt Bishopsgate. Newgate
was in existence under the name of Westgate very soon after. As it
opened near the church, it is surely more likely that Erkenwald rebuilt
it than the northern gate; but the history of this bishop is so overlaid
with monkish legend that we do not require any guesswork.

[Illustration: GOLD AND ENAMEL BROOCH (NINTH CENTURY).

_Found in Thames Street._]

In the same way Offa, King of Essex, son of Sighere, is constantly
confused with Offa, the great King of Mercia. That one of the two had a
house in London is very likely, and is noticed by Matthew Paris. But it
is curious that the great Offa's biographers wholly omit to mention
London. There were some half-dozen kings of the East Saxons after the
abdication of Offa, of Essex, and there is some confusion among them and
among the Saxon "dukes" after the submission to Egbert in 823, when we
may suppose the Kinglets of Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Essex assumed the
lower title.

Now, at last, we come to a document which throws light on the condition
of London before the Danish war, and the passage quoted from Green's
_Conquest of England_. This is a grant by Burhed, or Burgred, King of
Mercia, afterwards styled Duke, who married a sister of Alfred, and no
doubt abdicated the royal title when Egbert became king. In it Burgred
gives to Bishop Alhun, of Worcester, a piece of land--"a little cabbage
garden," as it may be translated--"in vico Lundoniae; hoc est ubi
nominatur Ceolmundingchaga," in the street of London where it is called
the enclosure of Ceolmund, "qui est non longe from Uestgetum positus,"
which is not far from Westgate. We observe the scribe's ignorance of the
Latin of "from," and his presumption that those who read the grant would
be at least equally ignorant. This grant throws light on the condition
of London before the great Danish inroad. There is no building of note
along the principal thoroughfare between the modern Newgate and
Coleman's enclosure, now, we may safely assume, represented by some part
of Coleman Street. Moreover, such an enclosure was possible. Also the
ground was occupied by a market garden. There is nothing about a Roman
city. There is nothing about a government, municipal or otherwise; there
is a king--not of London or of Essex, but of Mercia; and there is a
bishop, but he is bishop of Worcester. The date is in full--April 18th,
857. Several other charters occur in which London is na