The Tour of London is officially called “ the fortress and the palate of Its Majesty, the tower of London ” (in English Her Majesty' S Royal Palace and Fortress The Tower off London ) although the last monarch who lived there was the king Jacques Ier. The “white tower”, square building with turrets on each angle which gave him its name, is in the center of a complex of several buildings on the the Thames with London, which were used of fortress, arsenal, treasury, mint, palate, refuge and prison, especially for the prisoners of the highest levels of the company.

This last use was at the origin of the English expression feels to the Tower (sent to the Tower) which wants to say imprisoned , just like its French synonym “embastiller”. Elisabeth I {{Re}} was imprisoned there some time during the reign of his/her sister Marie. The last famous prisoner of the tower was Rudolf Hess, during the Second world war.

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History

In 1070, William the Conqueror ordered the construction of the Blanche tower inside the south-eastern angle formed by the ramparts of the city vis-a-vis the Thames. It was a question of protecting the invaders Normands from the inhabitants of London while protecting the town of external attacks. For the construction of the Tower the Conqueror made import stones of Caen in Normandy and named Gundulf, bishop of Rochester, person in charge of work. The presence of older constructions out of wood, in particular that of a fort set up by Jules César at the time of the Roman occupation and whose Shakespeare is made the echo in Richard III , is currently discussed. To supplement defenses of the fort, the king Richard Lion-hearted made dig a ditch around the wall of the tower, and made it fill of water of the the Thames. At the time of the drainage of the ditches in 1830, one discovered human bones.

However the ditch being proven a not very effective defense, the king Henri III made some re-examine construction at the 13th century according to techniques tested by the Dutch engineers. It benefitted from it to reinforce the walls, giving the order to cut down part of the fortifications to increase their enclosure and despizing protests of the inhabitants of the city and rumors (paid by the monk and chronicler Martin Parrish) which spoke about supernatural threats. Henri III made Tower one of the principal royal residences and was made arrange sumptuous apartments in the farmyard.

The fortifications were completed between 1275 and 1285 by Edouard Ier which made build an external wall surrounding the first enclosure and thus offering a double protection. The old ditch was given in service and a new ditch arranged around the external enclosure. The Tower remained royal residence until the time of Cromwell which made cut down the royal home.

The development of artillery put an end to the defensive role of the tower. The ditches were drained in 1830.

In 1988, the Tower was registered with the World heritage of humanity.

The menagerie

A royal menagerie opened with the Tower as of the 13th century (perhaps since 1204) under the reign of Jean Ier. It is possible that the first animals were transferred from the royal menagerie arranged by Henri Ier in his castle of Woodstock. One knows with certainty that the king Henri III there acueillit in 1235 three leopards (thus indicated but they were perhaps lions), gifts of the emperor Frederic II. In 1264 the animals were installed in a place arranged on the fortifications close to the western entry of the castle which was promptly baptized turn of the lions. Under the reign of Elisabeth Ire the public was some time authorized to reach it. One recently found a cranium of lion which the analyzes with carbon-14 make it possible to date between 1280 and 1385.

The menagerie opened to the public in 1804. It is there that the poet William Blake could see the tiger which perhaps inspired its poem The Tyger . The last director in date of the menagerie, Alfred Cops, found it in a pitiful state. He repurchased animals and made establish an illustrated scientific catalog. But the days of the menagerie were counted because a modern zoological garden was to open in Regent' S Park. For at the same time commercial and humane reasons, one transferred the boarders from the menagerie in the zoo of London. The last animal left the tower of the lions in 1835. This part of the fortifications was partially destroyed. It does not remain about it today that the door of the lions.

The prison

The basic criminals social condition were generally carried out by Pendaison in one of the sites of public execution near the tower, even on Tower Hill (hill of the tower). Condemned noble origin (especially women) were sometimes decapitated into private within the complex, then buried in the royal vault of Saint-Pierre-with-Bonds ( Saint-Peter-AD-Vincula ).

People decapitated in the Tower for treason:

  • It is probable that the two wire of Edouard IV, the Princes of the Tower, died there, after their uncle Richard III became king, but the context of their death remains a mystery.

The military use of the tower as a fortification became obsolete after the development of the Artillerie. However, the tower sheltered the seat of the military Conseil of material ( Board off Ordnance ) until in 1855, and the tower was used as a prison during the two World wars.

During the Second world war, eleven German spies were shot there. The corporal Josef Jakobs was the last spy to be shot the August 15th 1940. The following year, the indicated dolphin of Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess, was imprisoned there during four days. The barracks of Waterloo, where are currently the Crown jewels British, was used as bases for the 1st Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers (regiment of the town of London) until the Années 1950.

Today

The Tower is used as tourist attraction. It contains the jewels British sovereigns and a Roman vestige of the wall E which the emperor Claude built to protect the town of Londinium which nevertheless, was not the capital of the Roman Brittany. It had established this one with Colchester. In the Tower, there is also a collection of armours, but most of the exposure of armours and old weapons that one formerly found with the Tower visits now with the Royal Arsenal with Leeds (Yorkshire).

The tower is always placed under the vigilance of forty " Yeoman Warders" armed with a halberd, and recognizable with their famous uniforms dating from the time of the Tudors: round hat and blue or red costume, stamped the initial ones of the reigning sovereign. The creation of this body goes back to 1485. These men whom one also calls " Beefeater" (" buffetier" or guard of the royal dresser), recruited himself formerly among the small holders ( yeomen ) country. Nowadays, they are veterans of the army who ensure this load. For the first time in September 2007 a woman, Moired Cameron, joined the body of the beefeaters

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