Editing Leicester (section)

==History==
{{For timeline}}
{{See also|History of Leicestershire}}
{{OSM Location map
| lat =52.6332
| lon =-1.138
| zoom =14
| width = 300       <!-- width and height of the frame. numeric input - do not add px -->
| height = 300

|caption=Map of key historic sites of Leicester Old Town. The Roman and medieval walls are marked by the dotted line. The one surviving Roman ruin is marked in purple. The secular sites are in blue. The towns five surviving ancient churches are in red. The [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|dissolved]] [[mendicant orders|mendicant]] and [[chantry]] foundations are in black. The key site of [[Leicester Abbey]] over the river is beyond the borders of the map to the north east.

| mark = Leicester Town Walls map overlay.svg
| mark-coord = {{coord|52.6324 |-1.1380}}   <!-- lat and lon location for the overlay -->
| mark-size = 250,312     <!--height of the overlay image, in a tracing matches the frame-->
| mark-dim = 0.8        <!--dimension (scale factor) for if the image is not square, deprecated. Using a second size value is generally easier-->
| mark-title=none       <!--no marker within the linked full screen-->

| mark-coord1 = {{coord| 52.640414  |-1.13625}}
| mark1=Red pog.svg
| mark-size1=11
| label1 = [[St Margaret's Church, Leicester|St Margaret's]]
|label-pos1=bottom
| mark-title1 = St Margaret's Church 
| mark-image1 = St Margaret's church, Leicester.jpg <!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description1 = St Margaret's Church 

| mark-coord2 = {{coord| 52.635333 | -1.140576}}
| mark2=Red pog.svg
| mark-size2=11
| label2 = [[St Nicholas Church, Leicester|St Nicholas]]
|label-pos2=top
| mark-title2 = St Nicholas Church 
| mark-image2 =Jewry Wall and St Nicholas.jpg<!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description2 = St Nicholas Church 

| mark-coord3= {{coord|52.632348 |-1.140229}}
| mark3=Red pog.svg
| mark-size3=11
| label3 = [[Church of St Mary de Castro, Leicester|St Mary de Castro]]
|label-pos3=right
| mark-title3 = St Mary de Castro 
| mark-image3 = The Collegiate Parish Church of St. Mary de Castro, Leicester - geograph.org.uk - 5104462.jpg<!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description3 = St Mary de Castro 

| mark-coord4= {{coord| 52.634635 |-1.136782}}
| mark4=Red pog.svg
| mark-size4=11
| label4 = [[Leicester Cathedral|Cathedral]]
|label-pos4=top
| mark-title4 = Leicester Cathedral 
| mark-image4 = Leicester Cathedral south facade.jpg<!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description4 = Leicester Cathedral  

| mark-coord5= {{coord| 52.638731 | -1.139107}}
| mark5=Red pog.svg
| mark-size5=11
| label5 = [[All Saints Church, Leicester|All Saints]]
|label-pos5 =right
| mark-title5 = All Saints 
| mark-image5 = All Saints Church - widok od południowej strony.jpg<!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description5 = All Saints Church, Leicester

| mark-coord6 = {{coord| 52.631906 |-1.140778}}
| mark6=Blue pog.svg
| mark-size6=11
| label6 = [[Leicester Castle|Castle]]
|label-pos6=left
| mark-title6= Leicester Castle
| mark-image6 = The Great Hall Leicester Castle.jpg  <!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description 6 = The Great Hall, now with a Queen Anne frontage, is the main standing remains of Leicester's medieval castle.

| mark-coord7 = {{coord| 52.634007|-1.136431}}
| mark7=Black pog.svg
| mark-size7=11
| label7 = [[Greyfriars, Leicester|Greyfriars]]
|label-pos7=right
| mark-title7= Leicester Greyfriars 
| mark-image7 = <!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description 7 = The Franciscan monastery of medieval Leicester. 

| mark-coord8 = {{coord| 52.637159 | -1.142791}}
| mark8=Black pog.svg
| mark-size8=11
| label8 = [[Blackfriars, Leicester|Blackfriars]]
|label-pos8=top
| mark-title8= Leicester Blackfriars
| mark-image8= <!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description 8 = The Franciscan monastery of medieval Leicester. 

| mark-coord9 = {{coord| 52.637159 | -1.142791}}
| mark9=Black pog.svg
| mark-size9=11
| label9 = [[Blackfriars, Leicester|Blackfriars]]
|label-pos9=top
| mark-title9= Leicester Blackfriars
| mark-image9= <!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description 9 = The Dominican monastery of medieval Leicester. 

| mark-coord10 = {{coord| 52.634054  | -1.143242}}
| mark10=Black pog.svg
| mark-size10=11
| label10 = [[Leicester Austin Friars|Austin Friars]]
|label-pos10=bottom
| mark-title10= Leicester Austin Friars
| mark-image10= <!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description 10 = The Augustinian mendicant monastery of medieval Leicester. 

| mark-coord11 = {{coord| 52.634607 |-1.13747}}
| mark11=Blue pog.svg
| mark-size11=11
| label11 = [[Leicester Guildhall|Guildhall]]
|label-pos11=left
| mark-title11= Leicester Guildhall 
| mark-image11= <!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description 11= The only surviving guildhall of medieval Leicester. 

