nting forests. Anyone who
killed a deer in these forests was mutilated, for instance by
blinding. People living within the boundaries of the designated
forestland could no longer go into nearby woods to get meat or
honey, dead wood for firing, or live wood for building. Swineherds
could no longer drive pigs into these woods to eat acorns they
beat down from oak trees. Making clearings and grazing livestock
in the designated forestland were prohibited. Most of the nation
was either wooded or bog at this time.

London was a walled town of one and two story houses made of mud,
twigs, and straw, with thatched roofs. It included a bundle of
communities, townships, parishes, and lordships. There were
churches, a goods market, a fish market, quays on the river, and a
bridge over the river. Streets probably named by this time include
Bread Street, Milk Street, Honey Lane, Wood Street, and Ironmonger
Lane. Fairs and games were held outside the town walls in a field
called "Smithfield". The great citizens had the land
qualifications of knights and ranked as barons on the Conquerer's
council. The freemen were a small percentage of London's
population. There was a butchers' guild, a pepperers' guild, a
goldsmiths' guild, the guild of St. Lazarus, which was probably a
leper charity (of which there were many in the 1000s and 1100s),
the Pilgrims' guild, which helped people going on pilgrimages, and
four bridge guilds, probably for keeping the wooden London Bridge
in repair. Men told the time by sundials, some of which were
portable and could be carried in one's pocket. London could defend
itself, and a ringing of the bell of St. Paul's Church could shut
every shop and fill the streets with armed horsemen and soldiers
led by a soldier portreeve. Across the Thames from London on its
south side was Southwark, a small trading and fishing settlement.

The Conquerer did not interfere with landholding in London, but
recognized its independence as a borough in this writ: "William
the King greets William, Bishop of London, and Gosfrith the
portreeve, and all the burgesses [citizens] of London friendly.
Know that I will that you be worthy of all the laws you were
worthy of in the time of King Edward. And I will that every child
shall be his father's heir after his father's day. And I will not
suffer any man to do you wrong. God preserve you." The Norman word
"mayor" replaced "portreeve".

So London was not subjected to the Norman feudal s