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Gloucester Today |
Middle Ages |
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When Britain dropped out of the Roman Empire, Glevum did not disappear. The Anglo-Saxons still called it a city when they captured it over a century later. Roman Glevum became Medieval Gloucester. |
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Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans
After the Romans withdrew, Gloucester's fortunes rapidly declined and its population abandoned the once magnificent Roman buildings. By the end of the fifth century the town was in ruins and in the sixth century it was overrun by the invading Anglo Saxons.
The Anglo-Saxons re-settled Gloucester and created a new town, using the Roman street pattern to create a new urban community. Much of the layout of central Gloucester is from this period and the city's oldest standing structure is the Anglo Saxon nave wall of St. Oswald's Priory.
Gloucester's strategic, attractive location ensured that it would grow in importance and by the end of the ninth century it was booming again. After the Norman Conquest a large castle was built where Gloucester Prison now stands. From Viking invasions to the Wars of the Roses, Gloucester had to fight and the Castle was besieged several times.
In 1085 William the Conqueror held a Great Court in Gloucester where he commissioned the Doomsday Book. St. Peter's Abbey, of which the crypt and the magnificent nave and arcades of Gloucester Cathedral still survive, was founded in 1089. By now Gloucester was a city of great prestige and importance. Huge churches and monasteries were built alongside great halls, bustling streets and densely packed houses and shops.
In 1216, Henry III was crowned in St. Peter's Abbey and went on to allocate funds for the construction of the Greyfriars, (1231), Blackfriars (1239) and Whitefriars (1268) monasteries. 1327 witnessed the murder of Edward II in Berkeley Castle and his body was brought to St. Peter's Abbey for burial. His tomb became a site of pilgrimage, creating great wealth for the Abbey and the city. St. Peter's was greatly extended during the next 50 years, during which time the finest fan vaulting in England was created in its magnificent Cloisters. The magnificent English Perpendicular Tower was completed in 1450 as was the New Inn, a timber framed courtyard hostelry which survives today almost complete.
Timeline > Middle Ages