FAMOUS FORTRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 68, 22 March 1933, Page 7

FAMOUS FORTRESS

TOWER OF LONDON

INTERESTING HISTORY

ONCE USED AS PALACE

Although many men prominent in English history have been imprisoned in the Tower of London, and scores of them have been executed there or on Tower Hill outside tho massive walls which surround the Tower, this famous fortress has long since ceased to -be used as a prison, except during the Great War. It is.this fact which gives added interest to the imprisonment of Lieutenant Baillie Stewart, of the Seaforth Highlanders, there while awaiting trial by court-martial.

There is a piquant contrast in the fact that Lieutenant Baillio Stewart should have been sent to the Tower be- . cause of the desire of the authorities to maintain secrecy regarding his case and the fact that the Tower is one of the show places of London, which attracts thousands of visitors/and tourists every week, states the Melbourne "Age." The Tower, which consists of a number of formidable stone buildings erected at various times during the eleventh, twelfth] and thirteenth centuries, covers an area of about thirteen acres on the north bank of tlie Thames iii a very important part of the business section of London. Inside the main gate there t is a little wooden building where. visitors buy tickets for admission to the Tower. The cost of a ticket for the White Tower, which is the largest arid oldest of the towers enclosed by the walls, is ninepenee. For an additional sixpence the visitor can obtain admission to the Wakefield Tower, which contains the Jewel House, where the royal regalia, including the coronation crowns worn by the King and Queen, and other crowns, as well as the orb and sceptre, are on view. These precious jewels are displayed in a very large octagonal glass ease, protected by iron bars, and guarded by soldiers. On Saturdays admission; to the White Tower and the Jewel House is free. Therefore it is not surprising that Saturday is generally a busy day at the Tower. The only, other part of the precincts open to the public for inspection is the Bloody Tower (admission sixpence). A ROYAL MENAGERIE. . The Tower, -which had its beginning in the reign of William I, has played a prominent part in English history, and is described.as "the most timehonoured building ia Great Britain, and probably the foremost ancient building in the world" which continues to be used for the purpose to which it was originally put, in so far as it is still an armory. But it has been a Royal Palace as well as a prison; it was the home of the Eoyal Mint until 1814; it housed two of the law Courts for many years, and in it was preserved, the national archives until the Beeord Office in Chaneery Lane was built in 1856. And for generations it housed a royal menagerie, until the animals were transferred in 1834 to the newly-established zoo in Regent's Park. The chief attraction of the royal menagerie was the lions, and the phrase "seeing the lions," which survives today to describe the attractions of a city for sightseers, had reference to the lions at the Tower. "One important appanage of the palace was the menagerie of wild beasts, which was placed near the entrance at a very early date," states H. B. Wheatley in a chapter on the Tower in his book "The Story of London:" "Henry I kept lions and leopards, and Henry 111 added to the collection. Stow tells us that in the year 1235 Frederick the Emperor sent to Henry in three leopaTds in token of the regal shield of arms, wherein those leopards were pictured. In 1255 the sheriffs built a house for 'the Bang's elephant,' which was brought from France, and was the first seen in England. Edward 11, in the twelfth year of his reign, 'commanded the sheriffs of London to pay to the keeper of tho King's leopard sixpence a day for the sustenance of the leopard and three halfpence a day for the diet of the said keeper.' Edward 111 seems' to have taken much pride in his menagerie, and in 1364 a proclamation was issued by the King for tho safe keeping of a beast called an 'qure,' which was :n danger from certain persons who threatened to do grievous harm to the keepers 'and atrociously to kill the said beast.' Mr..Eiley, who prints the proclamation in his 'Memorials,' supposes the animal, to be either, the urus aurochs, or bison from the east ■of Europe, or the ihrwy from Morocco. . 'In later times the collection of wild beasts must have been considerable and Stow relates in his 'Chronicle'how trials of strength between the animals were exhibited before the Boyal fam-' lly. On June 23, 1609, 'tho King, Queen and Prince, the Lady Elizabeth and the Duke of York, with divers great lords and many others, came to the Tower to see a trial of the lion's single valour against a fierce great bear which had killed a.child, flhatwas negligently left in the bear house. This fierce bear was brought into the open yard, behind the lion s den, which was a place for fight.' Two mastiffs let into the yard passed the bear and attacked the lion. Then a stallion and six dogs were introduced. The dogs worried tho horse till three stout bear-wards drove them off the bear and tho lion looking on. Tho latfer was allowed to escape to his den, ana other lions .were brought out but none would attack the boar. On July 5 this samo bear was baited to deatli On April 10, 1610, Prince Henry and the attendant nobles went privately to the Tower to see a" fight between the great lion and four dogs. The dogs got the better of tho lion, and another lion' and lioness were brought to see if they would help the first lion, but they would not, and all three wore glad to escape to their dens." TOWER AS A PALACE. "Most of our Kings, from William the Conqueror to Charles 11, used the Tower as a palace," states Mr. Wheatley. "Those who feared their subjects sheltered themselves there; but those who were popular preferred the comfort of Westminster 'and Whitehall. After the Middle Ages had closed the sovereigns kept out of the Tower as much as they could, and seldom visited it unless they were officially obliged, and these visits were almost confined to a lodging there on the day before coronation. Charles II was the last sovereign to carry out this convention."

During the troublous reign of Richard II the Tower, which had been regarded as impregnable as a fortress, was invaded in 1381 by some of the rabble who participated in the insurrection headed by Wat Tyler. Riots had taken place in various parts of London, and the King, who lived in the Tower, had left his palace iff order to try to placate' the rioters. During his" absenee a mob of rioters, some of whom were armed only with sticks, forced their way into the Tower. It was guarded liy six hundred men-at-arms . and the same number of archers; but for some unexplained reason the rioters mot with no resistance. "Scarcely was Richard out of sight before the mob wore hurry, ing through every apartment of the palace, where, having obtained possession 'of the Chancellor and the Treasurer, who had vainly sought refuge iii the chapel, they cut off their heads, with those of several other persons. All kinds of licentiousness followed. Stow has

noticed that many of them 'went into the King's privy chamber, and played tho wantons, in sitting, lying, and sporting upon the King's bed.' The Princess of Wales, the King's mother, was at the time in the Tower, aiid placed completely at their mercy. She was allowed to depart, however, at, the price of a few rude kisses. Still the horror of the scene completely overpowered her, and she was taken away by her ladies in a, boat, senseless, and rowed across to the other side of the Thames, whore in a house in Carter Lane, Richard rejoined her later in the day, to hear the particulars of the horrid deeds which she had witnessed."

Eighteen years later Richard, clothed in his Royal robes, with a crown on his head and a sceptre in his hand, formally, abdicated the throne in the Council Room of the White Tower. "I. have been King of England, Duke of Aquitane, and Lord of Ireland about twentyoue years, which seigniory, royalty, sceptre, crown, and heritage I clearly resign here to my cousin, Henry of Lancaster," said Richard, "and I desire him here in this open presence 5" entering the same possession to take the sceptre."