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Lord Mayor/Midnight Mayor

london-bridge

Oh yes… did I mention the sequel to A Madness of Angels?

So, for many, many hundreds of years there has been an individual in London called the Lord Mayor.  In Magna Carta it was set down that the Lord Mayor of London could prevent the king entering within the city walls which at the time defined the city.  He was the chief authority in the city, a leader during disasters, a powerful figure within the guilds, wealthy and for a long time, the nearest thing London had to any sort of definable legal authority.  In recent centuries his power has declined, and now the Lord Mayor is chiefly regarded for the firework display put on in his honour every November, and for his excellent ability at shaking hands.   Certain symbols of the past remain; chains of office, a particularly shiny coach, big red robes and a lot of dead rabbit.  Around the Corporation of London, the oldest part of the city, you can also see practically everywhere you look, the old symbol of the city; a dragon holding a shield, bearing the red cross of St. George in its middle, and in the top left hand corner, a red sword.

Needless to say, if the Lord Mayor developed over the years to maintain law and order during daylight hours, in charge of the ordinary ticking over of the city, there would be left a vacancy for a more mystical counterpart, whose remit begins when the sun goes down…

 

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