Paul's was probably the Northern Gate.
Still keeping to the military aspects of the subject--at the
commencement of the fourteenth century there was at the west end of St.
Paul's Cathedral a waste piece of ground, which was the property of the
City; and here it was the custom for the citizens to make a muster of
arms under the command or inspection of the lord of Baynard Castle for
the defence of the City, "so often as the said citizens might see fit."
Moreover, at the east end of the church lay a smaller plot, on which the
citizens held folkmotes and made parade of arms for preserving the
King's peace. This was perhaps a relic of the Anglo-Saxon institution of
Inward, which is mentioned in Domesday, and was designed for the
maintenance of order within the walls. Adjacent to this smaller plot was
the clochier or campanile of St. Paul's, which was a distinct building
from the cathedral proper, and contained the great bell, known as the
_motbelle_, by which the citizens were summoned to the Folkmote or an
assembly of arms on occasions "when within the respective bailiwicks of
the Aldermen anything unexpected, doubtful, or disastrous against the
realm, or the royal crown, chanced suddenly to take place." When the
King required the services of the Host of London against foreign enemies
or outside the confines of the City, it is natural to suppose that the
muster was held on the larger of the two spaces.
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