archæological associations, their self-interest in preserving such a commercial prize, and the relatively vast importance of the city in the later Saxon period, there is sufficient reason to think that they did not destroy it. The continuous use of the Roman roads which crossed London from north to south and east to west is evidence of the continuance of ways through it. If the so-called Saxons destroyed it, they must have immediately set to work and have rebuilt it. Some buildings, repugnant to their religious and other ideas, particularly those in the continuance of which they might suspect evil influences, they very probably did destroy, but that the city continued without interruption there is every reason to believe. It probably grew as the Saxon conquest became more and more complete, and the country more and more settled. By the time of Æthelstan it had become so great and wealthy that it required a special code of laws of its own, and by the time of Cnut its wealth had become so vast that after his conquest he levied upon it a tax of ten and a half thousand pounds, equal to one-seventh of that levied on the rest of England, and this tax was paid.[1]
Another circumstance which points to the later wealth of Saxon London is that the laws of Æthelstan relating to the city are much concerned with regulations for the capture and punishment of thieves. It is clear that opportunities for thieves would be greater in a rich city filled with merchandise than in other parts of the country. We read of London first as a city controlled by Æthelbert, King of Kent. Whether it was or was not part of the kingdom of the East Saxons at that time is uncertain, but in any case Æthelbert was their overlord. We have no evidence that the neighbourhood of London was originally settled by people from Essex. Some may have come westward through the great forest, if the eastern part of Essex was occupied by Saxons at that time. On the other hand, there is considerable evidence pointing to this settlement around London having been
- ↑ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 1018.
