London today has a population of around 9 million.
It's a centre for culture with over 300 languages now spoken
within its boundaries.
The capital city has close to 200 museums, of which 11 are national museums.
And a third of all the UK's archives are found here,
including the national archive, which contains documents that date back
to the 11th century, including William the Conquerors Domesday Book.
Today London is one of the worlds leading centres for finance,
entertainment, fashion, education and media, to mention just a few.
But how did London fair in the times of Tudor England?
The 16th century is a period that has resonated with both the public
and historians for many years, it was a time of terror,
a time of one family's obsession to rule with an iron fist,
and for 100 years, the Tudors changed the face of the monarchy.
Now we look at one of the most iconic buildings of the period.
One that began life as a fortress would be redesigned to become a palace
and also one of the most feared prisons of its time.
A formidable symbol in the History of England.
This is the story of the Tower of London.
In 1066 England suffered, as the Normans broke through its island defences,
and now William the Conqueror would rule the country
and build a new fortress in the city's heart.
By the year 1100, the Tower is complete, a building that would last for centuries.
It was the superstructure of its time and one that clearly represented power.
In the 13th century, two new rings of walls were added,
including 21 new supporting towers.
The moat was extended and flooded with water from the Thames.
It created a defensive stronghold that was second to none, it was an awe
inspiring framework emanates a feeling of menace even to this day.
When the Tudors came to power through Henry VII, the country came together
for the first time after the end of the Wars of the Roses.
Yet, it was Henry who still had many doubts.
His uncertain claim to the throne,
in which many said he was a usurper, didn't help.
His vision was to quell any uprising or possibly face
the same treatment as his contemporaries.
Henry VII ensured that the Tudor regime would be strong
and remain resolute while he was in charge.
His brief was simple, and national security was at the centre of his reign.
But the pretenders were soon lining up to take on Henry,
one such man was Perkin Warbeck, he had claimed to be one of the sons of
Edward IV, but after some investigation, while he was held at his majesty's
pleasure in the Tower, Warbeck was eventually found guilty of treason.
The result was for him to be beheaded on Tower Hill,
just one of many that would follow in his footsteps.
Today we see the guards giving detailed descriptions of life
at the Tower and its History to many thousands of tourists.
But back in the time of Henry VII, this band of men
held a much more critical position.
The Yeoman of the Guard was a creation of King Henry.
It was an official Royal bodyguard
to stop any potential harm in coming to the King.
Perhaps Henry may have felt a little insecure
during his reign, but his beefeaters would ensure his safety.
The name Beefeater is said to come from the fact
that the guards could eat meat directly from the Kings table.
Today the Yeoman guards still proudly wear their red uniform, a distinctive colour
of the Tudors and one which has remained in use throughout the centuries.
One of the main instigators for change was now on the horizon.
This was Henry's son, and things were about to get a bit bloody.
The Tower then was used not only as a palace but a prison and Fortress.
It was used as a power base
in times of war and a refuge in times of need.
The overall complex had seen many changes with constant upgrades
and fortifications over the years of the medieval rulers and beyond.
The Tower of London is a symbollic building
of dynastic power, one of strength and stature.
One man would pave the way to an era where the country would see more high
profile characters sent to their deaths than any other period of the Towers
almost 1000 years history.
In the 16th century, the Fortress would become a scene of horror and brutality.
It was led by one of the coldest,
self-centred, and unforgiving rulers in the History of England.
King Henry VIII.
When Henry VIII came to power on April
21 1509, the new King started implementing his new regime.
Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley, two of his father's most hated councillors,
were thrown into prison and executed on charges of treason within months.
Henry VII may be gone, but his offspring meant business,
the new King had a statement of intent, and times were changing.
The Tower became a haven for cruelty and betrayal,
and religious beliefs throughout the country were split.
It all began when the Pope refused Henry
permission to dissolve his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
This single event would start years of turmoil for the monarchy and the people.
Yet Henry eventually got his way, not by means of consolidating his links with Rome
but by announcing himself as the new supreme leader of the Church of England.
Anyone who would now dare go against his word would be thrown into the Tower,
and the axe sharpened for any so-called traitors who defied him.
The original building on the site was built by William
the conqueror after his famous battle at Hastings in 1066; it would be here
where he would rule.
It has been described as one of the most complete
eleventh-century palaces to be found in Europe.
Even today, this building retains an authority and stature that wows visitors.
Three turrets are square, but the fourth is round; it was created
to enclose a spiral staircase for entry to the upper levels.
For over 500 years, the White Tower was used as an armoury.
And today, it holds one of the oldest exhibits in the world,
that of the magnificent line of kings.
If you thought King Henry VIII was a big chap, imagine his armour from the period.
