London in the late middle ages has been described as "the largest port, the largest market and retail outlet for luxuries and manufacture, and the largest employer in fifteenth-century England".

Nationally and financially, it was the most important trading post in the country, only a few years later handling over 60 per cent of English trade abroad.
Throughout the later Middle Ages maintaining control of (and influence in)  London was of fundamental importance for every monarch.
London meant close proximity and access to the hub of royal administration, justice, and patronage, as well as Parliament and the King’s Council at Westminster.
The City, though, had also been hit heaviest by the King's poll taxes of 1376–81, providing even more "irritation and labour" for Londoners.
London in the late middle ages has been described as "the largest port, the largest market and retail outlet for luxuries and manufacture, and the largest employer in fifteenth-century England".
Nationally and financially, it was the most important trading post in the country, only a few years later handling over 60 per cent of English trade abroad. Throughout the later Middle Ages maintaining control of (and influence in)  London was of fundamental importance for every monarch. London meant close proximity and access to the hub of royal administration, justice, and patronage, as well as Parliament and the King’s Council at Westminster. The City, though, had also been hit heaviest by the King's poll taxes of 1376–81, providing even more "irritation and labour" for Londoners.
Nicholas Exton