Roman Gloucester Glevum was established around AD 48 at an important crossing of the River Severn and near to the
Fosse Way, the early front line after the Roman invasion of Britain. Initially, a Roman fort was established at present-day Kingsholm. Twenty years later, a larger legionary fortress was built on slightly higher ground nearby, centred on present-day Gloucester Cross, and a civilian settlement grew around it. Probably the Roman Legion
XX Valeria Victrix was based here until 66 and then
Legio II Augusta as they prepared to invade Roman Wales between 66 and 74 AD, who stayed later until around 87. Gloucester became a
Colonia in 97 as
Colonia Nervia Glevensium, or
Glevum, in the reign of
Nerva. It is likely that Glevum became the provincial capital of
Britannia Prima. • Many archaeological artifacts and some in-situ walls in the Gloucester City Museum & Art Gallery • The remains of the Roman and mediaeval East Gate in the East Gate Chamber on Eastgate Street. • Northgate, Southgate, Eastgate and Westgate Streets all follow the line of their original Roman counterparts, although Westgate Street has moved slightly north and Southgate Street now extends through the site of the Roman basilica.
Post-Roman Gloucester Withdrawal of all Roman forces and many societal leaders in about the year 410 may have allowed leading families of the
Dobunni tribe to regain power within the now Roman-influenced, interconnected and intermixed Celtic Brythonic local people. This intermix is reflected by the fact a large minority of basic words and available synonyms in Welsh have a Latin base. In the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Gloucester is shown as part of
Wessex from the
Battle of Deorham in 577. At some point afterwards, along with the rest of its shire excluding the
Forest of Dean, Gloucester was part of the minor kingdom of the
Hwicce. In 628, as a result of the
Battle of Cirencester, that kingdom became a client or sub-kingdom of
Mercia. From about 780, the Hwicce was no longer feigning any pretence as a kingdom and became part of
Mercia. Mercia, allied by matrimony and sharing a desire to counter the Danish onslaught as had conquered swathes of the wider island at large, submitted to
Alfred the Great's
Kingdom of Wessex in about 877–883. A 20th-century writer intuitively adds that Roman stem Gleu- Glev- was, doubtless, pronounced without any final consonant.
Claudia Castra is mentioned in the 18th century as a possible Latin name related to the city. The first bridging point on a navigable, defensive barrier, great river and the foundation in 681 of the abbey of St Peter by
Æthelred of Mercia, favoured town growth; and before the
Norman conquest of England, Gloucester was a borough governed by a
portreeve, with a castle which was frequently a royal residence, and a mint. In the early 10th century, the remains of
Saint Oswald were brought to a small church here and shrine built there, a draw for pilgrims. The core street layout is thought to date to the reign of
Æthelflæd in late Saxon times. In 1051,
Edward the Confessor held court at Gloucester and was threatened there by an army led by
Godwin, Earl of Wessex, but the incident resulted in a standoff rather than a battle.
Middle ages After the Norman Conquest,
William Rufus made
Robert Fitzhamon the first baron or overlord of Gloucester. Fitzhamon had a military base at
Cardiff Castle, and for the succeeding years the history of Gloucester was closely linked to that of Cardiff. During
the Anarchy, Gloucester was a centre of support for the
Empress Matilda, who was supported in her claim to the throne by her half-brother, Fitzhamon's grandson,
Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester (also known as Robert of Gloucester). After this period of strife ended with the ascent of her son Henry to the throne
Henry II of England, Henry granted Robert possession of
Cardiff Castle, and it later passed to
William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester son of Robert. The story of the Anarchy is vividly told in a series of 19th-century paintings by
William Burges at the Castle. Henry granted Gloucester its first charter in 1155, which gave the burgesses the same liberties as the citizens of London and
Winchester. A second charter of Henry II gave them freedom of passage on the
River Severn. The first charter was confirmed in 1194 by
King Richard I. The privileges of the borough were greatly extended by the charter of
King John (1200), which gave freedom from toll throughout the kingdom and from pleading outside the borough. In 1216,
King Henry III, aged only 9 years, was crowned with a gilded iron ring in the Chapter House of
Gloucester Cathedral. During his reign,
Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany his cousin was briefly imprisoned at Gloucester Castle as state prisoner from 1222 to 1223, and from 1237 to 1238, in addition to sometime during the reign of King John. Gloucester's significance in the Middle Ages is underlined by the fact that it had a number of monastic establishments, including St Peter's Abbey founded in 679 (later
Gloucester Cathedral), the nearby
St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester founded in the 880s or 890s, Llanthony Secunda Priory, founded 1136 as a retreat for a community of Welsh monks (now near the western bypass), the Franciscan Greyfriars community founded in 1231 (near
Eastgate Shopping Centre), and the Dominican Blackfriars community founded in 1239 (Ladybellegate Street). It also has some very early churches including
St Mary de Lode Church, Gloucester near the Cathedral and the Norman
St Mary de Crypt Church, Gloucester in
Southgate Street. Additionally, there is evidence of a
Jewish community in Gloucester as early as 1158–1159; they lived around present-day East Gate Street and had a synagogue on the south side, near St Michael's church. Gloucester was probably the home of Rabbi Moses, who established an important Anglo-Jewish family. The Jews of the town were falsely accused by the Dominican monks of murdering a child,
Harold of Gloucester, in an attempt to establish a cult similar to that of
William of Norwich, which failed entirely. Nevertheless, the accusations were recycled around the time of the
Edict of Expulsion. In January 1275,
Eleanor of Provence expelled Jews from all of the towns within her dower lands, and the Jews of Gloucester were ordered to move to
Bristol but finding an especially difficult situation there, relocated to
Hereford. housed the Parliament between 1378 and 1406. In the
Middle Ages, the main export was wool, which came from the
Cotswolds and was processed in Gloucester; other exports included
leather and
iron (tools and weapons). Gloucester also had a large fishing industry at that time. In 1222, a massive fire destroyed part of Gloucester. One of the most significant periods in Gloucester's history began in 1378 when
Richard II convened Parliament in the city. Parliaments were held there until 1406 under
Henry IV of England. The Parliament Rooms at the Cathedral remain as testimony to this important time. Gloucester was incorporated by
King Richard III in 1483, the town being made a
county in itself.
