London

Overview
There is no official "capital" of England to speak of, for power is invested in the person of the King and the seat of power, therefore, moves around with the royal court. If the King should choose to shift his court up north to York, then York is for all intents and purposes the capital; and if he should choose to then move back down to Winchester, the capital goes with him. But if any city may lay a claim in practical terms to be the de-facto capital of England, then that city is London.

London is by far the largest city in the British Isles. One of the first acts of William the Conqueror, upon being crowned after his victory at Hastings - was to grant a charter guaranteeing the many rights and privileges the city had enjoyed under Saxon rules. It is an economic powerhouse, a thriving centre of trade and industry. It is a major military stronghold, defended - or perhaps dominated - by immense Norman castles: the Tower of London. Baynard's Castle. Montfichet's Tower.

It enjoys considerable royal favour; the Conqueror's son William Rufus began constructing the immense Westminster Hall as the hub of a grandiose palace, the construction of which was cut short by his untimely death in the Forest of Dean. The wealthy Abbey of St Peter at Westminster nearby also enjoys royal favour, being the last resting place of the last Anglo-Saxon King, the revered Saint Edward the Confessor, while other Norman barons have moved to found their own monastic institutions in the city.

Nearby, work continues on the immense Romanesque cathedral of St Paul's, rising high above the city. It is perhaps a sore point for some Londoners that their city can only boast a mere Bishop, forced forever to play second fiddle to the much more senior Archbishops of Canterbury and York, but it is a minor dent to the prestige of this great metropolis.

It is a long-established, traditionally claimed right of the people of London to elect the King of England by popular acclamation in exchange for Royal favour and new civil rights and privileges, and it was they who sparked the late civil war by proclaiming Stephen to be their rightful monarch. But Stephen's son Eustace now holds the throne through simple force of arms alone... and he has yet to show any sign of favour to the heart of his realm.