It was arguably the greatest tragedy London has ever seen.
But the chances are you've never heard of it.
The date was July 10, 1212. The most deadly date in London's history.
When a fire broke out in Southwark it spread so quickly that it would become known as the Great Fire of Suthwark.
The blaze destroyed Southwark Cathedral and then spread to London Bridge.
While no official records were kept, it is thought that around 3,000 people died.
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If this is anywhere near accurate, that's around 7.5% of the city's population.
The equivalent today would be a disaster claiming the lives of 607,000 Londoners.
It isn't known how the fire started.
But historian Toni Mount told MyLondon that London Bridge was newly built at the time - and one of the first stone bridges in the capital.
"Bridges had been wooden in the past," she explained.
"There were other stone bridges, but never had there been a bridge so wide."
Interestingly, the Thames was wider back in Medieval times , with the embankment further back.
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London Bridge actually survived the fire but the properties on it (yes, it had houses on it at the time) were not so lucky and burned down.
Houses were being built on the bridge, with the idea that rent from these would go towards paying for the bridge's maintenance, a plan that had to be re-thought following the blaze.
Back then London Bridge was a very different place to what it's like now.
Toni wrote in her book, Everyday Life in Medieval London : "Shops and houses crammed both sides of the narrow thoroughfare across the river, their upper storeys jutting out, some even adjoining their opposite neighbour."
Life was even more squashed in than it is now, making the homes and their residents easy victims of a serious fire.
One of the earliest information sources we have on the fire was made in the "Book on Ancient Laws" but even this was compiled over 60 years after the tragedy, in 1274.
High winds made the situation worse
It said: "In this year (1212) was the Great Fire of Suthwark, and it burned the church of St Mary [Overy] and also the bridge, with the chapel there, and the great part of the city."
Toni said that the severity of the fire was likely caused by high winds blowing the flames around.
And it claimed victims on both sides of the Thames.
Toni added: "The flames spread from the bridge to the City."
Such a huge number of deaths were probably caused by victims running onto London Bridge when the fire first broke out hoping to cross over the river to escape.
Others are assumed to have lost their lives while trying to help extinguish the inferno.
Traders and residents would have also been passing over the bridge, while other pedestrians would have run towards the fire to get a better look at it.
Trapped on the bridge
The wind then carried the fire very quickly and trapped people on the bridge. Some may have died directly in the flames while others could have drowned trying to escape via the river having jumped from the bridge.
Toni added: "Fires were an everyday occurrence. Lives were often lost in London too during heavy construction work like the building of bridges."
This said, the 1212 fire was a disaster on another scale. The 1616 Great Fire of London in comparison was believed to have only resulted in six deaths, though this may be inaccurate since the deaths of poor and middle class people were not recorded at this time.
So what happened after the fire?
Toni explained: "King John put taxes on a number of things to help rebuild the destroyed buildings."
There was a desire to quickly put right what the fire had destroyed.
London was going through a series of interesting changes at the time. Henry Fitz Ailwin was the first City of London Mayor , and following the 1212 fire got together with other officials to bring in a code emphasising fire prevention and safety during construction work.
This must have had some impact.
London got itself back on its feet, as it always does, and thankfully a disaster has never again caused such a staggering death toll to the city.
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