The Tower was broken into by violence only once, during the Peasant’s Revolt in 1381. Anger over the poll tax, at the time, was directed at Simon of Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was within the Tower walls. He was also unpopular with the Warders of the Tower or the peasants could never have entered. He was dragged out and killed, beheaded with a lack of skill as his skull reveals. His body was given proper burial as the Archbishop—though without his head, which remains at the Tower.
Once, in the year 1340, the king arrived via the Thames unannounced and found the Water Gate open and unguarded. There was punishment at hand, and, ever since, there has been rigidly structured attention to locking the gates. Even today, every night of the year, the Queen’s Keys are carried in great ceremony to lock up the gates of the Tower. The Chief Yeoman Warder at 9:53 meets his escort warders and they walk to the gates.
They arrive at 10:00 p.m. exactly and are challenged by a sentry with a bayonet who cries loudly, “Who comes here?”
The reply by the Chief is, “The Keys.”
“Whose keys?”
“Queen Elizabeth’s keys.”
“Pass, Queen Elizabeth’s keys, and all is well.”
The party passes through the Bloody Tower Archway into the fortress and halts at the Broadway Steps. At the top of the stairs, the Tower Guard presents arms and the Chief Warder raises his hat and proclaims, “God preserve Queen Elizabeth.”
The sentry replies, “Amen!”
Afterward, the keys are taken to the Queen’s House for safekeeping and the Last Post is sounded.
This ancient ceremony was interrupted only once since the 14th century. During World War II there was an air raid on London. Bombs fell on the Victorian guardroom just as the party was coming through the Bloody Tower Archway. The noise knocked down the Chief Yeoman and one of the Warder escorts.
In the Tower is a letter from the Officer of the Guard in which he apologizes to King George VI for the ceremony finishing late, as well as a reply from the King which states that the officer is not to be punished since the delay was due to enemy action.
The Tower is the oldest fortified building still in occupation, and it was built to protect the Norman William the Conqueror from the angry people he had conquered. But for centuries there were many people living therein, including archers, men-at-arms, groomsmen, masons, carpenters, warders, gaolers, the executive and administrative staff, roadmenders, domestic servants, cooks, barmaids, tradesmen, messengers and prisoners (who at times exceeded a thousand in number).
1) The First Known Prisoner
The first known prisoner was also a Norman, Rannulf Flambard, chief minister to William II (Rufus). He was a churchman whom Rufus later appointed Bishop of Durham. He was of humble origins but worked his way up to his positions by flattery and treachery. He was dishonest, unscrupulous, and arrogant.
Londoners cried out against him for his practice of extortion, an endless succession of taxes, and heavy fines. The clergy learned that he was selling church appointments to the highest bidder, and they joined in against him.
Rufus was benefiting from the money brought in and did not listen. His successor Henry I, however, wanted to allay the people’s anger and charged Flambard with simony. He was imprisoned in the White Tower, and all England rejoiced greatly.
Flambard was allowed great privileges as a prisoner, including chaplains, servants, and a plentiful supply of food. Many casks of wine were brought in.
Interestingly, he was imprisoned in the Banqueting Hall. One night he invited his guards to dine with him. In one of the casks, rope had been hidden by his friends. He made sure that the warders drank plenty, and as they slept it off he tied the rope to a pillar by a window. Though he barely could squeeze his great girth through it, he managed. The rope was short and he fell part of the way to the ground, but, merely bruised, he succeeded in escaping. Friends took him by boat and then ship to Normandy.
2) Jewish Prisoners
Because the Church did not allow its followers to loan money on interest, the Jews came to be the country’s sole moneylenders. Traders, craftsmen, landowners, noblemen, and even the King himself would borrow from them. Often the interest was high, goods and land were given as surety, and the Jews inevitably profited. Resentment began to develop against them.
The Jews were regarded as aliens who dressed differently, talked with accents, and took no part in Christendom’s ceremonies. Soon growing anti-Semitism was fanned over the killing of Jesus, and the Jews were accused of ritually slaughtering Christian children.
A massacre of Jewish elders occurred when they brought gifts for the coronation of Richard the Lionhearted. To prevent such incidents, the Jews were made to live in separate walled sections of towns. A part of the city of London is Old Jewry.
Richard greatly disapproved of the anti-Semitic outbreaks, for the Jews brought considerable profit to the Crown in taxes and fines. Henry III allowed them to move into the Tower of London to escape persecution.
However, his son had a different viewpoint. Edward I had borrowed heavily from Italian bankers, who later moved into England. The Jews were no longer indispensable. In 1278 Edward arrested them all on the charge that they were clipping precious metals off the coins of the realm.
He moved the Mint into the Tower, and he imprisoned six hundred Jews in its rat-infested vaults. After some months, 267 of them were taken out and hanged. In 1290 they were banished from the country and did not return for four centuries.
