England's first capital — Alfred the Great's city of books
Winchester was the capital of Anglo-Saxon England and the seat of Alfred the Great, who made it the intellectual and military heart of his kingdom. It was England's most important city from the 9th century until London overtook it in the 12th. Today it's a genteel cathedral city in Hampshire with one of England's finest medieval cathedrals (the longest Gothic nave in the world), the Great Hall housing the legendary Arthurian Round Table, and an understated, bookish atmosphere — Jane Austen is buried in the cathedral.
Venta Belgarum was an important Roman town; its walls still define Winchester's centre. Alfred the Great (871–899) made it the capital of his kingdom of Wessex and launched a cultural renaissance from here, commissioning the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and translating Latin texts himself. After the Norman Conquest William I built the castle whose Great Hall survives. Medieval Winchester was one of the richest cities in England, but it never recovered from the Black Death and was gradually eclipsed by London.