| mark-coord12 = {{coord| 52.63175 |-1.137886}}
| mark12=Blue pog.svg
| mark-size12=11
| label12 = [[Magazine Gateway]]
|label-pos12=right
| mark-title12 = Magazine Gateway
| mark-image12 = Leicester Magazine Gateway west.jpg<!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description12 = A fifteenth century gateway into the 'high status' area of the Newarke and Castle precincts.

| mark-coord13 = {{coord|  52.630593 | -1.140781}}
| mark13=Black pog.svg
| mark-size13=11
| label13 = [[Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke|Newarke Church]]
|label-pos13=left
| mark-title13 = Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke
| mark-image13 = <!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description13= The church of the college of canons who ran the Newarke.

| mark-coord14= {{coord| 52.635229 | -1.141175}}
| mark14=Purple pog.svg
| mark-size14=11
| label14 = [[Jewry Wall]]
|label-pos14=left
| mark-title14 = Jewry Wall
| mark-image14 = <!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description14= The Roman Jewry Wall, a surviving piece of masonry from the main public thermae complex of Ratae Corieltauvorum.  

| mark-coord15= {{coord| 52.634776 | -1.133107}}
| mark15=Blue pog.svg
| mark-size15=11
| label15 = [[Leicester Market|Market]]
|label-pos15=right
| mark-title15 = Leicester Market
| mark-image15 = <!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description15 = Ancient market of the city of Leicester.  

| mark-coord16= {{coord| 52.631359 | -1.139176}}
| mark16=Blue pog.svg
| mark-size16=11
| label16 = [[Newarke Houses Museum |Newarke Museum]]
|label-pos16=left
| mark-title16= Newarke Houses Museum
| mark-image16 = <!-- | used within the full screen linked page -->
| mark-description16 = Newarke Houses Museum
}}

===Prehistory===
Leicester is one of the oldest cities in England, with a history going back at least two millennia.<ref>W. G. Hoskins, "Leicester" ''History Today'' (Sep 1951) 1#9 pp 48–56.</ref> The [[Britons (Celtic people)|native]] [[British Iron Age|Iron Age]] settlement encountered by the [[Ancient Romans|Romans]] at the site seems to have developed in the 2nd or 1st centuries [[Anno Domini|BC]], around a century or so before the arrival of the Romans.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch/record.jsf?titleId=1919223 |title=Archaeology Data Service |website=Archaeologydataservice.ac.uk |access-date=27 June 2022}}</ref> Little is known about this settlement or the condition of the [[River Soar]] at this time, although [[Roundhouse (dwelling)|roundhouses]] from this era have been excavated and seem to have clustered along roughly {{convert|8|ha}} of the east bank of the Soar. This area of the Soar was split into two channels: a main stream to the east and a narrower channel on the west, with a presumably marshy island between. The settlement seems to have controlled a ford across the larger channel. The [[Ratae Corieltauvorum#Name|later Roman name]] was a [[Latinization of names|latinate]] form of the [[Common Brittonic|Brittonic]] word for "ramparts" (cf. [[Irish Gaelic|Gaelic]] ''[[Ringfort|rath]]'' and the nearby villages of [[Ratby]] and [[Ratcliffe-upon-Soar|Ratcliffe]]<ref name=tommyA/>), suggesting the site was an [[oppidum]]. The plural form of the name suggests it was initially composed of several villages.<ref name=tommyA>Thompson (1849), [https://books.google.com/books?id=xBYVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA443 Appendix&nbsp;A: Ratæ—Roman Leicester, pp.&nbsp;443&nbsp;ff] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150519190739/https://books.google.com/books?id=xBYVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA443 |date=19 May 2015 }}.</ref> The [[list of Celtic tribes|Celtic tribe]] holding the area was later recorded as the "[[Coritani]]ans" but an inscription recovered in 1983 showed this to have been a corruption of the original "[[Corieltauvi]]ans".<ref name="TLAHS">{{cite journal |last=Tomlin |first=R S O |year=1983 |title=Roman Leicester, a Corrigendum: For Coritani should we read Corieltauvi? |journal=Transactions of the Leicester Archaeological and Historical Society |volume=48}}</ref><ref name="AJ">{{cite journal |last=Tomlin |first=R S O |year=1983 |title=Non Coritani sed Corieltauvi |journal=[[The Antiquaries Journal]] |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=353–355 |doi=10.1017/s0003581500066579 |s2cid=161713854}}</ref> The Corieltauvians are believed to have ruled over roughly the area of the [[East Midlands]].

===Roman===
[[File:Jewry Wall ruins Apr10.jpg|thumb|[[St Nicholas' Church, Leicester|St&nbsp;Nicholas's Church]] and the [[Jewry Wall]]]]
{{Main|Ratae Corieltauvorum}}
It is believed that the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] arrived in the Leicester area around [[Anno Domini|AD]] 47, during their [[Roman conquest of Britain|conquest]] of [[Roman Britain|southern Britain]].<ref name="Richard3part2">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-22404032 |title=Richard III team makes second Leicester car park find |work=BBC News Leicester |date=4 May 2013 |access-date=4 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507010020/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-22404032 |archive-date=7 May 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Corieltauvian settlement lay near a bridge on the [[Fosse Way]], a [[Roman road]] between the legionary camps at [[Isca Dumnoniorum|Isca]] ([[Exeter]]) and [[Lindum Colonia|Lindum]] ([[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]]). It remains unclear whether the Romans fortified and garrisoned the location, but it slowly developed from around the year 50 onwards as the [[civitas|tribal capital]] of the Corieltauvians under the name [[Ratae Corieltauvorum]]. In the 2nd century, it received a [[forum (Roman)|forum]] and [[thermae|bathhouse]]. In 2013, the discovery of a Roman cemetery found just outside the old city walls and dating back to AD&nbsp;300 was announced.<ref name="Richard3part2"/> The remains of the [[thermae|baths]] of Roman Leicester can be seen at the [[Jewry Wall]]; recovered artifacts are displayed at the [[Jewry Wall Museum|adjacent museum]].

