Hereford
From Ars Magica
The county town of Herefordshire, about 13 leagues south of Church Stretton.
History
Although settlement on the site is believed to go back to early post-roman times, medieval Hereford was built on a planned grid of streets int he second haldf of the 8th Century, in the time of Offa. The first defensive rampart around the town was built soon after this time. The town sites on the north bank of the River Wye.
Hereford Castle was built starting in 1052 century, on the site of St. Guthlac's monastery, outside the eastside of the town, by Ralph, nepherw of Edward the Confessor. This was a very early castle for England, and Ralph used Norman-Frencha advisors, prior to the Norman invasion.
In 1055 Gruffydd ap Llewellyn, King of Gwynedd and Powys, led a Welsh army towards Hereford. With him was Aelfgar, the outlawed Earl of East Anglia and son of Godifu - the 'Lady Godiva' of naked horse-riding fame. Aelfgar led a force of eighteen ships companies of Vikings that he had recruited in Ireland. Ralph led his force of Normans and English to meet them. In the battle that followed Ralph was decisively beaten and the Welsh, with their Viking allies entered and burnt the town of Hereford. Gruffydd returned home in triumph and laden with booty.
Following the Norman conquest, William fitz Osbern became Earl of Hereford. He built a new castle near the old monastery and a new town north of the old defences, which fell into ruin. Its centre was a large triangular market-place, with two churches, All Saints and St Peter's. A new cathedral was been built to the north of the old one. After fitz Osbern died, in 1072, the town suffered in the war between Matilda and Stephen.
In 1190 Hereford received its charter and became a legally self-governing community with a bailiff (later mayor) chosen by the citizens. The King's Fee was now within the jurisdiction of this new corporate body but much of the town remained within the church's fee. This led, in Hereford as elsewhere, to conflicts between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities.
In 1264, (the future as the game starts) in the war between Simon de Montfort and the King, Simon's bitterest enemy, Roger Mortimer of nearby Wigmore Castle, moved against the city.
