Beneath the foundations of the staircase the workmen were astonished to find a wooden chest containing two skeletons. The then king, Charles II, ordered the demolition of what remained of the royal palace to the south of the White Tower, including a turret that had once contained a privy staircase leading into St John’s Chapel. The two princes had apparently disappeared without trace, but in 1674 a remarkable discovery was made at the tower. But there were others with a vested interest in getting the princes out of the way. The prime suspect has long been Richard III, who had invalidated his nephews’ claim to the throne and had himself crowned king in July 1483. At whose hands, it will probably never be known. It is now widely accepted that some time during the autumn of that year the two princes were quietly murdered. Read more | Did Richard III kill the Princes in the Tower?.What happened next has been the subject of intense debate ever since. Richard wasted no time in placing the boy and his younger brother Richard in the tower, ostensibly for their protection. Upon the death of Edward IV in 1483, his son and heir Edward was just 12 years old so he appointed his brother Richard (the future Richard III) as Lord Protector. One of the most notorious episodes involved the ‘Princes in the Tower’. Between 11 some 8,000 people were incarcerated within its walls for crimes ranging from treason and conspiracy to murder, debt and sorcery. The site of a great mysteryĭespite such dramatic events as this, it is the Tower of London’s history as a prison that has always held the most fascination. Without his charismatic presence, the rebels lost the will to fight on and returned meekly to their homes.

Steeled into more decisive action, her son rode out to meet the rebels again and faced down their leader, Wat Tyler, who was slain by the king’s men. The contemporary chronicler Jean Froissart described how the rebels “arrogantly lay and sat and joked on the king’s bed, whilst several asked the king’s mother… to kiss them”. Meanwhile, inside the tower, the mob had ransacked the king’s bedchamber and molested his mother and her ladies. It took eight blows of the amateur executioner’s axe to sever the archbishop’s head, which was then set upon a pole on London Bridge. Without hesitation they dragged him and his companions to Tower Hill and butchered them. Ransacking their way to the innermost parts of the fortress, they reached the second floor of the White Tower and burst into St John’s Chapel, where they found the despised Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Sudbury, leading prayers. The king agreed to meet them, but as soon as the gates were opened to let him out, 400 rebels rushed in. Under the leadership of the charismatic Walter (or Wat) Tyler, in June 1381 20,000 rebels marched on the capital and headed straight for the Tower of London. One of the most notorious occasions was the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, which was prompted by the introduction of a new ‘poll’ tax by Richard II’s government. It is for that reason that it was always the target for rebels and invaders. It was said that he who held London held the kingdom, and the tower was the key to the capital. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Rebel invaders The Tower of London as seen from the River Thames, 1647. As with the mint, they would remain there for many centuries to come. Purpose-built storage for the records was never provided there, however, so they competed for space with weapons, gunpowder, prisoners and even royalty. During Edward I’s reign, the tower became a major repository of these records. For centuries the monarch had kept these documents with them wherever they travelled, but the growing volume forced them to be stored in a permanent – and very secure – space. So successful was the operation that it would remain at the tower until the late 18th century.Īt around the same time that the mint was established, the tower also became home to the records of government. His choice was inspired by the need for security: after all, the mint’s workers literally held the wealth of the kingdom in their hands. Determined to keep the production of coins under closer control, Edward I moved the mint here in 1279. It was also during the 13th century that the tower embraced another function that might not be expected of a fortress.

Inside the tower of london