ABSTRACT
London was by far the largest city in the kingdom, with a population of perhaps 200,000 compared with 15,000 in Bristol and Norwich and perhaps 20,000 in York. A city cannot feed itself; it must rely on its hinterland for supplies. For seven years, the harvests failed throughout Europe. Harvests improved in the new century, but the 1590s remained a grim memory. Starting with some general chapters on the antiquity of London, on its water supply and geographical position, and on the ‘Honour of Citizens and worthiness of men in the same’, he goes on to describe it in detail, ward by ward and street by street, so that as we read it we are transported back to the sixteenth-century City. No other European capital has received such loving examination.
