In the festive edition, which was dedicated to the 900th anniversary of the founding of the Tower, the Duke of Edinburgh wrote that during its history the Tower of London (from the English tower - tower) was both a fortress and a palace, was used as a repository of royal jewels, was also an arsenal. and a mint, and an observatory, and a zoo, and a state archive, and a place of execution of sentences, and a prison, especially for representatives of the upper class.
The official name of the Tower of London is Her Highness's Palace and the Tower of London fortress, but the last time the rulers used this place as a palace during the reign of King James I (1566-1625). The White Tower, a square building with small turrets at the top of each corner, gave its name to the Tower as a whole. It is located in the center of the entire complex of several buildings along the River Thames.
The history of the Tower began in the 11th century, when the Duke of Normandy William (later known as William the Conqueror) began to "stare" at the green British Isles. 1066 - he crossed the English Channel with an army. On September 28, the Duke landed at Pevensey and immediately gave orders for the construction of the castle.
Two days later he went to Hastings and laid another castle there. Over the next several years, William and the Norman barons covered all of England with stone castles to keep the conquered country in check. For a long time, the Anglo-Saxons could not come to terms with the rule of foreigners who spoke French, but the resistance of the local residents could no longer change anything. A new page in the history of England has begun.
Most Norman castles in those days had an artificial hill on which the main fortifications were located. The Tower has become a completely new type of fortress. Its territory, limited by the remains of the Roman fortress walls, did without artificial embankments.
The Norman donjons, to which the White Tower belongs, had especially powerful walls, since the Normans originally did not enclose their castles with other defensive structures. Impressive belts of fortifications with bastions began to be built around the White Tower only in the 13th century, after the British became familiar with the practice of building castles in the East and continental Europe as a result of the Crusades. That is why the thickness of the walls of the White Tower, which was built two centuries earlier, reaches almost 4 meters!
Its dimensions are also unusual - 32.5 × 36 meters - with a height of 27 meters. It is second only to the donjon in Colchester (Essex) and is one of the largest medieval donjons in Western Europe.
In terms of its configuration and layout of the premises, the White Tower belongs to a very rare group of dungeons, typical for England, and, moreover, only for the XI-XII centuries. It was erected by Norman masons and the surrounding Anglo-Saxon laborers, apparently according to the project of Gandalf, Bishop of Rochester. It was assumed that the Tower of London would protect the river route from attacks, but first of all, it would rise above the city and protect the ruling dynasty from the Anglo-Saxon townspeople.
Promotional video:
From the east and south, the White Tower was defended by the old walls of the Roman city, and from the north and west - defensive ditches up to 7.5 meters wide and 3.4 meters deep, as well as earthen fortifications with a wooden palisade at the top.
The White Tower was only half completed when in 1087 its owner, William the Conqueror, was killed in hostilities on the continent. Over the years, it was supplemented with 13 towers. The names of the towers remind of the life of the fortress in those ancient times, of the gloomy events associated with it.
Bloody Tower - According to legend, the crown princes, the children of Edward IV, were killed in it when Richard III seized power. Bell tower - the alarm was sounded here. Salt, Well … The huge tower of St. Thomas, riding the moat from the Thames, is the main "water gate" of the fortress. Through the Gates of the traitors, located under the tower, his prisoners were brought to the Tower. The Bell Tower is one of the most famous structures of the fortress. It was built in the 1190s. For 500 years, the evening bell has been heard from here - a sign to extinguish light and fire, although the current bell was installed only in 1651.
From the earliest times of the history of the Tower, next to the Bell Tower was the residence of a constable. During the Tudor era, when the deputy constable was entrusted with the protection of the Tower prisoners, the Bell Tower became a place of detention for the most important persons. There, in 1554, they kept Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth I. For 2 months she was interrogated, as she was suspected of conspiring against her half-sister Mary I.
Sir Thomas More, former Chancellor of the Kingdom and author of the famous novel Utopia, was imprisoned in the Bell Tower on April 17, 1534 for refusing to recognize Henry VIII as head of the Church of England instead of the Pope. He was executed on Tower Hill on July 6, 1535.
The Queen's House (a white building trimmed with ebony next to the Bloody Tower) is home to the Commandant of the Tower of London. Many high-ranking prisoners lived here. 1605 - in the Council Chamber, located on the top floor, before and after torture, Guy Fawkes was interrogated, accused of participating in the Gunpowder Plot against Jacob I. Guy Fawkes was later executed.
One prisoner of the Queen's House was able to escape on the eve of his execution. It was the Scottish Earl of Nitsdale, captured after the defeat of the Jacobite uprising that tried to overthrow George I. He escaped, disguised as a woman and disguised as women's clothing given by his wife. The last prisoner of the Queen's House was Hitler's personal secretary and his deputy for the party, Rudolf Hess, who was here for 4 days in May 1941.
Considering all of the above, it would be strange if ghosts did not roam the Tower and legends were not told about it. Black crows are not only one of the main legends, but also an important symbol of the fortress. It is known for certain that the first raven appeared in the castle in 1553 during the time of the "nine-day queen" Jane Gray. It was then that the famous “Vivat!” Sounded for the first time, foreshadowing the bad news - Gray was executed.
