The History of England, Volume I Stephen Matilda crowned
by David Hume
The only laymen summoned to this council, which decided the fate of
the crown, were the Londoners; and even these were required not to
give their opinion but to submit to the decrees of the synod. The
deputies of London, however, were not so passive: they insisted that
their king should be delivered from prison; but were told by the
legate, that it became not the Londoners, who were regarded as
noblemen in England, to take part with those barons, who had basely
forsaken their lord in battle, and who had treated the holy church
with contumely [e]: it is with reason that the citizens of London
assumed so much authority, if it be true, what is related by
Fitz-Stephen, a contemporary author, that that city could at this time
bring into the field no less than eighty thousand combatants [f].
[ [e] W. Malmes. p. 188. [f] P. 4. Were this account to be depended
on, London must at that time have contained near four hundred thousand
inhabitants, which is above double the number it contained at the
death of Queen Elizabeth. But these loose calculations, or rather
guesses, deserve very little credit. Peter of Blois, a contemporary
writer, and a man of sense, says there were then only forty thousand
inhabitants in London, which is much more likely. See Epist. 151.
What Fitz-Stephen says of the prodigious riches, splendour, and
commerce of London, proves only the great poverty of the other towns
of the kingdom, and indeed of all the northern parts of Europe.]
