Editing Gloucester (section)

===Middle ages===
After the Norman Conquest, [[William Rufus]] made [[Robert Fitzhamon]] the first baron or overlord of Gloucester. Fitzhamon had a military base at [[Cardiff Castle]], and for the succeeding years the history of Gloucester was closely linked to that of Cardiff.
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During [[the Anarchy]], Gloucester was a centre of support for the [[Empress Matilda]],<ref>Gesta Stephani, §47</ref> who was supported in her claim to the throne by her half-brother, Fitzhamon's grandson, [[Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester]] (also known as Robert of Gloucester). After this period of strife ended with the ascent of her son Henry to the throne [[Henry II of England]], Henry granted Robert possession of [[Cardiff Castle]], and it later passed to [[William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester]] son of Robert. The story of the Anarchy is vividly told in a series of 19th-century paintings by [[William Burges]] at the Castle.

Henry granted Gloucester its first charter in 1155, which gave the burgesses the same liberties as the citizens of London and [[Winchester]]. A second charter of Henry&nbsp;II gave them freedom of passage on the [[River Severn]]. The first charter was confirmed in 1194 by [[Richard I of England|King Richard&nbsp;I]]. The privileges of the borough were greatly extended by the charter of [[John of England|King John]] (1200), which gave freedom from toll throughout the kingdom and from pleading outside the borough.

In 1216, [[Henry III of England|King Henry III]], aged only ten years, was crowned with a gilded iron ring in the Chapter House of [[Gloucester Cathedral]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannia.com/history/city/glos.html |title=Short History of the City of Gloucester, Gloucestershire |access-date=4 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160902133048/http://www.britannia.com/history/city/glos.html |archive-date=2 September 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> During his reign, [[Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany]] his cousin was briefly imprisoned at Gloucester Castle as state prisoner from 1222 to 1223, and from 1237 to 1238, in addition to sometime during the reign of King John.<ref>Seabourne, Gwen. Imprisoning Medieval Women (2013) pp. 67, 70, 79, 81–83</ref>

Gloucester's significance in the Middle Ages is underlined by the fact that it had a number of monastic establishments, including St Peter's Abbey founded in 679 (later [[Gloucester Cathedral]]), the nearby [[St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester]] founded in the 880s or 890s, Llanthony Secunda Priory, founded 1136 as a retreat for a community of Welsh monks (now near the western bypass),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.llanthonysecunda.org/ |title=Llanthony Secunda Priory |access-date=4 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416012846/http://www.llanthonysecunda.org/ |archive-date=16 April 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> the Franciscan Greyfriars community founded in 1231 (near [[Eastgate Shopping Centre, Gloucester|Eastgate Shopping Centre]]),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/greyfriars/history/ |title=History of Greyfriars – English Heritage |access-date=4 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817110921/http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/greyfriars/history/ |archive-date=17 August 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> and the Dominican Blackfriars community founded in 1239 (Ladybellegate Street).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gloucesterblackfriars.co.uk/ |title=Blackfriars Priory |work=Gloucesterblackfriars.co.uk |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190114161600/http://www.gloucesterblackfriars.co.uk/ |archive-date=14 January 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> It also has some very early churches including [[St Mary de Lode Church, Gloucester]] near the Cathedral and the Norman [[St Mary de Crypt Church, Gloucester]] in [[Southgate Street]].

Additionally, there is evidence of a [[Jews|Jewish]] community in Gloucester as early as 1158–1159; they lived around present-day East Gate Street and had a synagogue on the south side, near St Michael's church.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Jewish Community of Gloucester |url=https://dbs.bh.org.il/place/gloucester |publisher=The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot |access-date=3 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703133736/https://dbs.bh.org.il/place/gloucester |archive-date=3 July 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hillaby |first1=Joe |last2=Hillaby |first2=Caroline |title=The Palgrave Dictionary of Medieval Anglo-Jewish History |year=2013 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Basingstoke |isbn=9780230278165 |ol=OL28086241M |pages=151–3}}</ref> Gloucester was probably the home of Rabbi Moses, who established an important Anglo-Jewish family. The Jews of the town were falsely accused by the Dominican monks of murdering a child, [[Harold of Gloucester]], in an attempt to establish a cult similar to that of [[William of Norwich]], which failed entirely. Nevertheless, the accusations were recycled around the time of the [[Edict of Expulsion]]. In January 1275, [[Eleanor of Provence]] expelled Jews from all of the towns within her dower lands, and the Jews of Gloucester were ordered to move to [[Bristol]] but finding an especially difficult situation there, relocated to [[Hereford]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hillaby |first1=Joe |last2=Hillaby |first2=Caroline |title=The Palgrave Dictionary of Medieval Anglo-Jewish History |year=2013 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Basingstoke |isbn=9780230278165 |ol=OL28086241M |pages=143–4, 147–53}}</ref>

[[File:Gloucester Cathedral Exterior.jpg|thumb|[[Gloucester Cathedral]] housed the Parliament between 1378 and 1406.]] In the [[Middle Ages]], the main export was wool, which came from the [[Cotswolds]] and was processed in Gloucester; other exports included [[leather]] and [[iron]] (tools and weapons). Gloucester also had a large fishing industry at that time.

In 1222, a massive fire destroyed part of Gloucester.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t3806c15s |title=The history and description of the city of Gloucester, from the earliest period to the present time |last=Counsel |first=George Worrall |year=1829 |location=Gloucester |pages=21 |publisher=Printed for J. Bulgin |hdl=2027/loc.ark:/13960/t3806c15s |access-date=27 January 2020 |archive-date=3 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503115727/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t3806c15s |url-status=live}}</ref>

One of the most significant periods in Gloucester's history began in 1378 when [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] convened Parliament in the city. Parliaments were held there until 1406 under [[Henry&nbsp;IV of England]]. The Parliament Rooms at the Cathedral remain as testimony to this important time.

Gloucester was incorporated by [[Richard III of England|King Richard III]] in 1483, the town being made a [[county corporate|county]] in itself.