A Hidden History of the Tower of London

England's Most Notorious Prisoners

John Paul Davis

• Publisher: Pen & Sword History
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781526761767
• eBook ISBN: 9781526761774
• Subtopic: Storia britannica

"With these incredible and often heartbreaking stories, John Paul Davis clearly demonstrates how the fortress acquired its sinister reputation." — History . . . the Interesting Bits!
Famed as the ultimate penalty for traitors, heretics and royalty alike, being sent to the Tower is known to have been experienced by no less than 8,000 unfortunate souls. Many of those who were imprisoned in the Tower never returned to civilization and those who did, often did so without their head! It is hardly surprising that the Tower has earned itself a reputation among the most infamous buildings on the planet.
Beginning with the early tales surrounding its creation, this book investigates the private life of an English icon. Concentrating on the Tower's developing role throughout the centuries, not in terms of its physical expansion into a site of unique architectural majesty or many purposes but through the eyes of those who experienced its darker side, it pieces together the, often seldom-told, human story and how the fates of many of those who stayed within its walls contributed to its lasting effect on England's—and later the UK's—destiny. From ruthless traitors to unjustly killed Jesuits, vanished treasures to disappeared princes and jaded wives to star-crossed lovers, this book provides a raw and at times unsettling insight into its unsolved mysteries and the lot of its unfortunate victims, thus explaining how this once typical castle came to be the place we will always remember as THE TOWER.
"The building is as imposing now as it ever was, and the author's complete and thorough knowledge is imparted in grand style." —Books Monthly

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 1066–1216: A Fortress Fit For a Conqueror
• Chapter 2 1216–1307: Charters, Barters and Hammering Scots
• Chapter 3 1307–1330: Dispensable Despensers and Malicious Marchers
• Chapter 4 1330–1399: Revolting Peasants and Ambitious Appellants
• Chapter 5 1400–1455: The Happy Few, Liberal Lollards and Fatal Falstaffs
• Chapter 6 1455–1478: Yearning Yorkists, Conniving Cousins and Despicable Dukes
• Chapter 7 1475–1485: Imprisoned Princes, Evil Uncles and Persistent Plotters
• Chapter 8 1485–1507: Neglected Nephews, Counting-House Kings and a Plethora of Phoney Pretenders
• Chapter 9 1501–1535: Divorced, Beheaded, Died …
• Chapter 10 1535–1547: Divorced, Beheaded, Connived
• Chapter 11 1541–1547: Remarriage, Womanly Rackings and Hapless Howards
• Chapter 12 1547–1553: Reformation, Rebellion and Ridiculous Wills
• Chapter 13 1553–1558: Nine-Day Queens and Bloody Bonfires
• Chapter 14 1558–1586: Catholics, Conspirators and Clandestine Couples
• Chapter 15 1580–1603: Popish Plots, Pirate Poets and Protestant Politics
• Chapter 16 1603–1612: Gunpowder, Treason and Sop
• Chapter 17 1612–1618: Poisonings, Percys and Perilous Pirates
• Chapter 18 1618–1649: A Divine Right For War
• Chapter 19 1649–1662: Parliament, Protectors and Dependable Protestors
• Chapter 20 1660–1672: Black Death, Burning Buildings and Bloody Burglaries
• Chapter 21 1673–1688: Postulated Princes, Corrupt Commonwealth and Hanging Judges
• Chapter 22 1688–1715: Hapless Hollanders, Jealous Jacobites and Happy Hanoverians
• Chapter 23 1715–1820: Bonnie Battlers, Loathable Lords, Aggressive Gordonites and Yorktown Yankees
• Epilogue 1800–Present: Iron Dukes, Iron Crosses and Iron Ostriches
• Appendix I: List of Locations Within the Tower
• Appendix II: The Tower’s Ghost Stories
• Appendix III: The Ravens’ Conspiracy
• Appendix IV: The Ceremony of the Keys
• Select Bibliography
• Plate section