But the crows became iconic during the time of Queen Elizabeth, on whose order her favorite, the Duke of Essex, was imprisoned in a prison cell for a riot. While waiting for the verdict, a huge black raven knocked on the duke's cell window with its beak and, looking intently into Essex's eyes, shouted "Vivat!" Three times. Visiting relatives, the duke told about a bad omen, they, in turn, spread word throughout London - the sad outcome was obvious to everyone. A few days later, the Duke of Essex was brutally executed. This legend lived on for several centuries - the raven was doomed to the scaffold until the fortress lost its status as a royal prison and became a museum.
Since that time, whole dynasties of ravens have settled on the territory of the castle, and their life on the territory of the Tower has overgrown with many legends. So, one of them lives to this day: it is believed that the Tower and the entire British Empire will collapse as soon as the crows leave it.
Perhaps this is why in the 17th century, King Charles II issued a decree that states that six black ravens should live in the castle permanently. A special guardian-keeper of the ravens was appointed to monitor this, whose duties included the complete maintenance of the birds. This tradition still exists today.
Since then, practically nothing has changed: 7 black ravens (one is a spare) live in wonderful conditions in the fortress in spacious aviaries. The state allocates a solid budget for the maintenance of ravens every year. Thanks to their excellent nutrition, the "Tower Keepers" are quite plump. Their daily diet includes about 200 grams of fresh meat and blood biscuits, in addition, eggs, fresh rabbit meat and fried croutons are relied on once a week.
Each raven has its own name and disposition: Baldrick, Munin, Thor, Googin, Gwillum and Branwin. Scientists and restorers often manage to assess the significance of black ravens in the history of the Tower, finding ancient bird nests in the most unexpected places. In one of these nests, relatively recently, finds were discovered that gave rise to new legends and hypotheses. In the hands of historians were a bracelet with the initials of the same Jane Gray, an Elizabeth Tudor hairpin and a glass with the Essex coat of arms.
London is considered practically the main world capital for the number of ghosts. According to the stories of the inhabitants, the ghosts of kings and their entourage can be found everywhere. The Tower was no exception, during the existence of which many secrets and scenes of bloodshed have accumulated.
One of the often described ghosts is the ghost of King George II, who died of a heart attack while awaiting important documents from Germany. According to the testimony, in the windows of the castle you can often see the unfortunate face of George II, looking out to look at the weather vane.
There is a large amount of evidence of a meeting with the ghost of the decapitated Anne Boleyn, carrying her head under her arm. She was executed for not giving birth to a son to the king. To get rid of her and remarry, the king accused her of incest and treason. Anne Boleyn is the author of the words: “The king is so kind to me. First he made me a servant. After that he became a marquise from a servant. From the marquise he made a queen, and now he is making me a holy great martyr out of a queen! This woman died without suffering and with a calm heart.
Her head was not hung out for everyone to see, as was required by the custom of those times. She was placed under the right hand of the executed woman and, together with her body, was placed in a forged chest, then hastily buried in the Tower under the floor of the chapel of Saints Peter and Vencula. According to eyewitnesses, the executed wife of King Henry VIII was noticed in various parts of the castle, more often she was greeted walking in the park of the fortress.
Another legend claims that for a long time the ghost of the murdered Archbishop Thomas Becket wandered the corridors of the castle. Considered the oldest in England, the ghost disappeared only after the assassin's grandson Henry III built a chapel within the walls of the fortress.
In the Tower, the ghosts of children were also seen - the murdered 12-year-old King Edward V and his 9-year-old brother Richard. "Little Princes", as they were called, dressed in white robes, hand in hand, walk silently along the corridors of the castle.
Another notable ghost is the explorer Walter Raleigh, who was jailed twice for conspiracy and was eventually publicly executed.
The most frightening vision, according to eyewitnesses, is the scene of the execution of the Countess of Salisbury. Margaret Paul, Countess of Salisbury, was executed in 1541. This elderly lady (she was in her 70s) suffered because her son Cardinal Paul defamed the religious doctrines of Henry VIII and even did something in the interests of France. When the king realized that he could not get the cardinal, he ordered the execution of his mother.
The Countess freed herself from the executioner's hands and ran around the scaffold with terrible curses. The executioner chased her, striking blows with an ax. Wounded, she fell and was executed. This vision often appears before eyewitnesses at the very place on which the scaffold was located.
The servants of the fortress claim that the spectacle can be observed every year on the day of the execution - the image of the countess and the executioner is clearly visible, wild screams are heard, but after the beheading, all visions disappear and dead silence ensues.
Ghosts have never been seen in the Tower's main tower. There is a legend that during the construction of the tower in the 11th century, an animal was sacrificed to drive out evil spirits. In confirmation of this, during the renovation work in the 19th century, a skeleton of a cat was found in the masonry of the wall.
How many more secrets the Tower of London keeps, one can only guess, but it is clear that more than once the legends of the main royal prison will be revealed and confirmed.
Despite this, about 100 people continue to live in the castle, and almost 200 every day come to the fortress to work, and among them is another symbol of the Tower of London - "free yeomen", beefeaters, guards of the royal fortress.
A. Ermanovskaya