===Medieval===
[[File:Stukeley Leicester Map 1722.jpg|thumb|Map of Leicester Old Town]]
Knowledge of the town following the [[Roman withdrawal from Britain]] is limited. It seems to have been continually occupied after Roman protection ceased through the 5th and 6th centuries, although with a significantly reduced population. Its memory was preserved as the ''{{nowrap|Cair Lerion}}''<ref name=mommy>[[Nennius]] ({{abbr|attrib.|Traditional attribution}}).

[[Theodor Mommsen]] ({{abbr|ed.|Editor}}). [[s:la:Historia Brittonum#VI. CIVITATES BRITANNIAE|''Historia Brittonum'', VI.]] Composed after AD&nbsp;830. {{in lang|la}} Hosted at [[s:la:Main Page|Latin Wikisource]].</ref> of the ''[[Historia Brittonum|History of the Britons]]''.<ref name=nashford>Ford, David Nash. "[http://www.britannia.com/history/ebk/articles/nenniuscities.html The 28 Cities of Britain] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415120312/http://www.britannia.com/history/ebk/articles/nenniuscities.html |date=15 April 2016 }}" at Britannia. 2000.</ref> Following the [[Saxon invasion of Britain]], Leicester was occupied by the [[Middle Angles]] and subsequently administered by the kingdom of [[Mercia]]. It was elevated to a [[Bishop of Leicester|bishopric]] in either 679 or 680; this see survived until the 9th century, when Leicester was captured by [[Danes (Germanic people)|Danish]] [[Viking invasions of Britain|Vikings]]. Their settlement became one of the [[Five Burghs]] of the [[Danelaw]], although this position was short-lived. The Saxon bishop, meanwhile, fled to [[Dorchester-on-Thames]] and Leicester did not become a bishopric again until the Church of {{nowrap|St Martin}} became [[Leicester Cathedral]] in 1927. The settlement was recorded under the name ''Ligeraceaster'' in the early 10th century.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A Dictionary of English Place-Names |last=Mills |first=A.D. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1991 |isbn=0-19-869156-4 |location=Oxford |pages=208}}</ref>

[[File:Leicester Cathedral south facade.jpg|thumb|left|[[Leicester Cathedral]]]]
Following the [[Norman Conquest|Norman conquest]], Leicester was recorded by [[William I of England|William]]'s [[Domesday Book]] as ''Ledecestre''. It was noted as a city (''civitas'') but lost this status in the 11th century owing to power struggles between the [[Catholic Church in England|Church]] and the [[aristocracy]]{{citation needed|date=December 2014}} and did not become a legal city again until 1919.

[[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] composed his ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae|History of the Kings of Britain]]'' around the year 1136, naming a [[Leir of Britain|King Leir]] as an [[eponymous founder]] figure.<ref name=laleir>Galfridus Monemutensis <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]<nowiki>]</nowiki>. ''[[:s:la:Historia Regum Britanniae|Historia Regum Britanniæ]]''. {{circa|lk=no|1136}}. {{in lang|la}} J.A. Giles &&nbsp;al. (trans.) as [[:s:History of the Kings of Britain/Book 2#11|''History of the Kings of Britain'', Vol.&nbsp;II, Ch.&nbsp;11]] in ''Six Old English Chronicles''. 1842. Hosted at [[:s:Main page|Wikisource]].</ref> According to Geoffrey's narrative, [[Queen Cordelia|Cordelia]] had buried her father beneath the river in a chamber dedicated to [[Janus]] and his feast day was an annual celebration.<ref>Geoffrey of Monmouth. Lewis Thorpe (trans.) as ''The History of the Kings of Britain'', pp.&nbsp;81 & 86. Harmondsworth, 1966. [[William Shakespeare]] took the name of his ''[[King Lear]]'' from Geoffrey; there is now{{year needed|date=September 2015}} a statue of the final scene of Shakespeare's Lear in [[Watermead Country Park]].<!--the statue predates 2002, otherwise we have no information on it, so I doubt this really belongs under the "Medieval" section in "history of Leicester".-->Paul A. Biggs, Sandra Biggs, ''Leicestershire & Rutland Walks with Children'', Sigma Leisure, 2002, p. 44.<!--mentions "King Lear's Lake" and the statue.--></ref>

