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[Illustration: THE TOWER OF LONDON.
_From a MS. of the Poems of Charles, Duke of Orleans.
British Museum_, 16 _F._ II.]
THE
TOWER OF LONDON
By
WILLIAM BENHAM, D.D., F.S.A.
_Rector of St. Edmund the King, Lombard Street,
and Honorary Canon of Canterbury_
[Illustration]
LONDON
SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED, GREAT RUSSELL STREET
NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.
1906
_To_
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL
SIR GEORGE BRYAN MILMAN, K.C.B.
MAJOR OF THE TOWER,
THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT OF THE NOBLE FORTRESS,
OF WHICH HE IS SO EARNEST AND ENTHUSIASTIC A GUARDIAN,
_is Dedicated_
IN TOKEN OF DEEP RESPECT FOR HIS NAME AND WORK,
AS WELL AS IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT
OF THE HELP WHICH HE HAS GIVEN ME
IN THIS LABOUR OF LOVE.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
EARLY HISTORY 1
CHAPTER II.
GENERAL SURVEY OF THE BUILDINGS 13
CHAPTER III.
IN THE DAYS OF THE LATER PLANTAGENETS 24
CHAPTER IV.
IN THE TIME OF THE TUDOR KINGS 38
CHAPTER V.
THE TUDOR QUEENS 52
CHAPTER VI.
THE STUARTS 68
CHAPTER VII.
THE HOUSE OF HANOVER 92
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
PRINTED IN COLOURS FROM ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
THE TOWER OF LONDON. From a _MS. of the Poems of Charles,
Duke of Orleans_. (British Museum, 16 F. ii.)
_Frontispiece_
ASSAULT ON A FORTRESS. From a _MS. of Boccaccio de
Casibus Virorum et Fœminarum Illustrium_.
(British Museum, 35321) 26
ARTILLERY OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. From a _MS. of the
Chronicles of England_. (British Museum, 14 E. iv.) 34
A TOURNAMENT. From a _MS. of the Romance of the Sire
Jehan de Saintré_. (British Museum, Nero D. ix.) 42
OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS
1. SOUTH AISLE OF ST. JOHN’S CHAPEL. From a _Drawing by
J. Wykeham Archer_. (British Museum) 8
2. BUILDING A GATEWAY. From a _MS. of Le Trésor des
Histoires_. (British Museum, Aug. A. v.) 8
3. MEN-AT-ARMS CROSSING A DRAWBRIDGE. From a MS. of
_Les Chroniques d’Angleterre_. (British Museum,
14 E. iv.) 8
4. STAIRCASE OF THE WHITE TOWER. From a _Drawing by
J. Wykeham Archer_. (British Museum) 8
5. INDIAN ELEPHANT AND RHINOCEROS BROUGHT OVER IN 1686.
From a _Mezzotint by P. Vander Berge_.
(Gardner Collection) 8
6. LIONS’ DENS IN THE TOWER. From a _Drawing made in_
1779. (Gardner Collection) 8
7. THE TOWER, SHOWING THE EAST OUTER BALLIUM. From a
_Drawing by H. Hodge_. (Gardner Collection) 16
8. THE SALT TOWER, AND PART OF THE ANCIENT BALLIUM.
From a _Drawing by J. Wykeham Archer_.
(British Museum) 16
9. THE PRISONERS’ WALK. From a _Drawing by
C. J. Richardson_. (Gardner Collection) 16
10. THE WAKEFIELD TOWER. From a _Drawing by
C. Tomkins_. (British Museum) 16
11. TRAITORS’ GATE, FROM WITHOUT. From a _Drawing
by C. Tomkins_. (Gardner Collection) 16
12. TRAITORS’ GATE, FROM WITHIN. From an
_old Engraving_ 16
13. BANQUET GIVEN BY RICHARD II. From a _MS. of the
Chronicles of England_. (British Museum, 14 E. iv.) 24
14. AN ACT OF ARMS BEFORE THE KING AND QUEEN. From
a _MS. of the Romance of Sire Jehan de Saintré_.
