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The cathedral city and district of Norwich is approximately 160 km (100 miles) northeast of London. It is situated by the River Wensum and is the seat of the Episcopal See, and it is the location of one of the largest medieval cathedrals in the nation.

The settlement near the village of Caistor St. Edmund, which was about 8 km (5 miles) north of where Norwich is today, was the capital of the Iceni tribe. The Iceni were a Brittonic tribe. The Iceni inhabited modern-day Norwich and surrounding territory during the Iron Age and the early Roman era.

During the 5th century and lasting into the 7th century, Anglo-Saxons settled what is today known as Norwich along with other villages in the area. Going back to the Middle Ages, the economy of Norwich and the surrounding area was based on wool gathered from the sheepwalks in Norfolk. The Vikings occupied the area for almost 50 years in the last half of the 9th century

Norwich became a town during the first quarter of the 10th century and became an important commerce and trade centre. In 1016, the Danish prince, Cnut the Great, led the Danes Norwich was sacked by the Danes in 1004 AD.

William the Conqueror ordered the construction of Norwich Castle, which was primarily built as protection of the town after the Norman Conquest. Construction began in 1067. From 1220 until 1887,¬ the castle was used as a gaol (prison), and in 1894, the Norwich Museum was relocated to the gaol.

In 1348, the Black Death began its terrifying reign in England. The first wave appeared in Norwich in 1349, killing as much as half of the population.

The term “Black Death” is one of the terms frequently used to describe the first wave of the second plague pandemic, Bubonic Plague. That disease became a pandemic which devastated Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 until 1353. As many as 200 million people died due to the Black Death during that time. But this, the second pandemic, would come and go until its final European outbreak in which lasted from 1664 to 1667.

Other terms for this disease and pandemic include the Great Mortality, the Pestilence, or simply the Plague. To this day, the Black Death is the most fatal pandemic in recorded history, having killed up to one-half of the population of Eurasia in the first four years.

Despite the repeated occurrences of the Black Death, Norwich managed to survive, and in fact, it was voted one of the Sunday Times “Best Places to Live” in the United Kingdom in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

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