When [[Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester|Simon de Montfort]] became [[Earl of Leicester]] in 1231, he gave the borough a grant to expel the Jewish population<ref>Mundill (2002), p265</ref> "in my time or in the time of any of my heirs to the end of the world". He justified his action as being "for the good of my soul, and for the souls of my ancestors and successors".<ref>Maddicott 1996, p.15</ref> Leicester's Jews were allowed to move to the eastern suburbs, which were controlled by de Montfort's great-aunt and rival, Margaret, Countess of Winchester, after she took advice from the scholar and cleric [[Robert Grosseteste]], at that time [[Archdeacon of Leicester]].<ref>Levy, S (1902), p38-39</ref> There is evidence that Jews remained there until 1253, and perhaps enforcement of the banishment within the city was not rigorously enforced. De Montfort however issued a second edict for the expulsion of Leicester's Jews in 1253, after Grosseteste's death.<ref>See Levy, S (1902), p39</ref> De Montfort's many acts of anti-Jewish persecution in Leicester and elsewhere were part of a [[History of the Jews in England (1066–1290)#Increasing persecution, 13th century|wider pattern]] that led to the [[Edict of Expulsion|expulsion of the Jewish population]] from England in 1290.<ref>See Mundill (2002)</ref>
[[File:Leicester Guildhall.jpg|thumb|right|[[Leicester Guildhall]], dating from the 14th century]]
During the 14th century, the earls of Leicester and Lancaster enhanced the prestige of the town. [[Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster]] and of Leicester founded a hospital for the poor and infirm in the area to the south of the castle now known as The Newarke (the "new work"). Henry's son, the great [[Henry of Grosmont]], 4th Earl of Lancaster and of Leicester, who was made first Duke of Lancaster, enlarged and enhanced his father's foundation, and built the collegiate Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of The Newarke.<ref>Charles James Billson, ''Mediaeval Leicester'' (Leicester, 1920)</ref> This church (a little of which survives in the basement of the Hawthorn Building of De Montfort University) was destroyed during the reign of King Edward VI. It became an important pilgrimage site because it housed a thorn said to be from the Crown of Thorns, given to the Duke by the King of France. The church (described by Leland in the C16th as "not large but exceeding fair") also became, effectively, a Lancastrian mausoleum. Duke Henry's daughter [[Blanche of Lancaster]] married [[John of Gaunt]] and their son Henry Bolingbroke became [[Henry IV of England|King Henry IV]] when he deposed King Richard II. The Church of the Annunciation was the burial place of Duke Henry, who had earlier had his father re-interred here. Later it became the burial place of [[Constance of Castile, Duchess of Lancaster]] (second wife of John of Gaunt) and of [[Mary de Bohun]], first wife of Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV) and mother of King Henry V (she did not become queen because she died before Bolingbroke became king). John of Gaunt died at Leicester Castle in 1399. When his son became king, the Earldom of Leicester and the Duchy of Lancaster became royal titles (and the latter remains so).

[[File:The Magazine Gateway, Leicester.jpg|thumb|left|The Newarke Gateway or Magazine Gateway]]
At the end of the [[War of the Roses]], [[list of English kings|King]] [[Richard III of England|Richard III]] was buried in Leicester's [[Greyfriars, Leicester|Greyfriars Church]] a Franciscan Friary and Church which was demolished after its dissolution in 1538. The site of that church is now covered by [[King Richard III Visitor Centre]] (until 2012 by more modern buildings and a car park). There was a legend his corpse had been cast into the [[River Soar|river]], while some historians<ref>{{cite book |last1=e.g., Williamson |first1=David |title=The National Portrait Gallery History of the Kings and Queens of England |url=https://archive.org/details/nationalportrait0000will_i4a1 |url-access=registration |date=1998 |publisher=National Portrait Gallery Publications |page=[https://archive.org/details/nationalportrait0000will_i4a1/page/81 81] |isbn=9781855142282}}</ref> argued his tomb and remains were destroyed during the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|dissolution of the monasteries]] under [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]]. However, in September 2012, an archaeological investigation of the car park revealed a skeleton<ref>{{cite news |title=Richard III dig: Have they found their man in Leicester? |work=BBC News |date=12 September 2012 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-19575558 |access-date=20 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731083750/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-19575558 |archive-date=31 July 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> which [[DNA testing]] helped verify to be related to two descendants of Richard III's sister.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lawless |first=Jill |title=Richard III team confirms skeleton found under parking lot is remains of England's king |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/02/04/richard_iii_team_confirms_skeleton_found_under_parking_lot_is_remains_of_englands_king.html |newspaper=The Star |date=4 February 2013 |access-date=2 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628165109/https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/02/04/richard_iii_team_confirms_skeleton_found_under_parking_lot_is_remains_of_englands_king.html |archive-date=28 June 2017 |url-status=live}}j</ref> It was concluded that the skeleton was that of Richard III because of the DNA evidence and the shape of the spine. In 2015 Richard III was reburied in pride of place near the high altar in [[Leicester Cathedral]].

{{main|Exhumation and reburial of Richard III of England}}

===Modern===
====Tudor====
[[File:Leicester Abbey nave and cloister.jpg|thumb|[[Leicester Abbey]] ruins, now part of [[Abbey Park, Leicester|Abbey Park]]]]
On 4 November 1530, [[Cardinal Thomas Wolsey]] was arrested on charges of treason and taken from Yorkshire. On his way south to face dubious justice at the [[Tower of London]], he fell ill. The group escorting him was concerned enough to stop at Leicester to rest at Leicester Abbey. There, Wolsey's condition quickly worsened. He died on 29 November 1530 and was buried at [[Leicester Abbey]], now [[Abbey Park, Leicestershire|Abbey Park]].

