The city occupied a proud position, and its importance in Roman times is shewn by the fact that it was the meeting-point of five main roads, two of which, the Foss Way and Ermine Street, met a little south of the present church of St. Botolph, and formed what is now the High Street of the city. Remains of Roman Lincoln are abundant, and some are preserved within the minster precincts. Passing on to the time of the Saxons, we read that the indefatigable missionary Paulinus, Bishop of York, journeyed into the neighbouring district of Lindsey, and "preached in the old Roman hill-town of Lincoln." His labour was rewarded by the conversion (about the year 628) of its "prefect" Blaecca, who immediately set about building "a stone church of noble workmanship" for the use of the converts to the new faith. But it is not directly to the preaching of Paulinus, nor to the energy of Blaecca, that we owe the foundation of the minster. The "stone church" is now almost certainly represented by the church of St. Paul, in Bailgate, a church which still retains the name, though in a corrupted form, of the first great Christian missionary to the people of Lincoln. In this church Honorius was consecrated by Paulinus to succeed Justus as Archbishop of Canterbury. The little village of Stow, eleven miles to the north-west of the city, has been identified by Professor Freeman as "the ancient Sidnacester," and can thus claim to be the original seat of the diocese of Lincoln. The venerable church of St. Mary at Stow was called by Camden "the mother-church to Lincoln." In the year 678, when the huge Northumbrian diocese of Wilfrid was divided, Egfrid of Northumbria built a church at Sidnacester. This church was made the "bishopstool" of the new diocese of Lindsey, and the line of bishops may be traced for two hundred years, from Eadhed to Berhtred. During the bishopric of the latter, about the year 870, the church at Stow was burnt in an invasion of the Northmen, and in consequence of their ravages the see remained vacant for a period of eighty years. Lincoln itself fell into the hands of the invaders, and became the chief of the "Five Boroughs" of the Danish Confederation. From this time until the Norman invasion the borough continued to be governed by its twelve hereditary Danish law-men. About the middle of the tenth century, the seat of the bishops of this district was removed for security to Dorchester-on-Thames, in the very farthest corner of the vast diocese, where it was protected by the fortified camp. The Mercian see of Leicester was here united with that of Sidnacester, and in the next century Eadnoth, the second of the name, is styled Bishop of Dorchester, Leicester, and Sidnacester. The little city by the Thames was not long to enjoy the honour of being the "bishopstool" of the largest diocese in England. As the Saxons gave way before their Norman conquerors, the Saxon bishop of Dorchester was succeeded by the Norman bishop of Lincoln. William the Conqueror