Before the grant of this charter, London seems to have been entirely subject to the arbitrary will of the King. But the liberties of the citizens being now guarded by so strong a fence, they endeavoured to secure their customs by converting them into written laws; and the several bodies professing the arts and mysteries of trade and manufacture, which had hitherto been kept up by prescription only, were now strengthened by being formed into established companies. The King however reserved to himself the power of appointing the Portreve, or chief officer of the city.
Upon the death of Henry I. the citizens assisted King Stephen in his endeavours to obtain the crown, and in 1135 received him into the city; but the next year, a dreadful fire laid the greatest part of the city in ashes; for according to Mr. Stow, it began near London Stone, and consumed all the buildings east to Aldgate, and west to St. Erkenwald’s shrine in St. Paul’s cathedral; both of which it destroyed, together with London bridge, which was then of wood.
In the year 1139, the citizens purchased of King Stephen, for an hundred marks of silver, the right of chusing their own Sheriffs; but that prince being soon after defeated and taken prisoner by the Empress Matilda, the daughter of Henry I. she resolved to be revenged on the citizens, for the assistance they had given to that usurper; and therefore, entering into a convention with Geffrey, Earl of Essex, she granted him all the possessions and places which either his grandfather, father, or himself had held of the crown, among which were the sheriffwicks of London and Middlesex: and also the office of Judiciary of the city and county, so that no person could hold pleas in either, without his permission. This compact was executed with the greatest solemnity; and thus the citizens were divested of some of their most valuable privileges.
The citizens soon after humbly entreated Matilda to re-establish the laws of King Edward the Confessor, which had been confirmed to them by the Conqueror’s charter, and to ease them of their insupportable taxes: but instead of granting either of these requests, she, with a disdainful countenance, told them, that since they had assisted her enemy to the utmost of their power, they were to expect no favour from her.