If you had to name one particular artefact which personifies the history of England, it would be hard to choose anything more appropriate than the building which has at various times been a castle, a palace, a prison, a torture chamber, and execution site, an armoury, and is now the most visited tourist attraction in the nation.
| Tower by Nigel Jones | |
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| Category: History | |
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Reviewer: John Van der Kiste
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| Summary: A vivid account of the Tower, from its Norman beginnings as a prestigious fortress and palace, to its years of service as prison and torture chamber, and eventually premier tourist attraction. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 400 | Date: October 2011 |
| Publisher: Hutchinson | |
| ISBN: 978-0091936655 | |
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To a considerable degree, the history of the Tower is the history of England. It had its beginnings in the aftermath of William the Conqueror's invasion in 1066, thanks to the Normans who the author tells us, were past masters at the speedy construction of 'flat-pack fortresses' (no IKEA to collect from in those days), and could build one within a week. William envisaged an edifice which would be at once fortress and palace. Many other buildings of this nature which were erected in years to come have long since been reduced to one or two ruined walls, but the Tower still endures.
After the death of William, the monarch who did most to create it is the otherwise little-remembered though long-reigning Henry III, who inaugurated a considerable reconstruction and expansion programme which transformed it from austere castle to opulent palace. A chapter follows on its saga as a private royal menagerie and then as a mint. Several medieval monarchs were notorious for their sadistic tendencies, with James I in particular taking delight in watching lions being mauled to pieces by mastiffs. An earlier sovereign, Henry VII, was so affronted that 'ill-favoured rascal curs' should assault the king of beats that he had the offending dogs hanged. It is with almost a sense of relief that we read of the Tower zoo being closed, or rather transferred to Regents's Park, in 1830, after a keeper was badly mauled.
Following this diversion, much of the book is devoted to a more or less chronological history of the Tower, which through its varied functions was central to many episodes throughout the turbulent middle ages. Many noted rebels, or those who merely found themselves on the wrong side of royal authority, found themselves in captivity and eventually on the scaffold. The author's vivid retelling of the sheer state of lawlessness and anarchy which prevailed so often in the 14th and 15th centuries brings home to us the reality of life being all too often 'nasty, brutish and short'. Even being a King was no guarantee of security, when old scores were settled by rival family branches - as the fates of Richard II, Henry VI and the twelve-year-old Edward V readily testify. Jones examines the 'Princes in the Tower' evidence, has no time for revisionist theories, and concludes that there is little margin for doubt that Richard III was responsible for the murder of his nephews.
No less harrowing is the saga of the Tudor age, thanks in part to the behavior of the man he calls 'England's Stalin', Henry VIII. Even high-born, elderly women who had the misfortune to be related to people on the wrong side were not spared. Was there ever a more pathetic or unnecessary execution in the 16th century than that of Margaret, Duchess of Salisbury? Not surprisingly the young lad drafted in to kill the lady who screamed on the scaffold that she did not deserve a traitor's death botched the job, reducing her head and neck to a bloody pulp before she finally died of her hideous injuries. She was not the only person to suffer in similar fashion. If there is one lesson to be learnt from this book, it is that beheading was a singularly clumsy and inefficient way of despatching a person.
During the long reign of Elizabeth, the Tower's royal functions began to decline, and it became a prison and torture chamber to the elite. Imprisonments and executions continued apace, but one or two lucky souls managed to make good. The escape of the Earl of Nithsdale, a leading Jacobite captured in battle against George I in 1715, dressed as one of his wife's maids, is an ingenious and exciting tale of which one can never really tire. The story ends in the 20th century with the imprisonment at different times of Irish freedom fighter Sir Roger Casement, Hitler's World War II envoy Rudolf Hess, and the East End wide boys Reggie and Ronnie Kray.
Much as I love books on Britain's past, it is a long time since I found one which enthralled me as much as the 400 pages of this volume. Jones tells the colourful story in an equally lively fashion, and the two sections of black and white plates, from the Bayeux Tapestry to the Krays, are well chosen. An epic history – and an epic read indeed.
Our thanks to Hutchinson for sending a review copy to Bookbag.
For another title on the capital through the ages, we also recommend London: The Illustrated History by Cathy Ross and John Clark.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Tower by Nigel Jones at Amazon.com.
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