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THE TOWER OF LONDON AND ITS MYSTERIES 1

Incercare de atestat la limba engleza

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THE TOWER OF LONDON AND ITS MYSTERIES

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CONTENTS

Argument...........................................................................i

Introduction......................................................................ii

Chapter 1 - The 'Princes in the Tower'..........................1

1.1 Family history.................................................................61.2 The murder and the found............................................71.3 The ghosts........................................................................8

Chapter 2 – Ghosts around the castle.............................

2.1 The bear............................................................................92.2 Non-human spec...............................................................9

Chapter 3 – Other ghosts or rumours of ghosts............

3.1 The ghost of Anne Boleyn......................................103.2 The ghost of Lady Jane Grey.................................11

Conclusions.........................................................................iii

Glossary...............................................................................iv

Bibliography........................................................................v

Appendix.............................................................................vi

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ARGUMENT

Mysteries have always got a way of captivating me, ever since I was a child. I find

intriguing what the human mind does not understand or acknowledge yet and the paranormal

and these phenomena make me question if there is more to this world than us.

What is a Ghost?

To determine why so many ghosts are reputed to haunt the Tower of London perhaps

we should first determine what exactly the definition of a ghost and why a haunting might

occur. A ghost is often defined as the spirit or soul of a person who has remained on Earth

after death. When Ghosts appear, they are said to appear in bodily likeness to living persons

and often haunt their former habitats. Ghosts are believed to have a surviving emotional

memory typical of someone who has died violently, traumatically and tragically. The soul of a

ghost is not able to rest in peace and they remain in old and familiar places, repeating the

same acts indefinitely until they are released from their endless haunting.

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i

INTRODUCTION

The tower was officially known as Her majesty’s royal palace and fortress and it was

used as a fortress, a palace, a prison and a home to the crown jewels of the United Kingdom.

It was built in 1078 by William the Conqueror. During the reigns of Richard I (1189-1199)

and Henry III (1216-1272) the Tower defences were strengthened by the addition of a curtain

wall surrounding the keep. Henry III’s son, Edward I (1272-1307), built a second curtain wall,

surrounded by a moat. By the end of the fourteenth century Richard II (1377-1399) had

completed the wharf, separating the outer wall from the river. Apart from later minor changes,

Richard’s fortress is the one we know today.

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ii

CHAPTER 1 - THE 'PRINCES IN THE TOWER'

1.1 Family history

The 'Princes in the Tower' were Edward (1470-1483) and Richard (1473-1483), the

sons of Edward IV. Shortly after Edward was crowned Edward V, he and his brother

disappeared and were never seen alive again.

Edward was born in London in 1470. His brother Richard, Duke of York, was born in

1473 in Shrewsbury. Their parents were Edward IV and his wife, Elizabeth Woodville.

Edward IV had come to the throne as a result of the Wars of the Roses and managed to restore

a certain amount of stability to the country.

Edward IV died suddenly on 9 April 1483 and his eldest son was proclaimed Edward

V at Ludlow. Edward's uncle, his father's brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was named as

protector. Elizabeth Woodville and her supporters attempted to replace Gloucester with a

regency Council, aware of the dislike Gloucester had for them. As the new king, Edward V,

travelled towards London, he was met by Gloucester and escorted to the capital, where he was

lodged in the Tower of London. In June, Edward was joined by his brother, the Duke of York.

The boys were declared illegitimate because it was alleged that their father was

contracted to marry someone else before his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville.

In July 1483, Richard, Duke of Gloucester was crowned Richard III. The two boys

were never seen again. It was widely believed that their uncle had them murdered.

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1.2 The murder and the found

If the boys were indeed murdered, there are several major suspects for the crime. The

evidence is ambiguous, and has led people to various conflicting conclusions. Many modern

historians, including David Starkey and Michael Hicks, support the theory that the princes

were murdered and regard Richard III as the most likely culprit.

