Ludgate

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Ludgate
Ludgate Hollar.PNG
An old illustration of the gate c.1650
Ludgate
General information
Town or cityLondon
CountryEngland
Coordinates 51°30′50.3″N0°06′08.2″W / 51.513972°N 0.102278°W / 51.513972; -0.102278

Ludgate was the westernmost gate in London Wall. Of Roman origin, it was rebuilt several times and finally demolished in 1760. The name survives in Ludgate Hill, an eastward continuation of Fleet Street, Ludgate Circus and Ludgate Square.

Contents

Etymology

According to legend, recorded by the Norman-Welsh cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth, Ludgate was named after the ancient British king Lud. Lud was said to be the brother of King Cassivelaunus but some folklorists think he is a manifestation of the god Nodens. There are other suggestions for the origins of the name, although none has been universally accepted. Later writers said it was derived from "flood gate" or "Fleet gate", [1] from "ludgeat", meaning "back gate" or "postern", [2] or from the Old English term "hlid-geat" [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] a common Old English compound meaning "postern" or "swing gate". [3] [4] [5] [7]

History

Lud Gate and surrounding area in the sixteenth century (as imagined in 1895) Ludgate.jpg
Lud Gate and surrounding area in the sixteenth century (as imagined in 1895)

Ludgate is believed to have been one of four original gates in the Roman London Wall, work on which started in 190 AD. [8]

Ludgate in flames in 1666. Oil painting by anonymous artist, circa 1670. The Great Fire of London, with Ludgate and Old St. Paul's.JPG
Ludgate in flames in 1666. Oil painting by anonymous artist, circa 1670.

Anti-royalist forces rebuilt the gate during the First Barons' War (121517) using materials recovered from the destroyed houses of Jews. [9] The gate was rebuilt about 1450 by a man called Foster who at one time was lodged in the debtor's prison over the gate. He eventually became Sir Stephen Foster, Lord Mayor of London. His widow, Agnes, renovated and extended Ludgate and the debtor's prison; the practice of making the debtors pay for their own food and lodging was also abolished. Her gift was commemorated by a brass wall plaque, [10] which read:

Devout souls that pass this way,

For Stephen Foster, late mayor, heartily pray;
And Dame Agnes, his spouse, to God consecrate,
That of pity this house made, for Londoners in Ludgate;
So that for lodging and water prisoners here nought pay,
As their keepers shall answer at dreadful doomsday! [11]

In February 1554, Ludgate was the final setting of Wyatt's rebellion, when Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger arrived at the gate with part of his army numbering three or four hundred men. The gate was defended by Lord William Howard with the local militia, who refused entry to the rebels, causing them to retreat and later surrender. [12]

Ludgate was rebuilt in 1586 to the design of William Kerwin; niches in the facade were furnished with statues of Queen Elizabeth I and King Lud with his two sons; [13] these statues replaced medieval ones that had been defaced by Protestant iconoclasts during the reign of King Edward VI. The gateway was finally demolished in 1760 at the request of the local citizens. [12] It was still in use as a debtor's prison, so the inmates were transferred to the City workhouse in Bishopsgate. [14] The statues from the facade were preserved at the Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West in Fleet Street. When the church was rebuilt in 1831, they were sold and taken to Hertford Villa in Regent's Park, but were returned to the church in 1935. Elizabeth's statue now stands in a niche over the vestry door, while the others are inside the porch. [13]

Plaque marking the location of Ludgate Ludgate plaque London.jpg
Plaque marking the location of Ludgate

In literature

Related Research Articles

Lud or LUD may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey of Monmouth</span> Historian and Bishop of St Asaph, Wales (c.1095–1155)

Geoffrey of Monmouth was a Catholic cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle The History of the Kings of Britain which was widely popular in its day, being translated into other languages from its original Latin. It was given historical credence well into the 16th century, but is now considered historically unreliable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brutus of Troy</span> Legendary first king of Britain

Brutus, also called Brute of Troy, is a fictional character who is depicted as a legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, known in medieval British legend as the eponymous founder and first king of Britain. This legend first appears in the Historia Brittonum, an anonymous 9th-century historical compilation to which commentary was added by Nennius, but is best known from the account given by the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Londinium</span> Settlement established on the current site of the City of London around 43–50 AD

Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule. Most twenty-first century historians think that it was originally a settlement established shortly after the Claudian invasion of Britain, on the current site of the City of London around 47–50 AD, but some defend an older view that the city originated in a defensive enclosure constructed during the Claudian invasion in 43 AD. Its earliest securely-dated structure is a timber drain of 47 AD. It sat at a key ford at the River Thames which turned the city into a road nexus and major port, serving as a major commercial centre in Roman Britain until its abandonment during the 5th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coel Hen</span> Sub-Roman king in Northern Britain

Coel, also called Coel Hen and King Cole, is a figure prominent in Welsh literature and legend since the Middle Ages. Early Welsh tradition knew of a Coel Hen, a c. 4th-century leader in Roman or Sub-Roman Britain and the progenitor of several kingly lines in Yr Hen Ogledd, a region of the Brittonic-speaking area of what is now northern England and southern Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ludgate Hill</span>

Ludgate Hill is a street and surrounding area, on a small hill in the City of London, England. The street passes through the former site of Ludgate, a city gate that was demolished – along with a gaol attached to it – in 1760.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Lud</span> Pseudohistorical king of Britain who was said to have founded London

Lud, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's legendary History of the Kings of Britain and related medieval texts, was a king of Britain in pre-Roman times who founded London and was buried at Ludgate. He was the eldest son of Geoffrey's King Heli, and succeeded his father to the throne. He was succeeded, in turn, by his brother Caswallon. Lud may be connected with the Welsh mythological figure Lludd Llaw Eraint, earlier Nudd Llaw Eraint, cognate with the Irish Nuada Airgetlám, a king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and the Brittonic god Nodens. However, he was a separate figure in Welsh tradition and is usually treated as such.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beli Mawr</span> Ancestral royal figure

Beli Mawr was an ancestor figure in Middle Welsh literature and genealogies. He is the father of Cassivellaunus, Arianrhod, Lludd Llaw Eraint, Llefelys, and Afallach. In certain medieval genealogies he is listed as the son or husband of Anna, cousin of Mary, mother of Jesus. According to the Welsh Triads, Beli and Dôn were the parents of Arianrhod, but the mother of Beli's other children—and the father of Dôn's other children—is not mentioned in the medieval Welsh literature. Several royal lines in medieval Wales traced their ancestry to Beli. The Mabinogi names Penarddun as a daughter of Beli Mawr, but the genealogy is confused; it is possible she was meant to be his sister rather than daughter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Lot</span> Legendary Arthurian king

King Lot, also spelled Loth or Lott, is a British monarch in Arthurian legend. He was introduced in Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae as King Arthur's brother-in-law, who serves as regent of Britain between the reigns of Uther Pendragon and Arthur. He has appeared regularly in works of chivalric romance, alternating between the roles of Arthur's enemy and ally, and is often depicted as the ruler of Lothian and either Norway or Orkney. His literary character is likely derived from hagiographical material concerning Saint Kentigern, which features Leudonus as king of Leudonia and father of Saint Teneu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bladud</span> Legendary king of the Britons, for whose existence there is no historical evidence

Bladud or Blaiddyd is a legendary king of the Britons, although there is no historical evidence for his existence. He is first mentioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, which describes him as the son of King Rud Hud Hudibras, and the tenth ruler in line from the first king, Brutus, saying Bladud was contemporaneous with the biblical prophet Elijah.

Nennius is a mythical prince of Britain at the time of Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain. His story appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (1136), a work whose contents are now considered largely fictional. In Middle Welsh versions of Geoffrey's Historia he was called Nynniaw.

<i>Historia Regum Britanniae</i> Pseudohistorical account of British history (c.1136)

Historia regum Britanniae, originally called De gestis Britonum, is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons over the course of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation and continuing until the Anglo-Saxons assumed control of much of Britain around the 7th century. It is one of the central pieces of the Matter of Britain.

Trinovantum is the name in medieval British legend that was given to London, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, when it was founded by the exiled Trojan Brutus, who called it Troia Nova, which was gradually corrupted to Trinovantum. The legend says that it was later rebuilt by King Lud, who named it Caer Lud after himself and that the name became corrupted to Kaer Llundain and finally London. The legend is part of the Matter of Britain.

Mandubracius or Mandubratius was a king of the Trinovantes of south-eastern Britain in the 1st century BC.