3) Welsh and Scottish Kings
Welsh chieftain Llewellyn the Great took two-thirds of Wales back from the Norman Marchers. His son Griffith was captured and taken to the Tower along with his own son, also named Llewellyn. Though Griffith died in an attempt to escape, his son was allowed to rule the northwest corner of Wales on the condition that he did homage to the English King. Llewellyn, titling himself Prince of Wales, declined to pay homage to Edward and even married Simon de Montfort’s daughter. His head was impaled upon a pike above the White Tower. His brother David was also executed, and the title Prince of Wales was bestowed upon Edward’s eldest son, who was born at Caernarvon. The title has been given to the eldest son of the monarch ever since.
In 1295, John Baliol, King of Scotland, allied himself with France and marched his troops across the border into England. Edward retaliated. Baliol’s rivals for the throne, the father and son both named Robert Bruce, supported Edward. Edward captured Edinburgh Castle and Baliol surrendered. He and his son went to the Tower along with other Scottish prisoners. His life there was luxurious, paid for by the English King who now had Baliol’s personal estate. At the Pope’s intercession, Baliol was pardoned and given a home in England and a pension.
4) “Falstaff”—Lord Cobham, Sir John Oldcastle
During the reign of Henry V, the Lollards were a religious group who advocated the teaching of John Wycliffe, who had denounced the great wealth of the Church. They were greatly opposed by the Archbishop of Canterbury as well as by rich barons and merchants who feared that popular criticism might be directed against their wealth as well.
The Lollards went underground for a time, but they were supported by parish priests, the middle classes, and many of the gentry.
An assault was finally launched against them by the Church and high ranking nobles. They were called heretics, laws were passed against them, and many were martyred, burned at the stake. Young King Henry V at first opposed the Archbishop who instigated the conflagration and would not permit the man to crown him king.
A good friend of Henry’s from earlier years, Sir John Oldcastle, had commanded a section of the King’s army, was elected to Parliament, and married the heiress of Cobham, becoming Lord Cobham and moving to the Upper House of Parliament.
Oldcastle joined the Lollards in Herefordshire and was accused of heresy in the last days of He
nry IV, but his friendship with the Prince of Wales prevented any action from being taken against him. The new king protected him from recurring charges, though he did attempt to dissuade him from his Lollard association. Oldcastle refused, saying that he would give all his wealth to the King, but could not abandon his religious convictions.
Henry at last allowed the Church to take action. Oldcastle was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. He was convicted of heresy, but his death decree was delayed by Henry for forty days. Perhaps the King still hoped for his friend to recant.
Somehow, Oldcastle escaped from the dungeon, was smuggled across the heavily guarded enclosure of the Tower, taken through the Bloody Tower gate, and brought over the Outer Wall and across the wide moat. It is thought that the King must have colluded in the escape.
Oldcastle, however, was not about to change his viewpoints, and he zealously plotted with the Lollards to seize the King and his brothers during a Twelfth Night celebration. His purpose was to abolish the monarchy and set up a Commonwealth.
The King was warned and escaped with his brothers and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Henry and his men-at-arms captured the Lollards that had conspired against him. Some were killed, others taken to the Tower.
Oldcastle managed to escape and hide in various places for nearly four years. He continued to hatch plots against the King. Finally he was “sore wounded” and brought again to the Tower. Now he was accused of treason as well as heresy, and was hanged and burned, “gallows and all”.
Shakespeare’s play, Henry IV, initially had Oldcastle portrayed under his own name, but the family objected, and the name in the play was changed to Falstaff.
5) Edmund Dudley and Sir Richard Empson
Henry VIII had great autocratic power because powerful barons were dead and their heirs were too young to contend against him when he took the throne. His authority was not strongly challenged as had been that of his predecessors who failed and were forced to sign away power or were deposed or murdered or lost their supporters to rivals. The country wanted peace when he came to the throne, which helped him as well.
Edmund Dudley and Sir Richard Empson had been crooked at procuring money for Henry VII. They charged innocent people with crimes and then allowed them to pay their way out of the legal proceedings. They were highly unpopular.
After Henry VII’s death, the Council arrested them and threw them into the Tower, though Henry VIII kept the moneys that had been extorted.
The Council, to gain popularity for the new reign, decided to execute the two men. There was no death penalty for extortion, so they were charged with “constructive treason”—the assembling of their friends for a discussion was interpreted as “an armed conspiracy to overthrow and murder” the new King, though it was likely organized to discuss how to protect themselves from the wrath of the people after Henry VII’s death.
Dudley wrote a treatise about the advantages of having a monarchy, hoping to impress the new king, but it was never read by Henry VIII.
The two were executed on Tower Hill in 1510.
6) Sir Thomas More
Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor, was not in favor of Henry VIII’s divorce from Katherine of Aragon, but he did defend the King’s motives in Parliament. More also supported the reform of the Church, but could not accept rejection of the Pope’s authority or that Henry should become Supreme Head of the English Church.
More resigned as Lord Chancellor and was living on a low income with his family when he received an invitation to the coronation of Anne Boleyn, along with a fifth additional of his annual income to buy himself a new suit for the occasion. Opposed to the divorce and remarriage, he declined the invitation and returned the money. When he was later required to take an Oath of Supremacy, accepting the King as the head of the Church, he would not.
