London, 1100-1600: The archaeology of a capital city

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Since the early 1970s the increasingly effective conduct of archaeological work in the City of London and surrounding parts of the conurbation have revolutionised our view of the development and European importance of London between 1100 and 1600. There have been hundreds of archaeological excavations of every type of site, from the cathedral to chapels, palaces to outhouses, bridges, wharves, streams, fields, kilns, roads and lanes. The study of the material culture of Londoners over these five centuries has begun in earnest, based on thousands of accurately dated artefacts, especially found along the waterfront. Work by documentary historians has complemented and filled out the new picture.

This book, written by an archaeologist who has been at the centre of this study since 1974, will summarise the main findings and new suggestions about the development of the City, its ups and downs through the Black Death and the Dissolution of the Monasteries; its place in Europe as a capital city with great architecture and relations with many other parts of Europe, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean.

London has been the most intensively studied medieval city in Europe by archaeologists, due to the pace of development especially since the 1970s. Thus although this will be a study of a single medieval city, it will be a major contribution to the Archaeology of Europe, 1100-1600.

John Schofield retired as Curator of Architecture at the Museum of London in 2008. He has been an archaeologist with the Museum since 1974 and has written several well-received books about medieval towns and buildings including The Building of London from the Conquest to the Great Fire (3rd edition, 1999), Medieval London Houses, (2nd edition, 2003) and (with Alan Vince) Medieval Towns (2nd edition, 2003).