Editing Ipswich (section)

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Ipswich Ancient House.jpg|thumb|[[Ancient House, Ipswich]] is decorated with a particularly fine example of [[pargeting]].]]

The modern town took shape in Anglo-Saxon times (7th–8th centuries) around the [[Port of Ipswich]]. As the coastal states of north-western Europe emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, essential [[North Sea]] trade and communication between eastern Britain and the continent (especially to [[Scandinavia]], and through the [[Rhine]]) passed through the former Roman ports of [[Lundenwic|London]] (serving the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Mercia|Mercia]], the [[Kingdom of Essex|East Saxons]], [[Kingdom of Kent|Kent]]) and [[York]] (Eoforwic) (serving the [[Kingdom of Northumbria]]).

''Gipeswic'' (also in other spellings such as ''Gippeswich'')<ref>Bowen, Emanuel "An Accurate Map of the County of Suffolk Divided into its Hundreds c. 1760"</ref> arose as the equivalent to these, serving the [[Kingdom of East Anglia]],<ref name=":0" /><ref>Hodges, R. ''Dark Age Economics: The Origins of Town and Trade AD 600–1000'' (London 1982)</ref><ref>Plunkett S. ''Suffolk in Anglo-Saxon Times'' (Tempus, Stroud 2005), 76–78, 129–133, 148–52, 156–58, 200–202</ref><ref>Gardner, Rhodri "Ipswich, Cranfield's Mill", in "Archaeology in Suffolk 2005", ''Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History'' 41 Part 2, 2006, p.251</ref><ref>Verhulst A. E. ''The Rise of Cities in North-Western Europe'' (Cambridge University Press 1999), pp. 27–30</ref><ref>Malster R. ''A History of Ipswich'' (Phillimore, Chichester 2000), pp. 5–13.</ref> its early imported wares dating to the time of [[Rædwald of East Anglia|King Rædwald]], ruler of the East Angles (616–624). The famous ship-burial and treasure at [[Sutton Hoo]] nearby ({{convert|9|mi|km|disp=semicolon}}) is probably his grave. The [[Ipswich Museum]] houses [[replica]]s of the Roman [[Mildenhall Treasure|Mildenhall]] and [[Sutton Hoo treasure]]s. A gallery devoted to the town's origins includes [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] [[weapon]]s, [[jewellery]] and other artefacts.

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The seventh-century town was centred near the quay. Around 700 AD, Frisian potters from the [[Netherlands]] area settled in Ipswich and set up the first large-scale potteries in England since Roman times. Their wares were traded far across England, and the industry was unique to Ipswich for 200 years.<ref>K. Wade, "Gipeswic – East Anglia's First Economic Capital 600–1066", in Salmon N. P. and Malster R. (Eds), ''Ipswich From the First to the Third Millennium'' (Papers from an Ipswich Society Symposium), (Ipswich Society, Ipswich 2001), 1–6, at pp. 3–4.</ref><ref>Plunkett S. J. ''Suffolk in Anglo-Saxon Times'' (Tempus, Stroud 2005), 130–133, 201.</ref> With growing prosperity, in about 720 AD a large new part of the town was laid out in the Buttermarket area. Ipswich was becoming a place of national and international importance.<ref>Wade 2001.</ref> Parts of the ancient road plan still survive in its modern streets.

After the invasion of 869, Ipswich fell under [[Viking]] rule. The earth ramparts circling the town centre were probably raised by Vikings in Ipswich around 900 to prevent its recapture by the English.<ref>Wade 2001, 5.</ref><ref>Malster R. ''A History of Ipswich'' (Phillimore, Chichester 2000), 13.</ref> They were unsuccessful. The town operated a [[Mint (coin)|mint]] under royal licence from King [[Edgar I of England|Edgar]] in the 970s, which continued through the [[Norman Conquest]] until the time of [[John of England|King John]], in about 1215.<ref>North J. J. ''English Hammered Coinage'' (Spink and Son, London 1980), ''Volume I: Early Anglo-Saxon to Henry III'', "Mint Towns" (p 194), Ipswich, Suffolk: Edgar to John. Example figure:[[Aethelred II]] first hand type, Plate X no. 23, Cat. 766 & p. 120.</ref> The abbreviation ''Gipes'' appears on the coins.

King John granted the town its first [[Municipal charter|charter]] in 1200, laying the medieval foundations of its modern civil government.<ref>Martin, Geoffrey "The Medieval and Early Modern Borough" in Salmon N. P. and Malster R. (eds), ''Ipswich From the First to the Third Millennium'' (Papers from an Ipswich Society Symposium), (Ipswich Society, Ipswich 2001), 7–17.</ref><ref>Text of charter (translated into English) and image of 1200 Town Seal, see [[John Wodderspoon|Wodderspoon, J.]], ''Memorials of the Ancient Town of Ipswich'' (Pawsey (Ipswich): Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans (London) 1850), 'Ancient Incorporation of the Town', pp 75–130, at pp 75–85.</ref> Thenceforth Ipswich strongly maintained its jurisdiction over the Liberty of Ipswich, an administrative area extending over about 35 square kilometres centred on the town.<ref>Briggs, Keith "The bounds of the Liberty of Ipswich", ''Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History'' 44, 19-38 (2017)</ref>

In the next four centuries it made the most of its wealth. Five large religious houses, including two [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] Priories (St Peter and St Paul, and Holy Trinity, both mid-12th century<ref>Malster 2000, 41–45.</ref><ref>Briggs, Keith "The rentals of Holy Trinity Priory in Ipswich", ''Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History'' 44, 456-461 (2019)</ref>), and those of the [[Ipswich Greyfriars]] ([[Franciscans]], before 1298), [[Ipswich Whitefriars]] ([[Carmelites]] founded 1278–79) and [[Ipswich Blackfriars]] ([[Dominican Order|Dominicans]], before 1263), stood in medieval Ipswich. The last Carmelite Prior of Ipswich was the celebrated [[John Bale]], author of the oldest English historical verse-drama (''Kynge Johan'', {{circa|1538}}).<ref>B. Zimmerman, 1899, 'The White Friars at Ipswich', ''Proc. Suffolk Institute of Archaeology'' 10 Part 2, 196–204, at p. 199.</ref> There were also several hospitals, including the leper hospital of St Mary Magdalene, founded before 1199.

During the Middle Ages the [[Blessed Virgin Mary|Marian]] Shrine of [[Our Lady of Ipswich|Our Lady of Grace]] was a famous [[pilgrimage]] destination, and attracted many pilgrims including [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] and [[Katherine of Aragon]].<ref>Wodderspoon 1850, 331–332.</ref><ref>Malster 2000, 43–47, 63–67.</ref> At the Reformation the statue was taken away to London to be burned, though some claim that it survived and is preserved at [[Nettuno]], Italy.<ref>Malster 2000, 67.</ref>

Around 1380, [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] satirised the merchants of Ipswich in ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]''. [[Thomas Wolsey]], the future [[cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]], was born in Ipswich in 1473 as the son of a wealthy landowner. One of [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]]'s closest political allies, he founded a [[college]] in the town in 1528, which was for its brief duration one of the homes of the [[Ipswich School]].<ref>Blatchly J. M. ''A Famous Antient Seed-Plot of Learning'' (Ipswich School 2003), 27–41.</ref> He remains one of the town's most famed figures.