[[Lady Jane Grey]], who claimed the English throne for nine days in June 1553, was born at [[Bradgate Park]] near Leicester around 1536.<ref name="royweb">{{cite web |url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page44.asp |title=Official Website of the British Monarchy – Jane |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501194655/http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page44.asp |archive-date=1 May 2015}}</ref>

Queen [[Elizabeth I]]'s intimate and former suitor, [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester|Robert Dudley]], was given the [[Earldom of Leicester]].

====Stuart====
After the [[Union of the Crowns]], [[Anne of Denmark]], [[Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales|Prince Henry]], and [[Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia|Princess Elizabeth]] travelled to Leicester on 24 June 1603, after the courtier and usher Thomas Conway was assured that the town was free from infection or plague.<ref>William Kelly, ''Royal Progresses to Leicester'' (Leicester, 1855), pp. 8–9.</ref> [[Charles I of England|Prince Charles, later King Charles I]], travelled to London with his guardian [[Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline|Alexander Seton]]. The royal party stayed at Leicester for three days in August 1604 at the townhouse of [[William Skipwith (died 1610)|William Skipwith]].<ref>Walter Seton, 'Early Years of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Charles, Duke of Albany', ''Scottish Historical Review'', 13:52 (July 1916), pp. 373-4.</ref>

The Corporation of Leicester opposed the efforts of Charles I to disafforest the nearby [[Leicester Forest]], believing them to be likely to throw many of its residents into poverty and need of relief. [[Miles Fleetwood|Sir Miles Fleetwood]] was sent to commission the disafforestation and division of lands being used in common.<ref>{{Citation |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-03681-6 |location=Berkeley |title=In contempt of all authority |author=Buchanan Sharp |date=1980 |id=0520036816 |ol=4742314M}}p70-71</ref> Riots destroyed enclosures in spring 1627 and 1628, following a pattern of [[Western Rising and disafforestation riots|anti-enclosure disturbances]] found elsewhere including the Western Rising.<ref>Sharp, p58-59</ref>

Petitions challenging the enclosures were presented by the Corporation of Leicester and borough residents to the King and [[Privy Council]]. They were unsuccessful so petitioned the [[House of Lords]] in June 1628 who however supported Fleetwood but asked for proceedings made by the Crown against the rioters to be dropped. Compensation made to the legal residents of the forest was reasonably generous by comparison with other forests. The Corporation of Leicester received {{cvt|40|acres|0|abbr=on}} for relief of the poor.<ref>Sharp, p88</ref>

====Civil War====
Leicester was a Parliamentarian (colloquially called [[Roundhead]]) stronghold during the [[English Civil War]]. In 1645, King [[Charles I of England]] and [[Prince Rupert]] decided to attack the (then) town to draw the [[New Model Army]] away from the Royalist (colloquially called [[Cavaliers]]) headquarters of [[Oxford]]. [[Royalist]] guns were set up on [[Raw Dykes]] and, after an unsatisfactory response to a demand for surrender, the assault began at 3pm on 30 May 1645 by a Royalist battery opposite the Newarke. The town – which only had approximately 2,000 defenders opposed to the Royalist Army of approximately 10,000 combatants – was sacked on 31 May 1645, and hundreds of people were killed by Rupert's cavalry. One witness said, "they fired upon our men out of their windows, from the tops of houses, and threw tiles upon their heads. Finding one house better manned than ordinary, and many shots fired at us out of the windows, I caused my men to attack it, and resolved to make them an example for the rest; which they did. Breaking open the doors, they killed all they found there without distinction". It was reported that 120 houses had been destroyed and that 140 wagons of plunder were sent to the Royalist stronghold of [[Newark-on-Trent|Newark]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/1645-leicester-naseby.htm |title=1645:The Storming of Leicester and the Battle of Naseby |access-date=25 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509100109/http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/1645-leicester-naseby.htm |archive-date=9 May 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Following the Parliamentarian victory over the Royalist Army at the [[Battle of Naseby]] on 14 June 1645, Leicester was recovered by Parliament on 18 June 1645.

====Industrial era====
[[File:Butler Leicester Seamstress front.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Leicester Seamstress'' by [[James Butler (artist)|James Walter Butler]] (1990)<br />Leicester, Hotel Street]]
The construction of the [[Grand Union Canal]] in the 1790s linked Leicester to London and [[Birmingham]]. The first railway station in Leicester opened in 1832, in the form of the [[Leicester and Swannington Railway]] which provided a supply of coal to the town from nearby collieries.{{sfn|Butt|1995|p=141}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=Victorian Leicester |last=Elliott |first=Malcolm |publisher=Phillimore |year=1979 |isbn=0-85033-327-X |location=London and Chichester |pages=26}}</ref> The [[Midland Counties Railway]] (running from [[Derby railway station|Derby]] to [[Rugby railway station|Rugby]]) linked the town to the national network by 1840. A direct link to [[St Pancras railway station|London St Pancras]] was established by the [[Midland Railway]] in the 1860s. These developments encouraged and accompanied a [[Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom|process of industrialisation]] which intensified throughout the reign of [[Queen Victoria]]. Factories began to appear, particularly along the canal and river, and districts such as [[Frog Island, Leicester|Frog Island]] and [[Woodgate, Leicestershire|Woodgate]] were the locations of numerous large mills. Between 1861 and 1901, Leicester's population increased from {{nowrap|68,100}} to {{nowrap|211,600}} {{citation needed|date=October 2015}}and the proportion employed in trade, commerce, building, and the city's new factories and workshops rose steadily. [[Hosiery]], textiles, and footwear became the major industrial employers: manufacturers such as [[N. Corah & Sons]] and the Cooperative Boot and Shoe Company were opening some of the largest manufacturing premises in Europe. They were joined, in the latter part of the century, by engineering firms such as Kent Street's Taylor and Hubbard (crane makers and founders{{clarify|date=December 2014}}), Vulcan Road's [[Gimson and Company|William Gimson & Company]] (steam boilers and founders), Martin Street's Richards & Company (steel works and founders), and [[British United Shoe Machinery]] Co (manufacturer of [[footwear]] machinery and materials).