(British Museum, Nero D. ix.) 24
15. GATEWAY OF THE BLOODY TOWER. From an _Engraving
by F. Nash_, 1821 24
16. QUEEN IN A HORSE LITTER, ATTENDED BY HER LADIES ON
HORSEBACK. From a _MS. of Froissart’s
Chronicles_. (British Museum, 18 E. ii.) 24
17. VAULTED ROOM IN THE CRYPT OF THE WHITE TOWER, IN WHICH
THE RACK STOOD. From a _Drawing in the
Gardner Collection_ 40
18. A CELL IN THE BLOODY TOWER. From a _Drawing
by J. Wykeham Archer_. (British Museum) 40
19. THE PRIVY COUNCIL CHAMBER IN THE LIEUTENANT’S LODGING.
From a _Drawing by P. Justyne_. (Gardner Collection) 40
20. A ROOM IN THE BEAUCHAMP TOWER, WITH PRISONERS’
INSCRIPTIONS ON THE WALLS 40
21. THE BEAUCHAMP TOWER AND ST. PETER’S CHAPEL.
From a _Drawing by P. Justyne_. (Gardner Collection) 40
22. THE LIEUTENANT’S LODGING. From a _Drawing
by C. J. Richardson_. (Gardner Collection) 40
23. THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. KATHARINE, LOOKING WEST.
From an _Engraving by J. Carter_ 40
24. THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. KATHARINE, LOOKING EAST.
From an _Engraving by B. T. Pouncey_ 40
25. THE EXECUTION OF THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. From the
_Engraving by W. Hollar_ 80
26. THE SEVEN BISHOPS TAKEN TO THE TOWER. From a
_Dutch Etching of the time_. (Gardner Collection) 80
27. THE SOUTH VIEW OF THE TOWER OF LONDON. _By Samuel
and Nathaniel Buck_, 1737 80
28. THE TOWER AND OLD LONDON BRIDGE. From an
_Engraving after J. Maurer_, 1746. (Gardner
Collection) 80
29. THE MOAT. From an _Engraving after J. Maurer_,
1753. (Gardner Collection) 96
30. THE TOWER AND THE MINT, FROM TOWER HILL.
From a _Drawing by T. S. Boys_, 1842 96
31. THE TOWER FROM THE THAMES. _After E. Duncan_ 96
32. THE CITY BARGES AT THE TOWER STAIRS. From a
_Drawing on stone by W. Parrott_.(Gardner Collection) 96
PLAN OF THE TOWER OF LONDON. From a _Drawing made
between_ 1681 _and_ 1689 104
_The numerous subjects drawn from the collection formed
by the late Mr. J. E. Gardner are reproduced by kind
permission of Mr. E. T. Gardner. The skill of Miss
E. A. Ibbs has contributed to the production of the
illustrations in colour._
THE TOWER OF LONDON
CHAPTER I
EARLY HISTORY
_Ancient London—Its Port and Trade—The Tower its
Safeguard—Invasion by Julius Caesar—The Roman Province of
Britain—Roman Wall and Tower—The Roman Abandonment—Saxon
Invasion—London the East Saxon Capital—Danish
Invasions—Desertion of London—Its Restoration by Alfred—The
Norman Conquest—Bishop Gundulf, the Conqueror’s Architect
of the White Tower—It becomes a Royal Palace for the
East as Westminster for the West—The Royal Menagerie
in the Tower—Great Additions made by Henry III—His
unpopularity—The Civil War—How the Tower became a State
Prison—Additions made by Edward I—Quarrels of Edward II with
his Barons—His Occupation of the Tower—His Flight—Murder
of Bishop Stapledon—Murder of the King—Residence of Edward
III in the Tower, first as his Mother’s Prisoner, then
independent—Execution of Mortimer—The Beginning of the
Hundred-Years’ War—Strange use made of the Tower in the days
of preparation—Imprisonment of illustrious French Captives,
the Comte d’Eu, King John of France, Charles of Blois—Also of
King David Bruce of Scotland—Peace of Bretigny—The Mint—St.