Llefelys is a character in Welsh mythology appearing in the medieval Welsh tale Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys. In the tale, Llefelys is king of Gaul while his brother Lludd is king of Britain. The tale appears in the Red Book of Hergest and the White Book of Rhydderch, the source texts for the Mabinogion, and embedded into various versions of the Brut y Brenhinedd, the Welsh adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.

Pridwen was, according to the 12th-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth, King Arthur's shield; it was adorned with an image of the Virgin Mary. Geoffrey's description of it draws on earlier Welsh traditions found in Preiddeu Annwfn, Culhwch and Olwen, and the Historia Brittonum. The shield is also named and described by Wace, Layamon, Roger of Wendover and Robert of Gloucester among other medieval writers, and it directly inspired the description of Sir Gawain's shield in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

<i>Brut y Brenhinedd</i> Collection of Middle Welsh versions of Historia Regum Britanniae

Brut y Brenhinedd is a collection of variant Middle Welsh versions of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin Historia Regum Britanniae. About 60 versions survive, with the earliest dating to the mid-13th century. Adaptations of Geoffrey's Historia were extremely popular throughout Western Europe during the Middle Ages, but the Brut proved especially influential in medieval Wales, where it was largely regarded as an accurate account of the early history of the Celtic Britons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lludd and Llefelys</span> Welsh prose tale

Lludd and Llefelys is a Middle Welsh prose tale written down in the 12th or 13th century; it was included in the Mabinogion by Lady Charlotte Guest in the 19th century. It tells of the Welsh hero Lludd Llaw Eraint, best known as King Lud son of Heli in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, and his brother Llefelys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gogmagog (giant)</span> Giant in Welsh and English mythology

Gogmagog was a legendary giant in Welsh and later English mythology. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, he was a giant inhabitant of Albion, thrown off a cliff during a wrestling match with Corineus. Gogmagog was the last of the Giants found by Brutus and his men inhabiting the land of Albion.

Lady Agnes Fo(r)ster was a wealthy English woman. She rebuilt Ludgate Prison for debtors. Her accounts are extant.

References

  1. Walter Thornbury (1878). "Ludgate Hill". Old and New London: Volume 1. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  2. Bebbington, Gillian (1972). London Street Names . Batsford. p.  207. ISBN   978-0-7134-0140-0.
  3. 1 2 Charters of Abingdon Abbey, Volume 2, Susan E. Kelly, Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN   0-19-726221-X, pp.623-266
  4. 1 2 Geographical Etymology, Christina Blackie, pp.88
  5. 1 2 English Place-Name society, Volume 36, The University Press, 1962, pp.205
  6. Middle English Dictionary, University of Michigan Press, 1998, ISBN   0-472-01124-3 pp. 972
  7. 1 2 An encyclopaedia of London, William Kent, Dent, 1951, pp.402
  8. Ross, Cathy; Clark, John (2008). London: the illustrated history. London: Penguin Books / Museum of London. p. 47. ISBN   978-0-14-101159-2. OCLC   607246513.
  9. Timbs, John (1855). Curiosities of London: Exhibiting the Most Rare and Remarkable Objects of Interest in the Metropolis. D. Bogue. p. 538.
  10. Caroline M. Barron, 'Forster, Agnes (d. 1484)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 22 May 2017
  11. William Harvey (1863). London Scenes and London People: Anecdotes, Reminiscences, and Sketches of Places, Personages, Events, Customs, and Curiosities of London City, Past and Present. W.H. Collingridge. p.  256.
  12. 1 2 Thornbury, Walter (1878). Old and New London: Volume I. London: Cassell, Petter & Galpin. pp. 220–233.
  13. 1 2 Matthews, Peter (2018). London's Statues and Monuments. Oxford: Shire Publications. p. 70. ISBN   978-1784422561.
  14. Burwick, Frederick (2015). British Drama of the Industrial Revolution. Cambridge University Press. p. 166. ISBN   978-1107111653.
  15. Wright, Neil (1984). The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Woodbridge, England: Boydell and Brewer. pp. xvii–xviii. ISBN   978-0-85991-641-7.
  16. "...the Historia does not bear scrutiny as an authentic history and no scholar today would regard it as such.": Wright (1984: xxviii)
  17. Ackroyd, Peter (2 December 2001). "London". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009. Retrieved 28 October 2008.

See also