Thus early London possessed a Government in which the secular authority of the portreeve combined with the ecclesiasti cal authority of the bishop. No new powers were given. The citi zens were confirmed in the enjoyment of their laws, which were the growth of many years. The king was their sole overlord, and would suffer none to wrong them. London's privileged position, dependent upon no man save the king, became a basis of its com mercial pre-eminence.
The Anglo-Saxon laws to which King William assented had raised London to equality with a shire. It had rights beyond the walls. Its f olk-moot, or general assembly, was an ancient insti tution, enjoying powers to discuss and decide matters that were essential to the welfare of the community. In the loth century there is mention of the Hustings of London—the equivalent of a shire court—which in modified form still survives. There is much to suggest that the sheriff presided. It transacted a large part of the work for which the folk-moot had become too cum bersome a body. The Norman portreeve doubtless was the suc cessor of the Saxon reeve, and Dr. Round has shown that Gos fregdh (or Gosfrid), to whom among others the Conqueror's char ter to London is addressed, was Geoffrey de Mandeville, the sher iff. The charter, moreover, bears testimony to the large proportion of Normans resident in London. In the state of settled security that followed, the ranks of these oversea traders were largely augmented. So long as William reigned, both the king and Lon don kept the pact.
It was less honoured by William Rufus, who oppressed the people by building his great hall at Westminster, strengthening the Tower of London (q.v.) erected by his predecessor at the water gate, and in the repair of the Thames bridge that floods had mostly carried away. Fire in 1087 destroyed St. Paul's and a large part of the city.
London supported the election of Henry I. to the throne, and from this king obtained a charter of liberties that is of outstanding importance, though it did not become really effective till King John, when encountering supreme difficulties in conflict with his rebellious subjects, was forced to recapitulate its provisions. The citizens of London were given the county of Middlesex at farm, and they were to appoint from among themselves one who would be sheriff over it. Elsewhere the sheriff (shire-reeve) was, and for centuries has remained, a royal officer appointed by the king ; his concern was with the collection of revenues, the profits of justice and the military organization of the shire. The delegation
of the royal authority to election by the citizens marks the unique position which London attained.
London enlarged its pretensions when, on Stephen's appearance as a claimant to the English throne in 1135, the citizens asserted that it was their right and special privilege, on occasion of the king's decease, to provide another in his place, and they proceeded to election. Later, when Stephen was held prisoner for Matilda, after the battle of Lincoln, the Londoners appeared by a delegation of leading men, refused to enter into debate and demanded that their lord the king be released. A revolt of the Londoners finally drove Matilda from the kingdom.
The rise of London's Mayoralty is associated with the reign of Richard I., and more especially those years when John (after wards king) acted as regent during the monarch's absence on the Crusades. Then was definitely established the rule by a mayor, to whose side was drawn a body of aldermen and councilmen, which has endured till this day. London thus became the first municipal corporation in England, and upon its model 28 mediaeval towns afterwards drafted their charters.
The corporation of the City of London has greater antiquity than the English parliament. It is not of English origin. The model is French, and the French title maire remains for the chief ruler. To the citizens the idea of a commune was not new. They had claimed to be such when they demanded Stephen's release. No public recognition of London citizens as constituting a body corporate is, however, to be traced. In France and Flanders this trend towards corporate life had rapidly developed in the chief centres of mercantile activity, notably Rouen ; and London, with its large trading activities, was not slow to profit by the example.
Not for the first time in her history, nor the last, the crown's difficulty was London's opportunity. Longchamp's tyrannical administration of England as the appointed representative of the absent king, Richard I., brought him into fierce conflict with John, the king's brother, who championed the popular cause. In the resulting deadlock, the London citizens made the acceptance by John of their "commune" the price of their support. The chroniclers tell that on Oct. 8, 1191, the barons of the realm and the citizens of London met in St. Paul's, deposed Longchamp from office and recognized John as head of the kingdom. Immediately thereafter John formally granted the commune, and took oath before all assembled to maintain the dignities of the city.