London

===Early modern===
[[File:Siege of London (MS 1168).jpg|thumb|upright|The [[House of Lancaster|Lancastrian]] siege of London in 1471 is attacked by a [[House of York|Yorkist]] sally.]]

During the [[Tudor period]], the [[English Reformation|Reformation]] produced a gradual shift to [[Protestantism]]. Much of London property passed from church to private ownership, which accelerated trade and business in the city.<ref name="pevsner">{{Cite book |last=Pevsner |first=Nikolaus |title=London – The Cities of London and Westminster |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |edition=2nd |volume=1 |publication-date=1 January 1962 |pages=48 |asin=B0000CLHU5}}</ref> In 1475, the [[Hanseatic League]] set up a main trading base (''[[kontor]]'') of England in London, called the ''Stalhof'' or ''[[Steelyard]]''. It remained until 1853, when the Hanseatic cities of [[Lübeck]], [[Bremen]] and [[Hamburg]] sold the property to [[South Eastern Railway, UK|South Eastern Railway]].<ref name=EB>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Steelyard, Merchants of the}}</ref> [[Woollen]] cloth was shipped undyed and undressed from 14th/15th century London to the nearby shores of the [[Low Countries]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pounds |first=Normal J. G. |title=An Historical Geography of Europe 450 B.C.–A.D. 1330 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1973 |isbn=9781139163552 |pages=430 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139163552}}</ref>

Yet English maritime enterprise hardly reached beyond the seas of [[Northwestern Europe|north-west Europe]]. The commercial route to Italy and the [[Mediterranean]] was normally through [[Antwerp]] and over the [[Alps]]; any ships passing through the [[Strait of Gibraltar]] to or from England were likely to be Italian or [[Republic of Ragusa|Ragusan]]. The reopening of the Netherlands to English shipping in January 1565 spurred a burst of commercial activity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ramsay |first=George Daniel |title=The Queen's Merchants and the Revolt of the Netherlands (The End of the Antwerp Mart, Vol 2) |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |year=1986 |isbn=9780719018497 |pages=1 & 62–63}}</ref> The [[Royal Exchange, London|Royal Exchange]] was founded.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burgon |first=John William |title=The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham, Founder of the Royal Exchange: Including Notices of Many of His Contemporaries. With Illustrations, Volume 2 |publisher=R. Jennings |year=1839 |isbn=978-1277223903 |location=London |pages=80–81}}</ref> [[Mercantilism]] grew and monopoly traders such as the [[East India Company]] were founded as trade expanded to the [[New World]]. London became the main [[North Sea]] port, with migrants arriving from England and abroad. The population rose from about 50,000 in 1530 to about 225,000 in 1605.<ref name=pevsner/>

[[File:London - John Norden's map of 1593.jpg|thumb|left|Map of London in 1593. There is only one bridge across the Thames, but parts of Southwark on the south bank of the river have been developed.]]
In the 16th century, [[William Shakespeare]] and his contemporaries lived in London during [[English Renaissance theatre]]. Shakespeare's [[Globe Theatre]] was constructed in 1599 in [[London Borough of Southwark|Southwark]]. Stage performances came to a halt in London when [[Puritan]] authorities [[London theatre closure 1642|shut down the theatres]] in the 1640s.<ref>{{cite news |title=From pandemics to puritans: when theatre shut down through history and how it recovered |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/long-reads/from-pandemics-to-puritans-when-theatre-shut-down-through-history-and-how-it-recovered |access-date=22 June 2022 |website=The Stage.co.uk}}</ref> The ban on theatre was lifted during [[Stuart Restoration|the Restoration]] in 1660, and London's oldest operating theatre, [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane]], opened in 1663 in what is now the [[West End theatre|West End]] theatre district.<ref>{{cite news |title= London's 10 oldest theatres|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/london/galleries/Londons-oldest-theatres/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/london/galleries/Londons-oldest-theatres/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=27 June 2022 |work=The Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

By the end of the Tudor period in 1603, London was still compact. There was an assassination attempt on [[James I of England|James I]] in Westminster, in the [[Gunpowder Plot]] of 5 November 1605.<ref name=london_023>{{Cite book |title=James I |last=Durston |first=Christopher |year=1993 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-07779-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/jamesi0000durs/page/59 59] |url=https://archive.org/details/jamesi0000durs/page/59}}</ref> In 1637, the government of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] attempted to reform administration in the London area. This called for the Corporation of the city to extend its jurisdiction and administration over expanding areas around the city. Fearing an attempt by the Crown to diminish the [[Liberties of London]], coupled with a lack of interest in administering these additional areas or concern by city guilds of having to share power, caused the Corporation's "The Great Refusal", a decision which largely continues to account for the unique governmental status of the [[City of London|City]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Doolittle |first1=Ian |year=2014 |title='The Great Refusal': Why Does the City of London Corporation Only Govern the Square Mile? |journal=The London Journal |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=21–36 |doi=10.1179/0305803413Z.00000000038 |s2cid=159791907}}</ref>