The politics of Victorian Leicester were lively and very often bitter. Years of consistent economic growth meant living standards generally increased, but Leicester was a stronghold of [[Radicals (UK)|Radicalism]]. [[Thomas Cooper (poet)|Thomas Cooper]], the [[Chartism|Chartist]], kept a shop in Church Gate. There were serious Chartist riots in the town in 1842 and again six years later.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/chartism/leicchar.htm |website=A Web of English History |publisher=Dr Marjie Bloy |title=Chartism in Leicestershire |access-date=23 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826115108/http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/chartism/leicchar.htm |archive-date=26 August 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Leicester Secular Society]] was founded in 1851 but [[secularism|secularist]] speakers such as [[George Holyoake]] were often denied the use of speaking halls. It was not until 1881 that [[Leicester Secular Hall]] was opened. The second half of the 19th century also witnessed the creation of many other institutions, including the town council, [[Leicester Royal Infirmary|the Royal Infirmary]], and the Leicester Constabulary. It also benefited from general acceptance (and the Public Health Acts ){{citation needed|date=February 2016}} that municipal organisations had a responsibility to provide for the town's water supply, drainage, and sanitation. In 1853, backed with a guarantee of dividends by the Corporation of Leicester the Leicester Waterworks Company built a reservoir at Thornton for the supply of water to the town. This guarantee was made possible by the Public Health Act 1847 and an amending local Act of Parliament of 1851. In 1866 another amending Act enabled the Corporation of Leicester to take shares in the company to enable the construction of another reservoir at Cropston, completed in 1870. The Corporation of Leicester was later able to buy the waterworks and build another reservoir at Swithland, completed in the 1890s.<ref>Elliott, Malcolm.op cit pages 62 -64 and 124–135</ref>

Leicester became a [[county borough]] in 1889, although it was abolished in 1974 as part of the [[Local Government Act 1972|Local Government Act]], and was reformed as a non-metropolitan district and city. The city regained its unitary status, being administered separately from Leicestershire, in 1997. The borough had been expanding throughout the 19th century, but grew most notably when it annexed [[Belgrave, Leicestershire|Belgrave]], [[Aylestone]], [[North Evington]], [[Knighton, Leicestershire|Knighton]], and [[Stoneygate]] in 1892.

====Early 20th century====
[[File:Clock Tower and Eastgates c1910.jpg|thumb|Edwardian city centre]]
In 1900, the [[Great Central Railway]] provided another link to London, but the rapid population growth of the previous decades had already begun to slow by the time of Queen Victoria's death in 1901.
[[World War I]] and the subsequent epidemics had further impacts. Nonetheless, Leicester was finally recognised as a legal city once more in 1919 in recognition of its contribution to the British war effort. Recruitment to the armed forces was lower in Leicester than in other English cities, partly because of the low level of unemployment and the need for many of its industries, such as clothing and footwear manufacturing, to supply the army. As the war progressed, many of Leicester's factories were given over to arms production; Leicester produced the first batch of Howitzer shells by a British company which was not making ammunition before the war. After the war, the city received a royal visit; the king and queen received a march-past in [[Victoria Park, Leicester|Victoria Park]] of thousands of serving and demobilised soldiers. Following the end of the war, a memorial arch—the [[Arch of Remembrance]]—was built in Victoria Park and unveiled in 1925. The arch, one of the largest First World War memorials in the UK, was designed by [[Sir Edwin Lutyens]], who also designed [[The Cenotaph, Whitehall|the Cenotaph]] in London and is a grade I [[listed building]]. A set of gates and lodges, again by Lutyens, were added in the 1930s, leading to the memorial from the University Road and London Road entrances to Victoria Park.<ref>Richardson, p. 63.</ref><ref>Beazley, pp. 174–175.</ref><ref>{{NHLE|num=1074786|desc=The Arch of Remembrance|access-date=28 May 2018}}</ref>
[[File:Leicester Arch of Remembrance (front, 07) cropped.jpg|thumb|The [[Arch of Remembrance]] in [[Victoria Park, Leicester|Victoria Park]]]]
In 1927, Leicester again became a cathedral city on the consecration of {{nowrap|St Martin's}} Church as the cathedral. A second major extension to the boundaries following the changes in 1892 took place in 1935, with the annexation of the remainder of [[Evington]], [[Humberstone, Leicestershire|Humberstone]], [[Beaumont Leys]], and part of [[Braunstone Park & Rowley Fields|Braunstone]]. A third major revision of the boundaries took place in 1966, with the net addition to the city of just over {{cvt|450|acres|0|abbr=on}}. The boundary has remained unchanged since that time.