It was made around 1540 at the King's workshops in Greenwich.
It incorporates guilted edging designed by Hans Holbein the younger.
But the palatial building would not long remain as such after the year 1100.
New buildings were erected, including royal apartments,
whereas the Tower would now be used as a stronghold
to hold important documents along with other treasures.
Traditionally the
Tower had been used as the seat of a monarch in England
for years; it was even the place
that a King or Queen would stay the night before their coronation.
This was one tradition that Henry VIII maintained before his coronation.
But Henry was no ordinary King.
He was a man of vast wealth,
and what better way to show this off than by modernising his palace.
Henry required modifications to the whole building;
it was becoming tired and in need of a revamp.
He made numerous refurbishments and had the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula
rebuilt after a devastating fire destroyed it in 1512.
But by 1533, the Tower was now used much less
as a place to entertain visiting guests to the court
and almost given over entirely to the imprisonment of so-called traitors
and other notable figures much closer to the heart of Henry himself.
Through this period, the Tower of London would become
a new type of residence and one that featured torture and death.
Quite possibly, making an entrance
was not on the minds of people facing imprisonment or even execution.
As they arrived through the notorious traitor's gate, the Queens of Henry
VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard would drift silently
inside the stronghold after being brought down the River Thames
and through this unforgiving entry into the dark world on the other side.
By 1533 Henry had, at last, managed to remove his first wife,
known as the King's great matter, Catherine of Aragon was no more,
and Henry's interests now turned to his new love, Anne Boleyn.
The Tower would undergo new decoration, as apartments for Anne were spruced up.
This work would also include
the iconic onion domes now seen on the top of the White Tower.
When Anne arrived at the Tower, she was pregnant; it was hoped
that this would be the birth of a male heir.
Sadly for her and more so Henry, it was a girl.
For Anne, the Tower was quite possibly one of her greatest moments
when she first arrived, yet also her greatest despair.
She had failed the King in producing a male heir
and would now become a victim of her own doing in the eyes of Henry.
After just three years from her entrance to the Court of Henry,
she would now return one last time to be put in a cell after the King had conspired
to accuse her of adultery with five men, one of which was her brother.
Failure was not a word in Henry's eyes, and the fact that Anne
had failed to give him a son was not something he would tolerate.
A plot was conceived to remove Anne, set up by the King's Chancellor
Thomas Cromwell and the rest, as we say, history.
Anne Boleyn was the first English Queen to be executed at the Tower.
On May 19 1536, the bell rings as it did before and after every execution.
The only saving grace for Anne was that her execution would not be public,
and a selected group were invited to watch on within the Tower walls.
Henry agreed to have a master swordsman present,
and with one clean sweep, it was over.
Henry's reformation and other political ideas he had planned
were now taking shape.
This would also be the time new as well as once-loyal members
at Henry's court would find themselves taken away to its unforgiving cells.
Thomas More was one such person, once highly regarded by Henry.
He must have hesitated at making some of these decisions
but non more than the one of Thomas, a lifelong friend and colleague.
Thomas was placed in the Bell Tower, yet he grew ever weary,
and it now appeared that nothing would save him.
All he had was his own beliefs and ideals,
something that even a King would not be able to change.
It was certainly true when it came to Thomas; he was pious and devout.
Thomas More said his last words in July 1536
before he was executed on Tower Hill.
Thomas would not be the last; Henry VIII
put many men and women to death, in fact, more than any other monarch.
The Tower was becoming overwhelmed with prisoners, and it seemed every last
supposed traitor would find themselves behind a locked door.
Another to feel the cold axe was Thomas Cromwell.
He quite possibly
was the Kings best friend and ally, but the man who once helped his King remove
his Queen would now also be at a point where his enemies had seen
and heard enough of him, including Henry.
Thomas was also arrested on a charge of treason.
It's said he was quite possibly placed in the same area Anne Boleyn was kept.
But wherever that was, the outcome remained the same and Thomas was executed.
More blood was to be spilt, The axe-wielding once again
this time to Henry's fifth wife, the young and possibly naive Catherine Howard.
She had been punished for adultery, once again, Henry had no time or cared
to think about what should happen, and Catherine had her head
placed upon the block.
With all these executions,
the Tower required a little work, as it was becoming run down.
The King now had long gone; no longer was it a Palace,
as it was mainly used for holding prisoners of the state.
The Yeoman guard remained to continue royal duties, but they would need
some better-equipped lodgings to rest after a day of work within the grounds.
In 1540 Henry agreed on more building work.
It would be a new centre to be built not only for the Lieutenant of the Tower
but home to some of the highest-ranked prisoners of the time.
