large body of handicraftsmen as Winchester. During the doubtful period
of Danish and English struggles, the archbishop apparently exercised
quasi-royal authority over the English burghers themselves.

Among the cathedral towns the most important were Canterbury
(Cant-wara-byrig), the old capital of Kent and metropolis of all
England, which seems to have contained a relatively large trading
population; Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, first the royal city of the West
Saxons, and afterwards the seat of the exiled bishopric of Lincoln;
Rochester (Hrofes-ceaster), the old capital of the West Kentings, and
seat of their bishop: and Worcester (Wigorna-ceaster), the chief town of
the Huiccii. Of the monastic towns the chief were Peterborough (Burh),
Ely (Elig), and Glastonbury (Glæstingabyrig). Bath, Amesbury,
Colchester, Lincoln, Chester, and other towns of Roman origin were also
important. Exeter, the old capital of the West Welsh, situated at the
tidal head of the Exe, had considerable trade. Oxford was a place of
traffic and a fortified town. Hastings, Dover, and the other south-coast
ports had some communications with France. The only other places of any
note were Chippenham, Bensington, and Aylesbury; Northampton and
Southampton; Bamborough; the fortified posts built by Eadward and
Æthelflæd; and the Danish boroughs of Bedford, Derby, Leicester,
Stamford, Nottingham, and Huntingdon. The Witena-gemots and the synods
took place in any town, irrespective of size, according to royal
convenience. But as early as the days of Cnut, London was beginning to
be felt as the real centre of national life: and Eadward the Confessor,
by founding Westminster Abbey, made it practically the home of the
kings. The Conqueror "wore his crown on Eastertide at Winchester; on
Pentecost at Westminster; and on Midwinter at Gloucester:" which
probably marks the relative position of the three towns as the chief
places in the old West Saxon realm at least. Under Æthelstan, London had