The Unkindness of Ravens--Day 21

Today was our awesome history class trip to the Tower of London, one of many World Heritage Sites in London. We started our tour with a general overview of the Tower and its many highlights, including the White Tower, Jewel House, and the spot of many executions (that of Anne Boleyn, that of Lady Jane Grey, etc). We paused for a moment by the raven cage, which is a very interesting. The ravens have always been inhabitants of the Tower because they like the smell of fresh meat (not so much human flesh as beef for the inmates' meals). Since the ravens seem to like the Tower so much, a legend developed over time that says that if the ravens ever leave, the Tower will fall (some contend that it is the Monarchy that will fall if the ravens leave). Needless to say, the ravens are kept satisfied with offal and other meat scraps from the local meat market, and they have a lovely cage to return to for rest. We wouldn't want them to escape, now, would we? (Oh, and to explain the title, a group of ravens is called an "unkindness," much like a group of cows is called a herd or a group of wolves a pack. Other interesting group names are "murder" for crows and "exultation" for meadowlarks. Isn't the latter a beautiful image?)

Arguably the Tower's most infamous role was that of jail or prison. As you might expect, the usual torture and be-headings went on. However, not all those confined to the Tower suffered. Some prisoners, like Sir Walter Raleigh, lived in virtual luxury. These rich men were allowed to bring their families with them, lived in sumptuous apartments, and had their meals specially catered from chefs outside the Tower. Not such a bad life if you ask me.

The Tower's first role, though, was as a castle (it was build in 1086). It afforded protection to the reigning monarch as well as a strategic location on the Thames to prevent successful invasions of London. Part of the old moat is still visible at the front of the fortress. Since those days, the Tower has served many roles, including those of Royal Observatory (now at Greenwich), armory, palace (many royals spent the night in the Tower before their coronations), and zoo. That last one may seem striking, but it was once the custom for royals to swap exotic animals as gifts. King Henry VIII had a magnificent elephant, but the most famous was a polar bear who was well-loved by those who visited the Tower.

After our brief tour around the complex, our professor released us to explore whatever areas struck our fancy. It is important to note at this point that the Tower of London is actually a complex of some 21 buildings, making it difficult to see everything in just one go. However, the most important buildings are located roughly in the center. Our first stop was the Bloody Tower, so named because of the various murder intrigues that took place there, especially the supposed "murder" of Richard III's nephews (the sons of King Edward IV). The young lads were playing in the courtyard one day when news of their uncle's coronation reached them. They were declared illegitimate and never seen again. Some think their uncle arranged to have them killed. Others think it was their brother-in-law King Henry VII (he married their sister), who would have viewed them as a threat if they survived. Still others suggest that they were not killed but simply disappeared. However, the skeletons of two young boys have been found in the Tower, so I think they were murdered.

Our next stop was the Jewel House, home of those famous crown jewels! Unfortunately, photography is not allowed, so I'll have to point you to the Internet. Let me tell you, though, how gorgeous they are in person! The jewels on the crowns are absolutely enormous. I found it most interesting that a lot of the gold pieces are older than the United States! There are a lot of video screens leading up to the vault holding the jewels to entertain visitors when the crowds are large. Thankfully, we came at a great time of year. We hardly had to wait at all to see the Jewels, but the video that was playing was really cool. They were showing footage of past coronations! It was quite a sight to behold, even pre-recorded and decades old.

Finally, we made our way to the White Tower, which contains so many interesting artifacts that it's hard to remember everything we saw. The first level is all armor and swords, most notably the armor worn by King Henry VIII. One of his suits is elaborately etched, and our history professor told us that this was the work of Hans Holbein. I suppose when you are king, you get to choose whoever you want to etch designs into your armor. The next level held some really interesting gifts to the Royal Armouries from various countries around the world. The Royal Armouries room also held examples of royal weapons from centuries past. What I really loved was the armor designed for the kings' horses, which brings me to our next sight. One of the rooms in the White Tower (called the Line of Kings) has life-sized renditions of all of the kings' horses (made of wood and painted the right colors) from King Henry III through King William IV. It was quite magnificent to see all of these horses lined up and looking ready to charge any enemy foolish enough to oppose them. The White Tower had yet another room with interactive exhibits, including a weapons quiz where you could answer questions by lifting the weapon you thought was correct and then banging it down again and an archery skills tester (mostly just a test of arm strength and strategy, no real bow involved). A final interesting thing about the White Tower was a huge dragon sculpture made out of various kinds of metal and plastic. I definitely needed to have my picture taken in front of it, so I asked one of my friends to snap a quick shot. I guess I need to explain at this point that I totally forgot to bring my camera along! How silly of me! However, my friend has offered to let me use her pictures in lieu of my own, so you can at least get an idea for what I saw (I stuck with her the whole time, so you can be sure that she didn't see anything that I didn't see nor vice versa).

By this time, it was getting pretty near 5 PM, so we decided to head back to housing. It was really great to spend the afternoon at this incredible site. Maybe I'll get a chance to explore other areas of the Tower of London at a later date. One thing I did want to point out was that the whole complex almost resembles a little medieval village, with its houses and little shops (now they are souvenir shops, but they may have served different purposes at an earlier date). It sounds kind of morbid given the Tower's unsavory history, but there you have it. I'll try to post pictures from today as soon as my friend gets them up on Facebook. I think I definitely learned my lesson about forgetting my camera today. You can be sure that my camera will hardly leave my side from now on (which probably isn't such a bad thing considering that you never know when a good photo op will arise). TTFN. :)