He was taken to the Tower by boat and confined in the Bell Tower on 17 April 1534.
His cell had a very high ceiling with one small window high in the wall, and so he lived in near darkness. He was denied pen and ink, so he wrote to his daughter with coal. He was allowed no books and was given an illiterate attendant, while a constant flow of visitors sought to persuade him to take the Oath of Supremacy.
After a year of illness and pain in the Tower, he walked, leaning heavily on a staff, the four miles to Westminster Hall, where he had previously sat as judge.
Fifteen specially commissioned judges sat there—among them Anne Boleyn’s father, the First Earl of Wiltshire, her brother, Lord Rochford, and the Duke of Norfolk. There was also a jury of the King’s known supporters. More’s successor as Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Audley, sentenced him to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.
He returned by boat to the Tower. His daughter, Margaret Roper, rushed past the guard on the Wharf, flung her arms around him and kissed him, crying. He and others nearby also broke down. He spent five days in his cell composing prayers.
On the morning of his execution, he was told that the King had shown mercy and would, rather than hang, draw, and quarter him, have him beheaded on Tower Hill. He replied, “God forbid the King shall use any more such mercy on any of my friends.”
After his death, his elderly wife, Lady More, was turned out of their house. His property and effects were settled by Henry on his own infant daughter, Princess Elizabeth, who kept it throughout her reign.
Further Reading
Minney, R.J. The Tower of London. Prentice Hall, 1974.
Monarchy: The Normans—William Rufus and Henry I
by Debra Brown
The Normans that followed the Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror, provide an interesting historical story. William left Normandy to his eldest, whom he considered to be too generous and easy-going to manage England. England he left to his second son, William, called William Rufus for his red complexion. He was crowned on September 26, 1087.
Rufus came to be known as cruel, ruthless, greedy, and crude. He was always looking for ways to obtain more money, and when he couldn’t get it from the Norman barons or the English townsfolk, he taxed the Church heavily.
When the Archbishop of Canterbury Lanfranc died, the irreligious Rufus did not replace him, but kept the revenues normally allotted to the post for himself. He did the same when other bishops and archbishops died. When fearing death, he finally replaced the Archbishop with a Benedictine monk, Anselm of Bec, but upon recovering, he exiled him to Rome and seized his assets. This was a very different method of rule than that of his famously pious Norman predecessor as well as the English kings Alfred the Great and Edward the Confessor.
Rufus built the Great Hall of Westminster according to his grand scale ambitions. It was the largest secular space north of the Alps, used for feasting and entertainments. He would sit on an elevated plane, crowned, robed, and enthroned. The choirs would sing in Latin, wishing him long life and victory.
The gap between rich and poor increased, and those with money began to dress extravagantly. Men wore flamboyant, puffed-up tunics and curved, pointy-toed shoes. Women wore more and more extravagant jewelry. Rufus himself, or William II, surrounded himself with “half-naked”, long-haired young men according to contemporary accounts.
England’s French-speaking barons often owned estates both in England and Normandy—thus, they owed some of their allegiance to William’s older brother, Duke Robert. Robert was staking his claim to the English throne, and some of the barons united in his support just a year after William’s coronation.
William crushed the revolt, and in 1090, he invaded Normandy to subdue Robert. He also repelled attempts by Malcolm III of Scotland and an uprising by barons in Northumberland.
William, like his father, loved hunting. William I had taken over huge areas of countryside, 90,000 acres, for his own use; Rufus took 20,000 more and made the rules of the oppressive Forest Law even harsher. Killing a deer was punish
ed by death. Men were maimed just for shooting an arrow at one. The punishment for simply disturbing a deer was blinding. These rules were considered un-English and were a constant reminder that William Rufus was a foreigner, ruling and oppressing England.
After only thirteen years of rule, in a superstitious age, it appeared that Rufus received punishment for his ways. While out hunting deer in the New Forest with a party which included his younger brother Henry, he was hit by an arrow and died “without repentance”. His body lay neglected for several hours and was finally carried to Winchester in a charcoal-burner’s cart. He was buried there beneath the cathedral tower. Imagine the thoughts of the superstitious people who hated this king when a year later the tower came tumbling down!
Who killed William Rufus? It has never been proved.
One account says that he accidentally killed himself. Others state that a Norman lord named Walter Tirel shot him. Tirel fled the country but always maintained his innocence.
Interestingly, as soon as the king was dead, his brother Henry seized power with suspicious ease. He wasted no time mourning his brother. He rushed to Winchester, secured the treasury, seized the royal crown and rode off to London to have himself crowned. His claim to the throne was dubious. Rufus and his older brother Robert, still Duke of Normandy, had agreed to be heirs to each other. Robert was known to be on his way home from the Crusades with a reputation for chivalry and a young wife who could bear him sons. There was no time to waste.
Henry turned to the English people for support. He was “born in the purple”, the only one of William the Conqueror’s sons to be born in England while his father was the English king rather than just the Duke of Normandy. Unlike his father and brother, he could read, write, and speak some English.
Castles, Customs, and Kings: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors Page 9