Leicester's diversified economic base and lack of dependence on primary industries meant it was much better placed than many other cities to weather the tariff wars of the 1920s and [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s. The Bureau of Statistics of the newly formed [[League of Nations]] identified Leicester in 1936 as the second-richest city in Europe<ref>{{cite book |last1=William |first1=David |title=UK Cities: A Look at Life and Major Cities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland |date=13 October 2010 |publisher=New Africa Press |isbn=978-9987160211 |page=127}}</ref> and it became an attractive destination for refugees fleeing persecution and political turmoil in [[continental Europe]]. Firms such as Corah and Liberty Shoes used their reputation for producing high-quality products to expand their businesses. These years witnessed the growth in the city of [[trade unionism]] and particularly the [[co-operative movement]]. The Co-op became an important employer and landowner; when Leicester played host to the [[Jarrow March]] on its way to London in 1936, the Co-op provided the marchers with a change of boots. In 1938, Leicester was selected as the base for Squadron 1F, the first A.D.C.C (Air Defence Cadet Corp), the predecessor of the [[Air Training Corps]].

====World War II====
Leicester was bombed on 19 November 1940. Although only three bombs hit the city, 108 people were killed in Highfields.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.storyofleicester.info/a-place-to-live/the-blitz-in-highfields/ |title=The Blitz in Highfields |work=Story of Leicester |access-date=16 October 2022 |archive-date=16 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016141004/https://www.storyofleicester.info/a-place-to-live/the-blitz-in-highfields/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Contemporary===
The years after [[World War II]], particularly from the 1960s onwards, brought many social and economic challenges.

====Urban expansion; central rapprochement====
[[File:Aerial-Leicester 2.017.jpg|thumb|upright 1.5|Central Leicester (looking WNW)]]
Mass housebuilding continued across Leicester for some 30 years after 1945. Existing housing estates such as Braunstone were expanded, while several completely new estates – of both private and council tenure – were built.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}} The last major development of this era was Beaumont Leys in the north of the city, which was developed in the 1970s as a mix of private and council housing.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

There was a steady decline in Leicester's traditional manufacturing industries and, in the city centre, working factories and light industrial premises have now been almost entirely replaced. Many former factories, including some on [[Frog Island, Leicester|Frog Island]] and at [[River Soar#Donisthorpe Mill|Donisthorpe Mill]], have been badly damaged by fire. Rail and barge were finally eclipsed by automotive transport in the 1960s and 1970s: the Great Central and the Leicester and Swannington both closed and the northward extension of the [[M1 motorway]] linked Leicester into England's growing motorway network. With the loss of much of the city's industry during the 1970s and 1980s, some of the old industrial jobs were replaced by new jobs in the service sector, particularly in retail. The opening of the Haymarket Shopping Centre in 1971 was followed by a number of new shopping centres in the city, including St Martin's Shopping Centre in 1984 and the Shire Shopping Centre in 1992.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.localhistories.org/leicester.html |title=A History of Leicester |access-date=29 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704145750/http://www.localhistories.org/leicester.html |archive-date=4 July 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Shires was subsequently expanded in September 2008 and rebranded as Highcross.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highcrossleicester.com/website/tm_highcross.aspx |title=Highcross - Highcross |access-date=8 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117114435/http://www.highcrossleicester.com/website/tm_highcross.aspx |archive-date=17 January 2012}}</ref> By the 1990s, as well, Leicester's central position and good transport links had established it as a distribution centre; the southwestern area of the city has also attracted new service and manufacturing businesses.

====Immigration====
[[File:Leicester city council advert on Ugandan Argus.jpg|thumb|left|upright|1972 advertisement in the ''[[New Vision|Uganda Argus]]'' newspaper to discourage Ugandan Asians from settling in Leicester]]
Since World War II Leicester has experienced large scale immigration from across the world. Many Polish servicemen were prevented from returning to their homeland after the war by the communist regime,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/982.html |title=Poles |website=Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org |access-date=9 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210034745/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/982.html |archive-date=10 February 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> and they established a small community in Leicester. Economic migrants from the [[Republic of Ireland|Irish Republic]] continued to arrive throughout the post war period. Immigrants from the [[Indian sub-continent]] began to arrive in the 1960s, their numbers boosted by [[South Asia|Asians]] arriving from Kenya and Uganda in the early 1970s.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/around_leicester/2002/09/ugandan_asians_leicester_changes.shtml Leicester's Ugandan Asian success story.] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401011706/http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/around_leicester/2002/09/ugandan_asians_leicester_changes.shtml |date=1 April 2012 }} Retrieved 28 November 2010.</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/articles/2005/10/10/al_leicester_backgrounder_feature.shtml A history of Leicester.] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108054953/http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/articles/2005/10/10/al_leicester_backgrounder_feature.shtml |date=8 November 2011 }} Retrieved 28 November 2010.</ref>

