Why did London become the capital of England?

It’s a fun story!

Technically “London” didn’t become the capital until after the 16th century. What we now call “the City of London” was an entity of its own, the ancient square mile which Rome founded. And it still is in many ways. It was a power and money centre, even before the Norman Conquest.

Up through the Middle Ages, there was no fixed “capital” per se. The kings never stayed put in one place, they were moving about, and the capital was where the king was, not even where the government was. The government, at that time, were the king’s ministers who handled (get it?) the day-to-day jobs.
During the reign of the Wessex kings, Winchester was the closest thing to an English capital.

The first permanent residents of Winchester appear to have arrived in the Iron Age, sometime around 150BC, establishing both a hill fort and also a trading settlement on the western edge of the modern city. Winchester would remain the exclusive home of the Celtic Belgae tribe for the next two hundred years or so. Continue...

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