Early modern era to contemporary period 's history (contains inaccuracies) The city's charter was confirmed in 1489 and 1510, and other charters of incorporation were received by Gloucester from
Queen Elizabeth I and
King James I.
Princess Mary visited Gloucester in September 1525 accompanied by her ladies and gentlewomen. She was met by the Mayor,
John Rawlins, at
Quedgeley. Her father
Henry VIII and his then Queen,
Anne Boleyn, visited in July 1535. They used Gloucester as a base for hunting trips to
Painswick,
Coberley, and
Miserden. They left Gloucester for
Leonard Stanley, on their way to
Berkeley Castle. Gloucester was the site of the execution by burning of
John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, in the time of
Queen Mary in 1555. In 1580, Gloucester was awarded the status of a
port by Queen Elizabeth I. The 16th and 17th centuries saw the foundation of two of Gloucester's grammar schools:
the Crypt School in 1539 and
Sir Thomas Rich's School in 1666. Both still flourish as grammar schools today, along with
Ribston Hall and
Denmark Road High School. During the
English Civil War, the fall of nearby Bristol encouraged the reinforcement of the existing town defences. The
siege of Gloucester commenced in 1643 in which the besieged parliamentarians emerged victorious. The Royalist's plan of bombardment and tunnelling to the east gate failed due to the inadequacy of the Royalist artillery and the besieged sniping and conducting artillery fire on the Royalist encampment. 's West prospect of Gloucester, c. 1725, emphasises the causeway and bridges traversing the water meadows of the floodplain. By the mid-17th century, only the gatehouse and keep of
Gloucester Castle remained, the latter of which was being used as a gaol until it was deemed unsuitable and demolished in the late 1780s. By 1791, the
new gaol was completed leaving no trace of the former castle. In the 19th century, the city grew with new buildings including
Wellington Parade and the Grade II
listed Picton House (c. 1825). The
1896 Gloucester smallpox epidemic affected some 2000 residents. During the Second World War, two petroleum storage depots were constructed in Gloucester. A Government Civil Storage depot with six 4,000-ton semi-buried tanks was constructed on the
Berkeley Canal in 1941/42 by
Shell-Mex and BP and connected to the pipeline that ran from the Mersey to the Avon. It was also connected to the Air Force Reserve Depot and a Shell Mex and BP facility for road and rail loading. Due to severe tank corrosion, it was demolished in 1971/2 and disposed of in 1976. The second depot was an Air Force Reserve Depot with four 4,000-ton semi-buried tanks constructed in 1941/42 by Shell, Shell-Mex and BP at the Monk Meadow Dock on the Canal. Originally, delivery was by road, rail and barge and pipeline. It was also connected to the docks and to the Shell Mex and BP installation for rail and road loading facilities and the civil storage site. It was transferred from the Air Ministry to the Ministry of Power in 1959, closed in the 1990s and disposed of in the later 2000s. Gloucester's most important citizens include
Robert Raikes (founder of the
Sunday School movement) who is still commemorated by the name of
Robert Raikes' House in Southgate Street. Its most infamous citizen was
Fred West. In
July 2007, Gloucester was hit badly by a
flood that struck Gloucestershire and its surrounding areas. Hundreds of homes were flooded, but the event was most memorable because of its wider impact – about 40,000 people were without power for 24 hours, and the entire city (plus surrounding areas) was without piped water for 17 days. In 2009,
Gloucester Day was revived as an annual day of celebration of Gloucester's history and culture. The day originally dates from the lifting of the Siege of Gloucester in 1643, during which the city held out against Royalist forces during the
First English Civil War.
Coat of arms Gloucester is one of the few cities in England with two coats of arms. The first consists of three chevrons surrounded by ten roundels. The chevrons come from the arms of the
Clare family, who were earls of Gloucester from the 12th to the 14th centuries, while the roundels come from the arms of the
Bishop of Worcester, whose bishopric historically encompassed Gloucester. This coat is the older of the two, though it is usually termed the "Commonwealth coat", as it was not officially granted to the city until 1652, during the
Commonwealth period. The crest and supporters (lions bearing broadswords and trowels) were also adopted at this time, along with the motto
Fides Invicta Triumphat ("unconquered faith triumphs", in reference to the royalist siege withstood by the city in 1643). The second coat, termed the "Tudor coat", was granted in 1538. It features the roses of York and Lancaster, the boar's head of Richard III, a ceremonial sword and cap, and two horseshoes surrounded by nails, to represent Gloucester's historical association with ironworking. Although grants made by Commonwealth
heralds were nullified after the
Restoration, the Commonwealth coat continued to be used by the city rather than the Tudor coat. The Commonwealth coat, along with the crest and supporters, was legally granted to the city by letters patent dated 16 April 1945. This was reconfirmed in 1974 following the local government changes of that year. ==Governance==