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The Romans conquered this part of Britain in 48 AD and soon built a legionary fortress high on a hill overlooking the natural lake, Brayford Pool, formed by the widening of the River Witham, and the northern end of the Fosse Way Roman road (A46). Celtic Lindon was later Latinised to Lindum and the title Colonia added when it became settled by army veterans

The conversion to a colonia occurred when the legion moved on to York (Eboracum) in 71 CE. Lindum colonia or more fully, Colonia Domitiana Lindensium, after the then Emperor Domitian, was set up within the walls of the hilltop fortress by extending it with about an equal area, down the hillside to the waterside.

Germanic tribes from the North Sea area settled Lincolnshire in the 5th to 6th centuries. The Latin Lindum Colonia shrank in Old English to Lindocolina, then to Lincylene.

After the first Viking raids, the city again rose to some importance with overseas trading ties. In Viking times Lincoln had its own mint, by far the most important in Lincolnshire and by the end of the 10th century, comparable in output to that of York. After establishment of the Danelaw in 886, Lincoln became one of the Five East Midland Boroughs. Lincoln underwent an economic explosion with the settlement of the Danes. Like York, the Upper City seems to have had purely administrative functions up to 850 or so, while the Lower City, down the hill towards the River Witham, may have been largely deserted. By 950, however, the Witham banks were developed, the Lower City resettled and the suburb of Wigford emerging as a trading centre. In 1068, two years after the Norman conquest of England, William I ordered Lincoln Castle to be built on the site of the old Roman settlement, for the same strategic reasons and controlling the same road, the Fosse Way.

During the Anarchy, in 1141 Lincoln was the site of a battle between King Stephen and the forces of Empress Matilda, led by her illegitimate half-brother Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester. After fierce fighting in the city streets, Stephen’s forces were defeated and Stephen himself captured and taken to Bristol.

By 1150, Lincoln was among the wealthiest towns in England, based economically on cloth and wool exported to Flanders; Lincoln weavers had set up a weavers’ guild in 1130 to produce Lincoln Cloth, especially the fine dyed “scarlet” and “green”, whose reputation was later enhanced by the legendary Robin Hood wearing woollens of Lincoln green.

Lincoln was to the Dutch weavers as later Indian cotton growers were to England, a source of materials. This was a long and fruitful relationship.

The cathedral holds one of the four remaining copies of the original Magna Carta, which is now displayed in Lincoln Castle.

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing. Always appreciated. Looks like a magnificent place.

We just got back a week ago from 20 days in Germany and Austria. I didn’t post anything about our trip. We were in Koblenz, Köln (where my gr-grandfather and grandfather were born), Süchteln (family history there goes back to early 1700s), Viersen, Frankfurt, Vienna, Innsbruck, and finally Stuttgart and back to Frankfurt. The first five days were a family genealogy tour that our eldest daughter set up for my 75th birthday. It was wonderful.

Enjoy your trip!