London Day 10

We went to the Tower of London on our last full day in the city. It's been more than a decade since we were last here, with Greg, in March of 2000. Remnants of an ancient Roman wall were found near the Tower, both inside and outside of the walls.



The Tower was built by William the Conqueror back around 1080, in an effort to control the population of London by instilling fear. There is an inner defensive wall, an outer defensive wall, and a moat. In addition, there was once a menagerie of wild exotic animals roaming around somewhere, probably between the two walls, to attack anyone who made it that far (eventually they became the first residents of the London Zoo). Members of the Royal family actually lived on the top floors, up until 1695. When Henry VIII married Ann Boleyn, he had a royal residence built there just for her.

It appears an intruder has managed to get past the menagerie, has made his way into the Tower and is entering the gates! Long live the King! Off with his head!



Some very famous people were held prisoner at the Tower. If they were members of the Royal Family, or otherwise favored by the reigning monarch, they would be allowed to have their families and even servants with them. Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned, along with her servants, for the last 19 years of her life, and then she was beheaded. Below is a photo of the room where Sir Walter Raleigh lived, imprisoned with his family--his son was born in the Tower. He had offended the Queen by marrying one of her handmaidens in secret, and being implicated in a plot to overthrow the crown.



Those who were not so lucky as to be of nobel birth or have friends in high places were imprisoned at lower levels, perhaps even below ground, where they might have been held for many years waiting for the King to have a good day and pardon them, or trying to prove their innocence.



They might have been tortured to make them confess their crimes. Sir Thomas More was imprisoned and beheaded because he refused to sign the Act of Succession, which gave Ann Boleyn's children legitimacy and a claim to the throne, or the Act of Supremacy, which declared Henry VIII Head of the Church. This graffiti scratched on the wall by one of the unfortunate prisoners is dated 1570.



Our tour guide was a "beefeater." They are the Queen's bodyguards, who were once paid a part of their wages in beef. The Queen wanted to keep them fit and strong, so they ate red meat regularly. Today they provide guided tours of the Tower. Our guide told us that under the floor of the small St. Peter in Chains chapel where Ann Boleyn was buried they found more than 1500 headless bodies buried. They were only able to identify about 30 of them. One was the hapless Dudley, Duke of Monmouth, who refused to pay the token coin of gold to the executioner to ensure a quick death. Unfortunately, it took at least 5 whacks from the ax, which even then did not completely sever the Duke's head. The executioner took out his butcher knife to finish the job! According to legend, they realized too late that they had not painted an official portrait of the Duke, as he was entitled to, since he was of noble birth, so they sewed the head back on and painted his portrait!

Here's an executioner's ax and block that was on display at the Tower. The block is hollowed out on both sides to accommodate the head and the body, leaving the neck exposed.