Katharine’s Hospital._
The Tower of London is the most interesting fortress in Great Britain;
it has a history equalled in interest by few fortresses in the world.
The Acropolis at Athens and the Capitol of Rome are far more ancient,
but they are fortresses no longer. The only rival in this respect that
occurs to me is the massive tower at the Western Gate of Jerusalem. It
was probably built by King David, and enlarged by Herod; and it is a
military castle at this day. So is our Tower, and it was built for that
use.
The Port of London held a high position from the beginning of the
history of Western Europe. Before the first Roman invasion of Britain
there was a City of London, carrying on trade not only with the inland
towns, but with the Continent. It was, as it is, a splendid position,
and on the site of the present Tower the Britons had a fortress to
protect it. Fifty-four years before the Christian era Julius Caesar
led the first Roman invasion of this country, but he was only here
three weeks, and it is very doubtful whether he ever came to London. He
makes no mention of it in his _Commentaries_. We may therefore treat
the story that he built the Tower as a myth, though Shakespeare does
take it for granted (_Richard II_, act v, sc. 1). The Roman Conquest of
our island was not achieved until nearly a century later; from which
time, until the latter half of the fifth century, Britain was a Roman
Province. The conquerors made London their chief city in Southern
Britain, built the Roman wall, of which many portions still exist, and
renewed the British fortress which held its commanding position as
the safeguard of the city. On the south side of the great keep is a
fragment which was laid bare some years ago, when some buildings were
pulled down, and that fragment is certainly Roman. It is part of the
_Arx Palatina_ constructed during their domination. They abandoned the
island at length, and after a brief interval came the invasion of our
Teutonic forefathers, and London thus became the capital of the Kingdom
of the East Saxons.
But it was now anything but a flourishing city. The Danish invasions
for a while destroyed its prosperity, and as Sir Walter Besant holds,
caused the greater part of the population to flee. It was King Alfred
who restored London, repaired the broken walls, and brought back the
trade. “There were great heroes before Agamemnon,” the poet tells us,
“but they found no chronicler to recount their feats.” And in like
manner, one may say, the Tower had, no doubt, passages of historic
interest before the Norman Conquest, which have not come down to us. It
is barely mentioned in the Saxon chronicles. A few Saxon remains are
noted by antiquaries. But at the Norman Conquest the continuous and
most striking history begins, and continues unbroken. As we look upon
it to-day, spite of all the mighty changes which Time has wrought, not
only in the surroundings, but in the building itself, the great square
keep is the most conspicuous object, and it was built by William the
Conqueror. He brought, on the recommendation of Lanfranc, from the
monastery of Bec a Benedictine monk named Gundulf, and made him Bishop
of Rochester. He had travelled not only over many parts of Europe, but
in the East, and was familiar with the beauties of Saracenic art,
which he made subservient to the decoration of his monastery, and now
brought into use in his new See. He rebuilt Rochester Cathedral, and
the noble castle beside it has also been ascribed to him, but this
seems to be a mistake. And then the great King set him to work on
the London fortress; and he built the White Tower, as we call it, as
well as St. Peter’s Church and the old Barbican, the present Jewel
House. “I find,” writes Stow, “in a fair register book, containing
the acts of the bishops of Rochester, set down by Edmund of Hadenham,
that William I, surnamed Conqueror, built the Tower of London, to
wit, the great white and square tower there, about the year of Christ
1078, appointing Gundulf, then Bishop of Rochester, to be principal
surveyor and overseer of that work.” Gundulf was the greatest builder
of his time; several still existent Norman towers in Kent are almost
certainly his;[1] but he was also most earnest in the discharge of his
episcopal duties, and both Lanfranc and Anselm entrusted much spiritual
work to him. Even the rough and brutal Rufus, as well as his brother
Henry I, treated him with marked respect. He died in 1108 at the age
of eighty-four. The massive Ballium wall, varying from thirty to forty
feet in height, was probably also his work.
