Bloody Tower
The Bloody Tower is a rectangular tower in the fortress of the Tower of London . The gate leads through the tower, built in the 13th century as a garden tower, from the outer to the inner fortress ring in the tower.
history
The tower got its current name because it was used as a prison at times. The name, first proven in 1597, is said to indicate torture and murder that are said to have occurred there. In particular, it is said to allude to the unexplained death of Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland in the Tower in 1585. According to legend, the Bloody Tower is also the place where the princes in the Tower were murdered. However, there is little evidence for the connection with the Bloody Tower. It owes its original name to the fact that it overlooked the garden of the constable of the tower . Today there is part of the Parade Ground.
The English King Henry III. had the tower built in 1225 as part of his Tower of London extensions. When Edward I had another fortress ring built in 1280, he also had the Garden Tower enlarged towards the land, where he added the newly built St Thomas's Tower .
Between 1360 and 1362 the upper floors were completely rebuilt by the builder Robert Yevele . Presumably these were developed as living quarters for the constable of the tower. The tower was raised in 1603 to serve as a prison for Walter Raleigh . The top structures of the tower date from 1868/69 and were built under Anthony Salvin as part of the neo-Gothic redesign of the Tower of London . Salvin also had the windows from the early 17th century replaced by neo-Gothic constructions from the late 19th century.
On the outside, the water-side gate still comes from the original construction phase, while the landside gate and the inner lining of the gate passage date from the time of expansion in 1280. Transitions between masonry from the 13th and 14th centuries can be seen particularly well on the back.
The tower is accessible via an external west staircase to the first floor. The first chamber houses a portcullis and a winch, believed to date from the 16th century. In the larger rear chamber, a tiled floor from the 1360s has been preserved, the pattern of which shows lions, fleur-de-lys , leaves and plants, among other things . The western window, the - restored - fireplace and a cloakroom in the southeast also date from the 1360s.
In 1974, after archaeological finds, the room dividers that divided Walter Raleigh's cell were restored on the upper floor. On the upper floor, a long room on the river side shows the place where the former wall passage was integrated into the tower. Raleigh spent a total of twelve years in the Bloody Tower. He was allowed to walk in the constable's garden. Raleigh wrote his book History of the World in the Bloody Tower . The poet Thomas Overbury, on the other hand, was poisoned in the tower in September 1613 after he was admitted there in April 1613. The subsequent trial of his death with the likely involvement of the king caused a scandal in the kingdom. In the religious controversy of the 17th century, various high-ranking supporters of the Anglican or the Catholic Church found themselves in the Bloody Tower, such as Thomas Cranmer , Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley . These three were picked up from the tower by ship, driven across the Thames to Oxford and burned there. Other prisoners of the religious disputes sometimes spent their last days here. These included participants in the Gunpowder Plot and supporters of the king in the civil war with Parliament.
At the Ceremony of the Keys , the portcullis in the Bloody Tower was lowered for a long time.
Remarks
- ↑ Geoffrey Parnell: The Tower of London: Past and Present The History Press 2009 ISBN 978-0752450360 , p. 20
- ↑ a b W.G. Morris: The Homeland Guide to London: Post-War London Fully Described Garrett County Press, 2011 ISBN 1891053388
literature
- Simon Bradley, Nikolas Pevsner: London 1, The city of London, 1997, London: Penguin. ISBN 0140710922 , p. 363
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 27.5 " N , 0 ° 4 ′ 36.6" W.