In 1972, [[Idi Amin]] announced that the entire [[Ugandan Asians|Asian community in Uganda]] had 90 days to leave the country.<ref name=uganda4>{{cite web |title=From Kampala to Leicester |url=http://www.leicester.gov.uk/ugandanasianstory/ |publisher=Leicester City Council |access-date=7 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919184349/http://www.leicester.gov.uk/ugandanasianstory/ |archive-date=19 September 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Shortly thereafter, Leicester City Council launched a campaign aimed at dissuading Ugandan Asians from migrating to the city.<ref name=uganda1>{{cite news |last=Lowther |first=Ed |title=Government warned not to repeat 'folly' of Uganda anti-immigration adverts |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21259047 |access-date=7 April 2013 |newspaper=BBC |date=30 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320225345/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21259047 |archive-date=20 March 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> The adverts did not have their intended effect, [[Streisand effect|instead making more migrants aware]] of the possibility of settling in Leicester.<ref name=Uganda2>{{cite news |title=Leicester City Council to thank Indian immigrants |url=http://www.immigrationmatters.co.uk/leicester-city-council-to-thank-indian-immigrants.html |access-date=7 April 2013 |work=Immigration Matters |date=10 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101045949/http://www.immigrationmatters.co.uk/leicester-city-council-to-thank-indian-immigrants.html |archive-date=1 November 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Nearly a quarter of initial Ugandan refugees (around 5000 to 6000) settled in Leicester, and by the end of the 1970s around another quarter of the initially dispersed refugees had made their way to Leicester.<ref>{{cite book |last=Huttman |first=Elizabeth D. |title=Urban housing segregation of minorities in Western Europe and the United States |year=1991 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham |isbn=978-0822310600 |editor1=Blauw, Wim |editor2=Juliet Saltman}}</ref> Officially, the adverts were taken out for fear that immigrants to Leicester would place pressure on city services and at least one person who was a city councillor at the time says he believes they were placed for racist reasons.<ref name=uganda3/> The initial advertisement was widely condemned, and taken as a marker of anti-Asian sentiment throughout Britain as a whole, although the attitudes that resulted in the initial advertisement were changed significantly in subsequent decades,<ref>{{cite book |last=Marett |first=Valerie |title=Immigrants settling in the city |year=1989 |publisher=Leicester University Press |location=Leicester |isbn=978-0718512835}}</ref> not least because the immigrants included the owners of many of "Uganda's most successful businesses."<ref>[http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/years-ago-today-tyrant-s-whim-boosted-city-s/story-16647839-detail/story.html] {{dead link|date=December 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

Forty years later, Leicester's mayor Sir [[Peter Soulsby]] expressed his regret for the behaviour of the council at the time.<ref name=uganda3>{{cite news |title=Ugandan Asians advert 'foolish', says Leicester councillor |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-19165216 |access-date=7 April 2013 |work=BBC News |date=8 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121124050308/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-19165216 |archive-date=24 November 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 1990s, a group of Dutch citizens of [[Somali people|Somali]] origin settled in the city. Since the 2004 [[enlargement of the European Union]] a significant number of [[East European]] migrants have settled in the city. While some wards in the northeast of the city are more than 70% South Asian, wards in the west and south are all over 70% white. The [[Commission for Racial Equality]] (CRE) had estimated that by 2011 Leicester would have approximately a 50% ethnic minority population, making it the first city in Britain not to have a [[white British]] majority.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |url=http://www.cre.gov.uk/Default.aspx.LocID-0hgnew0cq.RefLocID-0hg00900c008.Lang-EN.htm |title=Scoring goals for integration in Leicester: CRE helps kids and coaches use football to bring communities together |date=30 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930020356/http://www.cre.gov.uk/Default.aspx.LocID-0hgnew0cq.RefLocID-0hg00900c008.Lang-EN.htm |access-date=27 June 2022 |archive-date=30 September 2007}}</ref> This prediction was based on the growth of the ethnic minority populations between 1991 (Census 1991 28% ethnic minority) and 2001 (Census 2001 – 36% ethnic minority). However, Professor Ludi Simpson at the [[University of Manchester]] School of Social Sciences said in September 2007 that the CRE had "made unsubstantiated claims and ignored government statistics" and that Leicester's immigrant and minority communities disperse to other places.<ref>[http://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/news/unilife/1007/research/#d.en.124216] {{dead link|date=July 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/research/mrpd/events/documents/BSPS07SimpsonFinneyMinorityWhiteCities.doc |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071129182053/http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/research/mrpd/events/documents/BSPS07SimpsonFinneyMinorityWhiteCities.doc |url-status=dead |title=Research2 |archive-date=29 November 2007}}</ref><ref name="auto"/>

The Leicester Multicultural Advisory Group<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.media4diversity.eu/ |title=Media4diversity |access-date=30 November 2020 |archive-date=3 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203004835/https://www.media4diversity.eu/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> is a forum, set up in 2001 by the editor of the ''[[Leicester Mercury]]'', to co-ordinate community relations with members representing the council, police, schools, community and faith groups, and the media.

====Coronavirus====
The [[COVID-19 pandemic]] has brought many social and economic challenges across the country and across the world. Leicester has been particularly badly affected in the United Kingdom; from July 2020 during the imposition of the first local lockdown which saw all non-essential retail closed again and businesses such as public houses, restaurants and hairdressers unable to reopen. Businesses such as these in areas such as Glenfield and that part of Braunstone Town which outside of the formal city council area, have since been allowed to reopen following a more tightly defined lockdown area from 18 July 2020.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-53447863 |title=Leicester lockdown: 'I needn't have cancelled our holiday' |work=BBC News |date=18 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/754/contents/made |title=The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Leicester) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 |website=Legislation.gov.uk |access-date=27 June 2022 |archive-date=9 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709023008/https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/754/contents/made |url-status=live }}</ref>