Henry I was the earliest King apparently to use the Tower as a State
prison. He shut up Ralph Flambard, Bishop of Durham, in the White Tower
on the charge of illegally raising funds to build the very fortress.
Probably the imprisonment was a sop to public opinion, for the Bishop
was hated for his exactions. He escaped, however; got possession of
a rope which had been hidden in a wine cask, invited his keepers to
supper and made them drunk; then fastening the rope to a window bar he
let himself down. A swift horse which some friends had provided for him
carried him to the coast, and he went over to Normandy, where he was
cordially received by Duke Robert. But after the battle of Tenchebrai
had destroyed all the hopes of the latter, King Henry welcomed the
overtures which Flambard made to him, and restored him to his see at
Durham, where he afterwards achieved his beautiful architectural works.
The Tower was from that time onwards a Royal Palace, as was Westminster
in the West. We catch incidents of residence in two or three reigns,
but they are few. It is noted by one chronicler that during the contest
between Stephen and Matilda, Stephen broke through the older custom and
kept the Pentecost festival in the Tower instead of at Westminster.
One fact comes out clear enough. Some of the Norman Kings kept wild
beasts; Henry I had some lions and leopards at his palace at Woodstock.
Frederick II of Germany sent three leopards as a present to Henry III,
and they were placed in the Tower, where were already some lions, an
elephant, and a bear, probably other beasts as well. There is an old
account of the arrival of an elephant at Dover, and the amazement of
the people as it was led up to London. Amid all its vicissitudes the
Tower remained a royal menagerie until 1834. The Sheriff of London
was ordered in 1252 to pay fourpence a day for the keep of the bear,
as well as to provide a muzzle and chain for him when he was set to
catch fish in the Thames. All through the Plantagenet days the beasts
had food provided at the cost of 6_d._ a day. Their keeper was a Court
official, styled “The Master of the King’s bears and apes.” The bears
dwelt in a circular pit, like that in the main street of Berne to-day.
It was situated where the ticket office and refreshment rooms are now.
In the days of James I the bears were baited for the brutal amusement
of the privileged. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth a German tourist
named Hentzner saw here “a great variety of creatures, viz. three
lionesses, one lion of great size called Edward VI, from his having
been born in that reign, a tiger, a lynx, a wolf excessively old, a
porcupine, and an eagle. All these creatures are kept in a remote
place, fitted up for the purpose with wooden lattices at the Queen’s
expense.” All through our literature there are references from time to
time to the Tower menagerie. The “Lion Gate” was so called from its
proximity to this.
When Richard I went on Crusade, he left the Tower in charge of his
Chancellor, Longchamp, Bishop of Ely. John, on usurping the kingdom,
besieged the Tower, which Longchamp abandoned to him, and he committed
it to the care of the Archbishop of Rouen, who held it till Richard’s
return. When John’s kingdom was invaded by the French Dauphin, Louis,
at the invitation of the rebellious barons, the Tower was handed over
to him, but he does not seem to have resided there.
The next important builder after William the Conqueror was Henry III.
A good deal of English fortification work is to be attributed to him.
