The Tower of London

The Tower of London is an icon of England’s history. William the Conqueror built the White Tower after his invasion and conquest in 1066, to dominate London and it has become infamous as a place of torture, execution and murder. The deaths of royals attracted most attention; the murder of Princes in the Tower, the beheading of Henry VIII’s wives, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, and Lady Jane Grey, Henry's great-niece, and queen for just nine days. Few prisoners recorded their experiences, but John Gerard, a Catholic priest imprisoned during Elizabeth I’s reign, wrote of being questioned in the torture-room, which contained ‘every device and instrument of torture’. After being hung from manacles, his wrists were swollen and he could barely walk. Members of the aristocracy could not be tortured, and those incarcerated for a long time used their time to write. Sir Walter Raleigh wrote his vast History of the World in the Tower.

Author(s): Stephen Porter  

ISBN 10: 1445603810
ISBN 13: 9781445603810
Pages: 256