Elizabeth I, Henry VIII's daughter and the 'virgin queen', left no heir. The Tudor line came to an end and she was succeeded by King James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England in 1603.

During James reign and later in that of Charles I, the brilliant, self-taught architect Inigo Jones introduced town planning to the capital. In 1631 Jones designed Covent Garden piazza, the first purpose-built square in the city. His other important work in this period was the Queen's House at Greenwich Palace and the Banqueting House at Whitehall. The other significant civic achievement of the reign of James I was the provision of a clean water supply for London.

However, James I was not a popular monarch. His harsh anti-catholic laws led to an attempt to assassinate him at the opening of Parliament at the Royal Palace of Westminster on 5th November 1605 by Guy Fawkes and his associates. This 'Gunpowder Plot' was uncovered and the perpetrators rounded up, only for the leaders to be split up again (quite literally).

James I was succeeded by Charles I's, who's reign was marked by financial and constitutional struggles between him and parliament. The king's demands and trade restrictions also alienated the population of London, so when, on January 4th 1642, the king tried to arrest five members of the House Commons for treason, they all fled to the City of London.

During the civil war London became an anti-royalist stronghold and the City helped finance the parliamentarians war efforts. The greatest threat to London came in November 1642 when the King's men, following the Battle of Edgehill, moved south to Brentford, nine miles the city. They were quickly put to flight by Lord Essex's men, supported by a large group of Londoners. The next time Charles was to come to the capital would be in January 1649 for his trial in Westminster Hall, and later his execution outside the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace.

The "Cromwellian" era that followed Charles' death saw a concerted effort by puritan extremists to stem London's appetite for the bawdier aspects of life. Theatre was banned, as was dancing and just about anything else enjoyable. Even the churches had their organs and choirs removed.

This period is also notable for the return of a Jewish community to London. Banished by Edward I in 1292, there is little evidence of their having any presence at all in London until a small settlement of Jews from Spain and Portugal, fleeing the inquisition, reached London via Amsterdam during Charles I's reign. Cromwell employed them in his secret service and made Abraham Israel Carvajal, who was their official leader, the first English Jew.

The restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660 was to be followed by two great disasters. The first was the Great Plague of 1665, followed a year later by the Great Fire.

Because of its poor sanitation, plague had been a constant threat in London since medieval times. In 1665 Plague broke out in the city, brought by ship from Holland. But this plague was something different - a strain so virulent that sufferers could catch it and die within hours.

The outbreak began in St. Giles-in-the-Fields and spread quickly to devastate the over-crowded and impoverished areas of Stepney, Shoreditch, Clerkenwell, Cripplegate, St. Giles's and Westminster.

The city soon descended into a state of panic. Sufferers were locked in their houses, along with their families. It was thought that dogs and cats spread the disease, so the Lord Mayor ordered them all killed. With this one stroke he destroyed the natural enemies of the rats, who were the true carriers.

Throughout the long, dry summer of 1665 the plague raged though London. The royal court fled to Oxford and did not return until February of the next year. Most doctors and priests followed, as did anyone with the means to leave.

Although the worst of the plague had subsided by the autumn, it was not until the next great calamity that London faced cleansed the filthy streets of London that the plague was truly over. Estimates of the death toll in those few short months range from 70,000 to well over 100,000.

Then in the autumn of 1666 came the Great Fire. Early in the morning of Sunday 2nd September 1666, the carelessness of a maid caused a fire in the shop of the king's baker in Pudding Lane, near London Bridge. The houses nearby were overcrowded and made of wood, and the fire quickly spread to the riverside where large quantities of highly combustible materials were kept. The fire then spread rapidly into the heart of the City and was soon threatening the Royal Exchange, Lombard Street and Cornhill, a very wealthy area.

The fire was driven deeper and deeper into the capital by a wind which blew constantly for the first three days. By the end of the second day, the riverside had been devastated and the fire had engulfed Cornhill, Poultry and was threatening Cheapside. As the means of directing water onto the flames were hugely inadequate, the only real way to fight the fire was to pull down the burning houses before it could spread further. People used poles, axes, ladders - anything to try to prevent its spread.

By the Tuesday morning nearly half the City was alight. Custom House and the Royal Exchange were burnt to the ground and the old Cathedral of St Paul's was virtually destroyed. The fire continued burning through Cheapside and the London walls at Cripplegate, Newgate and Ludgate. From there it moved along Fleet Street, nearly as far as the Temple Bar. But on the fourth day, the wind dropped and the fire slowly came to a halt.

The results were devastating. Amazingly only 8 lives were lost, but four fifths of the walled city were lost, a full 273 acres of it burnt. Outside the walls, 63 acres were ruined and in total 87 parish churches and 13,200 homes were lost. Such widespread devastation would not be seen again until the Second World War and the bombings of the 'Blitz'.

The great fire changed the character of London forever. Four kinds of houses were specified by the Rebuilding Act of 1667, to be built only of brick and stone. A new city grew up along the grid lines of the old one, but with wider streets and regular brick built houses.

Among the great treasures of this time are the churches rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. He started work on ten of them, four years after the fire. The remainder, in total fifty-one, were still unfinished well into the next century. Even St. Paul's was not completed until 1712.

After the fire, the area within the old city walls became a more marked commercial centre. The gentry made their homes elsewhere and new residential squares were laid out. St. James Square was the first of these, and the districts of Covent Garden, St. James, Mayfair, and Marylebone became areas for the well-heeled to settle. By the end of Charles II's reign there were practically no fashionable addresses left within the City.

On Charles II's death on 6th February 1685, King James II came to the throne. During his short, turbulent reign the City regained its full autonomy. On James II's flight in December 1688, Guildhall was chosen as a stronghold from where the men of power could prepare the declaration of allegiance to the Prince of Orange. Prince William was welcomed by the City and the Lord Mayor, aldermen and 50 representatives of the common council were all invited to the assembly which was called upon his arrival.

With his wife, Queen Mary, William favoured Hampton Court as his chief Royal Residence. It was much rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren but lack of money meant that much of Wren's grandiose scheme was abandoned and the older Tudor buildings survived. The couple also bought Nottingham House from their Secretary of State and turned it into Kensington Palace. These palaces were also favourites of Queen Anne.

After Stuart London came Georgian london