His master mason at the Tower was Adam of Lambourne, but the King
himself may be called his own clerk of the works. He built the outer
wall facing the ditch which had been dug in Norman days, and of course
supplied with water from the Thames. It will be remembered that this
King was the builder of the greater portion of Westminster Abbey;
whatever his defects as a ruler, he was a man of learning and taste,
and he decorated the Norman chapel in the White Tower with beautiful
frescoes and stained glass, and gave bells to St. Peter’s Church on
Tower Green. The Lantern Tower, on the new wall, he chose for his
bedroom, and built a tiny chapel in it for his own devotions, which
was so used by his successors until the tragedy of a king murdered
before the altar destroyed the sanctity. Traitors’ Gate, also, was his
work, the great entrance from the river side, and a very noble piece
of engineering; how it got its name we shall see abundantly hereafter.
A yet more important work of his, and for a while most unpopular,
was the Wharf: the strip of bank alongside the river like the Thames
Embankment of our own day. Adam of Lambourne was the engineer also of
this remarkable work. Piles of timber were driven into the mud, and
rubble thrown in between them, and then the whole mass was faced with
a barrier of stone. At the beginning of the work the high tide washed
it down, and carried away completely a tower which he was constructing
to guard it. The citizens sent a remonstrance, not only against the
expense, but against the harm which they considered it would cause
to trade navigation, but the King persisted and ordered Adam to make
his foundations stronger. A cry was even got up that the ghost of St.
Thomas of Canterbury had appeared to denounce the work. But the King’s
wisdom was so far justified by the result, that there to-day is the
Wharf, and its foundations are firm as ever.
I have told in the story of _Old St. Paul’s_ how his Queen, Eleanor of
Savoy, had much to do with King Henry’s unpopularity. She was beautiful
to look upon, and highly accomplished, a patron of the arts, and the
bringer of musical excellence, both of voice and instrument, from
her native land of Provence. But she was greedy of money, proud,
arrogant and vindictive, and always bent on enriching her kindred. Her
uncle, Boniface of Savoy, whom she made Archbishop of Canterbury, was
detested by the clergy, especially by the monks, for his insatiable
and unblushing avarice. Her husband loved the Tower as a place of
residence, but when one day she started forth in her barge for
Westminster she was received with curses and cries of “Drown the
witch,” and had to hasten back in terror and take refuge once more
within the Tower walls. Her son, Edward I, never forgave the Londoners
for so insulting his mother, and not long after found an opportunity of
revenging it. At the Battle of Lewes he defeated a regiment of London
citizens fighting on the side of the Barons, and pursued them far out
of the field, slaughtering some 2,000 of them. But his leaving his
father to look after himself had much to do with his losing the battle.
The war between King Henry and the Barons came to an end with the
defeat and death of Montfort at Evesham in 1264. The Barons had held
the Tower until then, but the King now resumed authority over it, and
increased its fortifications. He first made the famous Hugh de Burgh,
Earl of Kent, Constable, but afterwards replaced him by Peter de
Roches, Bishop of Winchester. Before long the peace of the country was
again disturbed by Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, who having
obtained possession of the city of London denounced the Papal Legate
Otho for residing in the Tower; it was “a post,” he said, “not to be
trusted in the hands of a foreigner, much less of an ecclesiastic.”
The Legate, in defiance, went to St. Paul’s, and under pretence of
preaching in favour of the Crusade, broke forth into fierce invectives
against the earl, who was present. The preacher had some difficulty in
making his way back to the Tower, which was besieged by de Clare; but
he held it successfully until the siege was raised by the royal army.
One notable prisoner of this reign was Griffin, son of Llewelyn, Prince
of Wales, who was caught and detained in the Tower as a hostage in
1244. He attempted to escape as Flambard had done, making a rope of
his bedclothes. But he was very fat, it broke, and he was killed. His
nephew Llewelyn was the chieftain who afterwards gave so much trouble
to Edward I.