It's now known as the Queen's house and is a collection
of timber-framed Tudor residences.
By 1547 Henry's reign was almost at an end, but
he just had time for one last hurrah in his love of executions.
Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, had been attained
as many of his predecessors on a charge of treason.
However, he had tried to escape the Tower,
something almost unheard of, and daring to say the least.
But he was quickly captured
after trying to squeeze himself through a chute that led to the river.
Unfortunately, he was taken to Tower Hill on January 19 1547.
This was the last execution Henry would witness under his command
as he passed away just nine days later.
The days of bloodshed would continue, Edward VI would continue
the tradition of his father.
With the execution of political adversaries.
After Edward had died young, his half-sister Mary once labelled
illegitimate by her father Henry VIII, would climb on to the throne of England.
She was a devout catholic, and the attitude towards the church of England
set up by her father would again cause much suffering over the coming years.
The likes of Lady Jane grey and even Princess Elizabeth would spend time there.
The Tower was once again becoming run down.
The maintenance was high.
Although Elizabeth I would continue to hold the highest-ranking
officials there by the time James I came to power, the Tower had seen
the end of its bloody days and was now in a desperate state of repair.
The Tower of London is mainly known as
a notorious place of imprisonment, torture and execution.
Yet, it has many more secrets that even today remain shrouded in mystery.
When visitors enter the Tower today, they see
a much different view than that of their ancestors.
In the 1930s, archaeologists excavated the moat, where they came
across animal bones.
These were part of a menagerie or zoo.
The bones included that of Barbery Lions, animals that are now extinct,
the ones you see in Trafalgar Square are of the same species.
The lion first arrived in 1235, and just 20 years later,
an African Elephant was given as a trophy from the Crusades.
King Louis IX of France presented it in 1255 to Henry III.
Over the years, the idea of keeping wild animals within
the Tower brought more problems, and the zoo eventually
closed in 1832 when all the animals were sold off.
Church of St Peter ad Vincula
has witnessed many notable prisoners who were executed at the Tower.
Within this small chapel of St Peter, builders were installing an underground
heating system when they came across 1500 skeletal remains.
The bodies were unidentifiable; after extensive work,
they were reinterred in the crypt.
The tiled shields now seen at the floor
of the Altar represents where the bones were found.
Thomas Babington Macaulay wrote about those buried in the chapel
in his 1848 History of England:
By 1885 visitor numbers were on the up;
the Tower now had people eager to see and learn about its history.
It was decided to bring one of the towers
on the outer wall in line with the rest of the complex.
Lanthorne Tower had fallen into disrepair and looked quite brittle
compared to others.
So it was rebuilt entirely
and given a makeover; now it had a feeling of the medieval age.
You could say this somewhat changed the whole experience for visitors.
It gave them a new attraction to see, and quite possibly, in doing so,
one could say it created the worlds first theme park.
One of the newest buildings within the Tower is the construction
of the Waterloo Barracks in the inner ward,
which began in 1845 when the Duke of Wellington laid the foundation stone.
It was initially used to house troops, but today it's the home to
some of the most priceless treasures in the world.
It has a specially designed bank vault for storage,
and visitors are allowed to walk past and view these incredible pieces,
some of which date back over 800 years.
Amongst them, you will see the Cullinan diamond weighing in at 530 carats.
It's the largest clear
cut diamond in the world and was set in the Sovereign's Sceptre.
But the vault hasn't just included these treasures; in 2012,
all the Olympic medals from the London games were stored in the same building.
Wherever you travel around the Tower, one of the most compelling sights
to see is the collection of Royal Armour and weapons.
It is the longest-running exhibition to be found anywhere
in the world today and dates back to the 1590s.
It includes the magnificent "Line of Kings" created around 1680
to show a collection of life-size
wooden horses that date back many hundreds of years.
Along with armour worn by significant rulers throughout history.
One can't begin to describe just how valuable this building and its treasures
are. A priceless collection of history that will never be seen again.
The Tower of London has been in use for almost a millennia, but even today,
as we step back in time to a world of awe and wonder,
we can only imagine the actual goings-on at such an iconic building.
It conceals many secrets that are still awaiting discovery,
a time warp of information and a better understanding
of how the people lived and survived
one of the most torrid periods of English history.
Many still see the Tower as a place of intrigue, treachery and death.
But it offers so much more.
The VIP's or 'very important prisoners' would see
a much different prison to the common person locked up.
As is now, wealth made life a little easier,
even if the ultimate sacrifice was still ahead.
From its dark days, the Tower has grown
and has become a remembrance to all who served and died within its grasp.
From Torture to Tourism, the Tower of London's almost 1000 year
history is set to continue, and who would argue with that.