Winchester, the present county town of Hampshire, was the capital of England from Anglo-Saxon times until the 13th C. The ruins of the royal castle, numerous medieval buildings and one of Europe's longest cathedrals, constructed in the neo-Gothic style, continue to bear witness to the former political and
cultural center of England, as do the town's achievements in book illumination, which include the unique Winchester Bible.
The Romans named the town Venta Belgarum, but excavations have revealed the Celtic settlement of Caer Gwent, called the "White Town" after the surrounding chalk hills, which occupied the site since the Bronze Age. At the end of the fifth century Saxon tribes penetrated the area, drove away the Celtic Britons and founded after 519, under the leadership of Cerdic (d. 534), the Kingdom of Wessex with the main town of Wintanceaster or Winton. During the following period the King of Wessex, mainly under Egbert in 825, assumed leadership of the seven kingdoms in Britain. After the conversion of the West Saxons by Bishop Birinus in 635 a bishop's see was established first in Dorchester in Oxfordshire and after 675 in Winchester. The cathedral was renovated several times in the ninth and 10th centuries, after which Winchester under Alfred the Great, the ruler of Wessex who was recognized throughout England as king (871-899), became the country's capital. The political importance of the town, coupled with a cultural heyday, was also preserved under the Norman kings, when William the Conqueror had himself crowned both in London and in Winchester, and the crown jewels and the Doomsday Book were kept in Winchester. Only during the reign of Henry III (1216-1271) did London finally become the capital of the country. Winchester lost many privileges and sank into obscurity despite many attempts at revival. Arthur, the son and successor of Henry VIII, and Emperor Charles V held a great celebration in the town in 1522, and Charles II commissioned Christopher Wren in 1683 with the building of a royal palace, which was taken down, however, at the end of the 19th century.
Winchester is a popular tourist destination for the museums and family attractions, modern art and historical architecture as well as the number of festivals.
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