Prince Edward went away to the Holy Land, and during his absence his
father, Henry III, died. The custody of the Tower was committed to the
Archbishop of York till his return to England, when he completed the
works in the fortress which his father had begun, and erected some
additional fortifications on the western side. Stow quotes a record of
his in which he commands the Treasurer and Chamberlain of the Exchequer
“to deliver unto Miles of Andwarp [Antwerp] 200 marks towards the worke
of the ditch, then new made about the bulwarke, now called the Lion
Tower.” Then, says Bayley, “may be regarded as the last additions of
any importance that were ever made to the fortress.” During Edward’s
active and powerful reign the Tower was chiefly appropriated to the use
of a State prison. Of the multitudes of Jews who were apprehended in
1278, on the charge of clipping and adulterating the coin of the realm,
no less than 600 were confined at once in the Tower, and the conquest
of Wales and the attempt to conquer Scotland both provided a succession
of illustrious prisoners, who lost their liberty in an unequal struggle
for their country’s freedom. It was in 1296 that Edward began his war
for the conquest of Scotland. The battle of Falkirk in 1298 scattered
the whole Scottish army, but the subjugation was not complete, for
the English had to retire for want of provisions, but the leaders of
the Scottish army, the Earls of Athol, Menteith and Ross, with their
poor King Baliol and his son Edward, and other Scottish leaders, were
brought to the Tower, as in 1305 was William Wallace. The latter was
executed in Smithfield, August 25, 1305. His was one of the first
trials in Westminster Hall.
Edward II, like his father, showed no partiality for the Tower as a
residence, but occasionally retired to it as a place of safety. In 1322
his eldest daughter was born here, and was called in consequence “Joan
of the Tower,” as his youngest son was called John of Eltham from his
birthplace. During that miserable reign the conspiracies raised by the
barons, first against Piers de Gaveston, and afterwards against the
Despensers, the successive favourites of the unhappy King, caused the
issuing of frequent orders for putting the Tower in a state of defence.
In 1312 engines were constructed, and other precautions taken to make
it impregnable, for the barons were in open rebellion. In 1324, Lord
Mortimer being confined in the Tower, and more rebel barons in other
fortresses, a plot was laid to set them at liberty simultaneously. This
failed, but Mortimer contrived to escape by inviting the governor of
the Tower, Sir Samuel Segrave, with other officers of the fortress,
to a banquet and making them drunk. Though every exertion was made
to recapture him he got away to France, where in conjunction with
the Queen, Isabella, he brought about the unnatural conspiracy which
deprived the wretched King of his throne and his life. Segrave was
removed from his post and imprisoned, and the custody of the Tower
was committed to Walter Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter—a terrible
trust, as was soon proved. For the rebellion was already assuming
the most formidable shape. In the early part of 1326 the Queen and
her accomplice Mortimer landed in Suffolk. The King retired to the
newly-fortified Tower, summoned the Mayor, Sheriffs and Aldermen
of the city to his presence-chamber, and gave his commands for the
preservation of the tranquillity of the capital. He further issued a
proclamation offering a reward for Mortimer’s head. But the rebels came
on, in the full confidence of victory. The King in vain endeavoured
to rouse the Londoners in his defence; and so on October 2 he left
the Tower in charge of Bishop Stapledon, his young son John of Eltham
being there also, and hastened away to the West of England, in hopes
of finding greater loyalty there. He had hardly left London when the
rebel spirit of its inhabitants broke out in fury; they seized the
bishop in charge, dragged him into Cheapside, and beheaded him with
some other officers, and appointed officers of their own to rule in the
name of John of Eltham. Stapledon was a man not only of rectitude of
character, but a munificent patron of learning. Exeter College, Oxford,
owes its foundation to him, and much of the beauty of Exeter Cathedral
is his work. He was first buried in the Church of St. Clement Danes,
but afterwards removed to his Cathedral, where a magnificent monument
covers him. The “she-wolf” queen and her paramour, after the King’s
murder at Berkeley Castle, ruled for a while in the name of the young
King Edward III, and kept him secluded in the Tower as a mere puppet.
But they misjudged their power; he broke through their control, and
threw himself on the nation; Mortimer was arrested at Nottingham and
brought to the Tower, whence on November 29 he was carried to “Tyburn
Elms,” hanged, drawn, and quartered—treated, in fact, as he had
treated the Despensers.