The most common theory is that they were murdered on the orders of their uncle,

Richard, who had usurped the throne from Edward. Although the princes had been eliminated

from the succession, Richard III's hold on the monarchy was not secure and the existence of

the princes would remain a threat as long as they were alive. The boys could have been used

by Richard's enemies as figureheads for rebellion. Rumours of their death were in circulation

by late 1483, but Richard never attempted to prove that they were alive by having them seen

in public, which strongly suggests that they were dead by then. However he did not remain

silent on the matter. Raphael Holinshed, in his Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland,

written in 1577, reports that Richard, "what with purging and declaring his innocence

concerning the murder of his nephews towards the world, and what with cost to obtain the

love and favour of the communal tie (which outwardlie glosed, and openly dissembled with

him) ... gave prodigally so many and so great rewards, that now both he lacked, and scarce

with honesty how to borrow." Richard also failed to open any investigation into the matter,

which would have been in his interest if he was not responsible for the deaths of his nephews.

Many modern historians, including David Starkey, Michael Hicks, Helen Castor and Alison

Weir, do regard Richard himself as the most likely culprit. There was no formal accusation

against Richard III on the matter; the Bill of Attainder brought by Henry VII made no

definitive mention of the Princes in the Tower, but it did accuse Richard of "the unnatural,

mischievous and great perjuries, treasons, homicides and murders, in shedding of infant's

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blood, with many other wrongs, odious offences and abominations against God and man".

The "shedding of infant's blood" may be an accusation of the Princes' murder.

In 1674, some workmen remodelling the Tower of London dug up a wooden box

containing two small human skeletons. The bones were found buried 10 ft under the staircase

leading to the chapel of the White Tower. They were not the first children's skeletons found

within the tower; the bones of two children had previously found "in an old chamber that had

been walled up", which Pollard suggests could have equally been those of the princes. The

reason the bones were attributed to the princes was because the location partially matched that

given by More. However More also stated that they were later moved to a "better

place", which does not match with the bones discovered. One anonymous report was that they

were found with "pieces of rag and velvet about them"; the velvet could indicate that the

bodies were those of aristocrats. Four years after their discovery, the bones were placed in an

urn and, on the orders of King Charles II, interred in Westminster Abbey, in the wall of

the Henry VII Lady Chapel. A monument designed by Christopher Wren marks the putative

resting-place of the princes.

1.3 The ghosts of the 'Princes in the Tower'

Perhaps the most pathetic of the Tower of London ghosts are the Princes in the Tower.

Edward V, aged 12 and Richard Duke of York, aged 10 were imprisoned and probably

smothered on the orders of Richard III. Their ghosts, sometimes holding hands, have been

seen in various rooms in the Bloody Tower where they were incarcerated.

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CHAPTER 2 – GHOSTS AROUND THE CASTLE

2.1 The bear

One of the many repeated animal ghost stories refers to the large bear that was seen in

January 1816 by a sentry on guard duty in the Tower of London at what was then the Jewel

Tower and is now the Martin Tower. The bear appeared to be real so the sentry lunged at it

with his bayonet. The bayonet went straight through the bear and struck the wall behind. The

sentry collapsed with fear and died a few days later from shock after telling what had

happened. 

This apparent over-reaction becomes a little more understandable when it is realised

that, at the time of the appearance, the Tower had a menagerie containing a variety of animals,

including bears. The poor sentry probably thought it was one that had escaped. The Tower

menagerie closed in 1835 and the animals were moved to the then newly built London Zoo.

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2.2 Non-human specters

There is one non-human entity that was reported, not by an unnamed observer but by a very reliable witness. Edmund Swifte was Keeper of the Crown Jewels in 1817 when he said that saw what appeared to be a glass tube full of blue liquid that bubbled as he was having dinner with his family in their lodgings in the Jewel Tower. He hit it with a chair after his wife exclaimed that it had grabbed her but the chair went straight through whatever it was and the object disappeared through a wall.

