At a later period the Humber formed a highway for the marauding Danes, who overran the country, and, if in nothing else, have left their traces in every village-name ending in “by.” In their time Lincoln was the first city of the Pentapolis, or Quinque Burgi, of Fifburg, a league of the five confederate towns, Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, and Stamford. Before the Norman Conquest Lincoln was the fourth city in the kingdom, and during the 11th and 12th centuries it was one of the greatest trading towns in the kingdom. The castle was founded by the Conqueror, A.D. 1086, being one of four which he erected at York, Nottingham, Hastings and here; and 166 “mansions” were destroyed to provide space for it. {119c} The Empress Maud, in 1140, took up her residence in Lincoln, and strongly fortified the castle. It was besieged by Stephen, who was defeated and made prisoner at the battle of Lincoln. A prophecy had long been current to this effect,— “The first crowned head that enters Lincoln’s walls, His reign proves stormy, and his kingdom falls.” On Stephen’s restoration he visited Lincoln in triumph, wearing his crown; but subsequent events verified the prediction. At Lincoln, in 1200, William the Lion, of Scotland, did homage to King John of England. On the death of Queen Eleanor, the beloved wife of Edward I., at Harby, a small hamlet of North Clifton, Notts, the embalmed body was taken to Westminster for burial, but the viscera were brought to Lincoln and interred in the Cathedral, A.D. 1290. In 1301 Edward I. held a Parliament in Lincoln, to decide on sending letters to Rome to Pope Boniface VIII., asserting England’s independence of the Pope. In 1305 Edward I. kept his court in Lincoln a whole winter, and held another Parliament, in which he confirmed the Magna Charta of King John. {120a} A Parliament was also held in Lincoln by Edward II., and another, in his first year, by Edward III. In 1352 the staple of wool was removed from Flanders to England; and Lincoln, with Westminster, Chichester, Canterbury, Bristol, and Hull, was made a staple town {120b} for that commodity. John, of Gaunt, fourth son of Edward III., resided in Lincoln Castle. His son, “Henry of Bolingbroke,” afterwards Henry IV., was the only king born in this county. John of Gaunt married Catherine Swynford, sister of Chaucer the poet. She and a daughter were interred in the Cathedral, on the south side of the altar steps. The royalty of Lincoln Castle was shewn by a shield over a doorway, bearing the arms of England and France, quarterly, which were shewn in Buck’s engraving, date 1727. In the year 1386 Richard II. visited Lincoln and held a Court in the Episcopal Palace. He granted to the Mayor and his successors the privilege of having a sword carried before them in civic processions. Henry VI. visited Lincoln and held a Court at the Bishop’s Palace in 1440. Henry VII. visited Lincoln in 1486, and was right royally entertained.