[Illustration: 1. SOUTH AISLE OF ST. JOHN’S CHAPEL. _From a drawing
by J. Wykeham Archer, 1852. British Museum._]
[Illustration: 2. BUILDING A GATEWAY. _From a MS. of Le Trésor des
Histoires, British Museum, Aug. A. v._]
[Illustration: 3. MEN-AT-ARMS CROSSING A DRAWBRIDGE. _From a MS.
of Les Chroniques d’Angleterre, British Museum_,
14 _E iv._]
[Illustration: 4. STAIRCASE OF THE WHITE TOWER. _From a drawing
by J. Wykeham Archer, 1851. British Museum._]
[Illustration: 5. INDIAN ELEPHANT AND RHINOCEROS BROUGHT OVER IN 1686.
_From a mezzotint by P. Vander Berge. Gardner Collection._]
[Illustration: 6. LIONS’ DENS IN THE TOWER. _From a drawing made
in 1779. Gardner Collection._]
The great but unrighteous claim of Edward III to the crown of France,
resulting in the “hundred years’ war” concerns us here thus far, that
he resided in the Tower whilst he was making his preparations to
enforce his claim; and on his departure placed a strong garrison in
it, and furnished it as a fit and secure residence for his son, Prince
Edward, whom he appointed regent in his absence. In 1341 he secretly
returned to England, landed at the Tower at midnight on November 30,
accompanied by the Earl of Northampton, Sir Walter Manny, and other
great men, and finding the fortress badly guarded, imprisoned the
governor and officers and treated them with exemplary rigour. He took
up his residence in the Tower, discharged the Lord Treasurer and the
Lord Chancellor, Robert Bishop of Chichester, and delivered the great
seal to Robert Bourchier, who afterwards fought at Crecy. All these
strong measures were in consequence of the disorders and abuses which
he found. From this time till 1342 King Edward kept his Court here, and
here, during that period, his Queen Philippa gave birth to a princess
who was named Blanche, but who died in infancy and was buried in
Westminster Abbey.
That great war wrought momentous changes in the course of English
history, which will indirectly concern us in these pages. It also
changed very decidedly and materially the position and the uses of
the Tower, which from this time onwards became peculiarly celebrated
as the prison of illustrious captives. On July 27, 1346, King Edward
captured Caen, one of the richest and most powerful towns in Normandy,
and took prisoner the Constable of France, the Count d’Eu, the Count
of Tankerville, and sent them with 300 of the most opulent citizens
as prisoners to the Tower of London. He then marched along Northern
France, on August 26 won the battle of Crecy, and on September 3
laid siege to Calais, a very strong town, which had done much harm
to the English and Flemings by piracies. That memorable siege lasted
just eleven months, and we all remember the pretty story of the
self-devotion of Eustace de Saint Pierre and the averting of the King’s
vengeance by the intercession of Queen Philippa.
While this siege was going on King Philip of France persuaded the King
of Scotland, David Bruce, to invade England, and so to revenge past
injuries, and secure future independence. He came with 50,000 men,
laid waste all the border country, and drew nigh to Durham. But here
he was met by a small body of English, led by Lord Percy, and entirely
defeated. This was the battle of Neville’s Cross, fought on October
17, 1346. King David was taken prisoner, as were the Earls of Fife and
Monteith and several more Scottish chiefs. They were all brought to
London to the amazing joy and delight of the citizens. The captive King
was mounted on a high black courser; the City Guilds, clad in their
respective liveries, made a great escort for him, through street after
street, until he was committed to the custody of Sir John D’Arcy, the
Constable of the Tower, on January 2, 1347. The same year the roll of
illustrious captives was increased by the famous Charles of Blois, one
of the competitors for the Duchy of Brittany, and, on the surrender
of Calais, by its valiant governor, John of Vienne, and twelve of his
comrades. Bruce continued in captivity here for eleven years.
