Tudor London was the largest city in Western Europe during the
time of the Tudor monarchs. The London of Henry VIII and
Elizabeth I was dirty and potentially dangerous, but it still
acted like a magnet attracting many people to it who wanted to
find their fame and especially their fortune there. London was a
city of great contrasts. On the old London Bridge could be found
fashionable houses of wealthy merchants and shops selling their
expensive wares. But at one end of the bridge, the so-called
Bridge Gate, would be displayed the rotting heads of those men
beheaded for treason and similar crimes. The rich tended to
travel by boat for two reasons: 1) London was full of small,
narrow and crowded streets. Traveling along them if you had
money was dangerous as at that time London did not have a police
service and many poor would be very keen to take your money off
of you if you were wealthy. 2) Streets that were narrow were
also difficult to actually travel along. Traveling by boat was
simply quicker than traveli