The Tower of London - The Biography

The Tower of London is an icon of England-s history. William the Conqueror built the White Tower after his invasion and conquest in 1066 to dominate London, and it has become infamous as a place of torture, execution and murder.The deaths of royals attracted most attention: the murder of the Princes in the Tower, the beheading of Henry VIII-s wives Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, and Lady Jane Grey, Henry-s great-niece, and queen for just nine days. Few prisoners recorded their experiences, but John Gerard, a Catholic priest imprisoned during Elizabeth I-s reign, wrote of being questioned in the torture room, which contained -every device and instrument of torture-. After being hung from manacles, his wrists were swollen and he could barely walk. Members of the aristocracy could not be tortured, and those incarcerated for a long time used their time to write. Sir Walter Raleigh wrote his vast History of the World in the Tower.Control of the Tower was vital at times of crisis, during