In 1358 the great fortress received a yet more illustrious prisoner.
King John of France and his son Philip were taken captive by Edward the
Black Prince at the battle of Poitiers, and brought to London. At first
they were lodged in the Duke of Lancaster’s palace in the Savoy, then
at Windsor, and apparently had a fine time with hawking and hunting and
good cheer. Next year when King Edward returned to France “he made all
the lordes of France, such as were prisoners, to be put into dyvers
places and strange castelles, to be the more sure of them, and the
Frenche Kynge was set in the Towre of London, and his yonge sonne with
hym, and moche of hys pleasure and sport restrayned; for he was then
straytlyer kept than he was before.” They had not a bad time of it,
however, here apparently. The Scottish King had just been liberated,
but there were many French nobles to make up a court for him. Next year
the treaty of Bretigny restored him to his country.
* * * * *
Coining operations had been carried on in the Tower here ever since
the Norman Conquest, if not long before. It was not, however, the only
place. In the reign of Charles I there seem to have been fifteen mints,
but an edict of the reign of Edward III enacted that all moneys,
wherever coined, should be made uniform with those of the Tower.
After the Restoration, small rolling-mills were set up in the Tower,
driven by horse and water power, and a great improvement was hereby
effected—milled instead of hammered coins. The workshops were between
the inner and outer walls, and the road which runs between St. Thomas’s
Tower and the Bloody Tower was formerly called Mint Street. In 1696
an Act was passed, calling in the old hammered coinage, to be melted
down in a furnace at Westminster, and sent in ingots to the Tower, to
reappear in milled form. Sir Isaac Newton, Master of the Mint, made
many more improvements. In 1810 the Mint was removed outside—to Little
Tower Hill, where it is at this day.
Though it did not belong to the Tower, nor was within its limits, the
Royal Hospital of _St. Katharine’s by the Tower_ cannot be passed
over without mention. It was founded in 1148 by Matilda, wife of King
Stephen, for the repose of her two children, for the maintenance of
a master and several poor brothers and sisters. Eleanor, Henry III’s
widow, augmented it in 1273, “for a master, three brethren, chaplains,
three sisters, ten bedeswomen, and six poor scholars.” The foundation
was placed under the especial patronage and jurisdiction of the Queen
Consorts of England, and, with all changes, has so remained to the
present day. The office of Master is the only preferment in the gift
of the Queen Consort or Queen Dowager. Queen Philippa, Edward III’s
wife, gave houses in Kent and Herts for its additional support. Thomas
de Bekington, Master in 1445, afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells,
obtained a charter of privileges, by which the precincts of the
hospital were decreed free of all jurisdiction, civil or religious,
except that of the Lord Chancellor, and to help the funds an annual
fair was to be held on Tower Hill, to last twenty-one days from the
Feast of St. James.
Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragon founded here a guild of St. Barbara,
among the governors of which was Cardinal Wolsey. He did not suppress
it with the other religious houses, in compliment to Anne Boleyn, whom
he had lately married.
The Church was in the Decorated style, very close to the Iron Gate of
the Tower, properly St. Katharine’s Gate. Stow, writing in 1598,
describes it as “enclosed about and pestered with small tenements and
homely cottages.” When the royal assent was given to the making of St.
Katharine’s Docks in 1825, the hospital was removed to Regent’s Park.
There were some interesting monuments in the old church. The first
President of the Royal Society, Lord Brouncker, was buried here, and
Ducarel the Antiquary. The fine tombs of John Holland, Duke of Exeter,
his duchess, and his sisters, were removed to the Regent’s Park. The
Duke, who died in 1447, was High Admiral of England and Ireland and
Constable of the Tower.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The fine old keep at Malling, in Kent, (now like Rochester only a
shell) is the work of Gundulf.