The Bloody Tower...Day 5x

Originally known as the Garden Tower, the Bloody Tower was another river entrance to the Tower of London.  But life happened (well, er, death that is) and it became known as the Bloody Tower.




                                                                                        
During the reign of Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary) several (ok, quite a few) Protestant martyrs were charged with heresy and condemned to death.Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (who got no special treatment, even though he was archbishop under her own father, King Henry XIII--I am pretty sure he wasn't expecting any favors because he had favored Henry's divorce of Mary's mother and she was just waiting to get back at him for all those years, probably) Bishop Nicholas Ridley and Bishop Hugh Latimer:  all were burned at the stake in the mid 1500's.  There's actually a pretty gruesome story about Cranmer's execution. He had converted to Catholicism in obedience to Queen Mary but for some reason, maybe because of some vestiges of bitterness or an attempt to wreak revenge upon him, she didn't believe his conversion was sincere. So he was sentenced to be burned at the stake and on the day set for his execution, Cranmer recanted his conversion to Catholicism and stated: "I have sinned, in that I signed with my hand what I did not believe with my heart. When the flames are lit, this hand shall be the first to burn".   The soldiers lit the fire and, true to his word, Cranmer stuck his right hand directly into the flames and left it there. Before he succumbed to the flame, Cranmer  said, "This hand hath offended...I see the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

Sir Walter Raleigh was a favored courtier of Queen Elizabeth I until he entered in an unauthorized relationship that concluded with marriage to one of the Queen's ladies in waiting. (I think the queen was a bit jealous...)  (there are some historians who would agree with me)   Both Sir Walter and his wife spent some time in the Tower before they were once again in her favor.  She went back to the Queen's court and he went gallivanting around the New World, searching for El Dorado and any other cities of gold that he might come across. 



                                                Sir Walter Raleigh's quarters in the Bloody Tower

During his explorations, he found trouble when he attacked some Spanish settlements, in defiance of the king's orders. Of course, Spain was outraged as well and demanded he be punished, if not for his unnecessary acts of war, then for the original charge of treason against King James I. By this time, his luck had run out and  James I sent him back to the Tower, where he lived in the Bloody Tower with his wife for more than a decade. He spent his time in the Tower building his family (his second son Carew was born during this incarceration) and writing his book, History of the World, which was published in 1614, a mere four years before he was beheaded.

Of the axe that was to dispatch him to the next world, he reflected  "This is a sharp Medicine, but it is a Physician for all diseases and miseries." Then he laid his head on the block, waiting for the axe to separate his head from his body and uttered his final words "Strike, man, strike!"

The Salt Tower...Day 5W

It is a common misconception that the Tower of London was all dungeons, prisons and torture chambers. I say that but I have arrived at the point in my narrative when I shall discuss the Salt Tower which certainly had it's share of notorious and frightening aspects. As a side note, I was watching some You-Tube videos of some Tower Tours led by Yeoman Warders (which were hilarious--well, hilarious in terms of British humor) and the tour guide said, "I have to talk about torture and executions. I don't want to but I have to." And I echo that quote now. "I don't want to but I have to."




In times of war or threats of war, the walls of this tower included arrow loops so archers can defend the castle complex from invaders.                                                                                  

In times of peace and times of less than usual "persecution" of traitors, the Salt Tower was used for storage. Of salt? I am unsure about that...but it would make sense...which means it most likely it was not used for storing salt...because that would make too much sense...

And in insecure times of political and religious unrest, the Salt Tower held its prisoners securely. One of the more notable ones included:  John Balliol, previously King of Scotland (after his king's arrest, William Wallace famously took up the cause of Scottish freedom and painted his face blue and spent his days wandering around the Scottish countryside, urging his followers to join him in feeling free in their kilts--what? that's not the way you heard it? oops-- Apparently I have been watching too much of that famous comedy Braveheart...at least, that's what the movie is called by Bill the Beefeater, the Yeoman warder tour guide, made famous by various tourists filming his tours and publishing them on YouTube. . And I might as well give you the links to those You Tube videos because they are hilarious in a dryly humorous British sort of way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YS0vGq0QsE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5raGfZXCEU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OKt-U3_WNc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW6UVMog5mc

During the Tudor period, this tower was in almost constant use, starting with Queen Mary's persecution of Protestants and then back to being filled with one Catholic priest after another when Queen Elizabeth I took the throne. One famous prisoner in the Salt Tower was Sir Henry Walpole, an English Jesuit priest, who was imprisoned and tortured for more than a year, even though he had admitted during his first interrogation that he was in fact a Jesuit priest and his business in England was to convert people to the Catholic faith. But apparently  that wasn't enough. They attempted to force him to take the Oath of Supremacy which acknowledged the queen's complete and utter authority in all matters of religion. Of course, he refused and was rewarded with a verdict of high treason resulting in a sentence of hanging, drawing and quartering.

Why do I use my paper, ink and pen,

And call my wits to counsel what to say?

Such memories were made for mortal men;

I speak of Saints whose names cannot decay.

An Angel’s trump were fitter for to sound.

Their glorious death if such on earth were found.

That store of such were once on earth pursued,

The histories of ancient times record,

Whose constancy great tyrants’ rage subdued.

Through patient death, professing Christ the Lord:

As his Apostles perfect witness bare,

With many more that blessed Martyrs were.

Whose patience rare and most courageous mind,

With fame renowned perpetual shall endure,

By whose examples we may rightly find,

Of holy life and death a pattern pure.

That we therefore their virtues may embrace

Pray we to Christ to guide us with his grace.

poem attributed to Henry Walpole