In the [[English Civil War]], the majority of Londoners supported the [[Roundhead|Parliamentary]] cause. After an initial advance by the [[Cavaliers|Royalists]] in 1642, culminating in the battles of [[Battle of Brentford (1642)|Brentford]] and [[Battle of Turnham Green|Turnham Green]], London was surrounded by a defensive perimeter wall known as the [[Lines of Communication (London)|Lines of Communication]]. The lines were built by up to 20,000 people, and were completed in under two months.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Flintham |first=David |title=London |url=http://www.fortified-places.com/london/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116190923/http://www.fortified-places.com/london/ |archive-date=16 January 2009 |access-date=28 March 2021 |website=Fortified Places}}</ref>
The fortifications failed their only test when the [[New Model Army]] entered London in 1647,<ref>Harrington, Peter (2003). ''English Civil War Fortifications 1642–51'', Volume 9 of Fortress, 9, Osprey Publishing, {{ISBN|1-84176-604-6}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dKwKIiqAnlkC&pg=PA57 p. 57]</ref> and they were levelled by Parliament the same year.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Flintham |first=David |title=London |url=http://www.fortified-places.com/london/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116190923/http://www.fortified-places.com/london/|archive-date=16 January 2009 |access-date=28 March 2021 |website=Fortified Places}}{{Cite book |title=The English Civil War: A contemporary account (v. 1) |publisher=Caliban Books |others=Wencelaus Hollar (Illustrator), Christopher Hill (Introduction) |isbn=978-1850660316 |editor-last=Razzell |editor-first=Peter |publication-date=1 January 1996 |editor-last2=Razzell |editor-first2=Edward}}{{Cite book |last=Gardiner |first=Samuel R. |title=History of the Great Civil War, 1642-1649 |date=18 December 2016 |publisher=Forgotten Books |isbn=978-1334658464 |volume=3 |publication-date=16 July 2017 |pages=218}}</ref>

[[File:Great Fire London.jpg|thumb|The [[Great Fire of London]] destroyed many parts of the city in 1666.]]
London was [[Bubonic plague|plagued]] by disease in the early 17th century,<ref name=london_024>{{Cite web |url=http://urbanrim.org.uk/plague%20list.htm |title=A List of National Epidemics of Plague in England 1348–1665 |publisher=Urban Rim |date=4 December 2009 |access-date=3 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090508010316/http://urbanrim.org.uk/plague%20list.htm |archive-date=8 May 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> culminating in the [[Great Plague of London|Great Plague]] of 1665–1666, which killed up to 100,000 people, or a fifth of the population.<ref name=london_024/>

The [[Great Fire of London]] broke out in 1666 in Pudding Lane in the city and quickly swept through the wooden buildings.<ref name="Samuel Pepys' Diary">{{Cite book |last=Pepys |first=Samuel |author-link=Samuel Pepys |title=The Diary of Samuel Pepys |volume=45: August/September 1666 |date=2 September 1666 |publisher=Univ of California Press |orig-year=1893 |editor=[[Mynors Bright]] (decipherer) |editor2=[[Henry B. Wheatley]] |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4167/pg4167.html |isbn=978-0-520-22167-3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813025236/http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4167/pg4167.html |archive-date=13 August 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> Rebuilding took over ten years and was supervised by polymath [[Robert Hooke]].<ref name="london_026">{{Cite web |last=Schofield |first=John |date=17 February 2011 |title=BBC – History – British History in depth: London After the Great Fire |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/after_fire_01.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410000142/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/after_fire_02.shtml |archive-date=10 April 2009 |access-date=29 March 2021 |publisher=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref> In 1708 [[Christopher Wren]]'s masterpiece, [[St Paul's Cathedral]], was completed. During the [[Georgian era]], new districts such as [[Mayfair]] were formed in the west; new bridges over the Thames encouraged development in [[South London]]. In the east, the [[Port of London]] expanded downstream. London's development as an international [[financial centre]] matured for much of the 18th century.<ref name='Finance Hub'>{{cite news |title=Amsterdam and London as financial centers in the eighteenth century |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/financial-history-review/article/abs/amsterdam-and-london-as-financial-centers-in-the-eighteenth-century1/8B23F8D271B1BCD05594064523600E85 |access-date=4 July 2022 |work=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>

In 1762, [[George III of Great Britain|George III]] acquired [[Buckingham Palace|Buckingham House]], which was enlarged over the next 75 years. During the 18th century, London was said to be dogged by crime,<ref>''Hell on Earth, or the Town in an Uproar'' (anon., London 1729). Jarndyce Autumn Miscellany catalogue, London: 2021.</ref> and the [[Bow Street Runners]] were established in 1750 as a professional police force.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2001 |title=PBS – Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street|url=https://www.pbs.org/kqed/demonbarber/madding/thieftaker.html |access-date=28 March 2021 |publisher=PBS}}</ref> Epidemics during the 1720s and 30s saw most children born in the city die before reaching their fifth birthday.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harris |first=Rhian |date=5 October 2012 |title=History – The Foundling Hospital|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/foundling_01.shtml |access-date=28 March 2021 |publisher=[[BBC]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>

[[coffeehouse|Coffee-houses]] became a popular place to debate ideas, as growing [[literacy]] and development of the [[printing press]] made news widely available, with [[Fleet Street]] becoming the centre of the British press. The invasion of Amsterdam by Napoleonic armies led many financiers to relocate to London and the first London international issue was arranged in 1817. Around the same time, the [[Royal Navy]] became the world's leading war fleet, acting as a major deterrent to potential economic adversaries. The repeal of the [[Corn Laws]] in 1846 was specifically aimed at weakening Dutch economic power. London then overtook Amsterdam as the leading international financial centre.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yor4DAAAQBAJ |title=Finance Masters: A Brief History of International Financial Centers in the Last Millennium |last=Coispeau |first=Olivier |date=2016 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-981-310-884-4}}</ref>