Chapter 3 – Other ghosts or rumours of ghosts

3.1 The ghost of Anne Boleyn

Most famously, Anne is one of the many Tower of London ghosts. Her wraith has been

seen near the King's House and on Tower Green. In 1933 a guard challenged the spectre of a

female, presumably the Anne Boleyn ghost. When he received no response, he lunged at her

with his bayonet. The bayonet went straight through the wraith, striking the wall behind her.

The guard deserted his post and ran. A very similar thing happened in 1864 but then the

soldier fainted and he was court marshalled for being asleep on duty. Fortunately, there were

witnesses to corroborate his story and he was acquitted.

Another of Anne's 'haunts' within the Tower is near the White Tower where the

scaffold was erected upon which she was executed. She did not beheaded in in normal

manner, kneeling with her head upon the block and by the headsman's axe. She died kneeling

erect and her head was severed in one swift blow by a swordsman brought over from France.

Anne's body was left, unattended, on the scaffold for some time. Until someone

working at the Tower placed her in an empty arrow box. She was then buried, in an unmarked

grave, inside the church of St. Peter ad Vincula which stands within the grounds of the

Tower.But she doesn't rest easy.

One night, a Tower of London warden was patrolling outside when he noticed that the

windows of the Chapel were illuminated. He climbed a ladder and looked inside. To his

amazement he saw a procession led by a woman who reminded him of paintings that he had

seen of Anne Boleyn Ghosts resplendent in clothes that would have been worn in the Tudor

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court were slowly following her up the aisle. After a few minutes, the figures slowly faded

from sight and darkness once again descended on the church.

3.2 The ghost of Lady Jane Grey

Ambition, greed and treachery feature in the story of the first of the hauntings to be

encountered at Astley. The tale involves two ghosts that flit about the castle ruins. In reality

the building was always more of a fortified manor house than a true castle, its comfortable

rooms providing luxurious living to generations of the Grey family. 

It was in 1553 that fate caught up with the Greys. They had been living prosperous,

but relatively quiet, lives for generations. Then Henry Grey married Frances, daughter of the

Duke of Suffolk and granddaughter of Mary, sister of King Henry VIII. The marriage brought

some wealth, though not much, and family links to court and crown. It seemed a good idea at

the time. Then came a succession of early deaths, executions and banishments among the

royal family and higher nobility. By the fateful year, Henry’s daughter Jane Grey was fourth

in line to the throne.

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It was becoming quickly clear that the teenage King Edward VI was dying of

consumption. Officially his heir was his sister, the Catholic Mary, but the Protestants believed

she was illegitimate. After Mary came another sister, the Protestant Elizabeth, but the

Catholics declared that she was illegitimate. The only heir both Catholics and Protestants

could accept as legitimate was young Jane Grey, then just 15 years old. 

John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, was by this time the head of government. He

was ambitious for his family and arranged a marriage between his son, Guildford Dudley, and

Jane Grey. He thus brought his family directly into royal circles, and promised Henry Grey a

great deal of patronage as a reward for bullying his daughter into the marriage. But he had

higher ambitions. He wanted to keep the crown in Protestant hands, preferably his own. He

planned to get rid of both Mary and Elizabeth and instead put Jane on the throne. He hoped to

rule through his daughter in law. 

Then King Edward died. Northumberland moved fast. He announced that the dying

king had left the crown to Jane Grey, as the only undisputedly legitimate heir, and produced a

piece of paper signed by the king to that effect. The law officers of the court declared it was

illegal as it had not been witnessed by the correct persons, but Northumberland’s sword

persuaded them to endorse it. Northumberland then sent for Mary, Elizabeth and Jane. Mary

refused, Elizabeth sent a note saying she was ill and only Jane turned up. When told that she

was now queen, Jane fainted. When she came to, she said that Mary was the true queen, but

later she was forced to agree to become queen herself. 

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Princess Mary, meanwhile, had been gathering supporters and an army. When she set

out for London the citizens turned against the corrupt Northumberland and poor Jane Grey,

whom they saw as his stooge. Just nine days after being declared queen, Jane Grey

surrendered to Mary and begged for mercy. Poor Lady Jane was promptly tried for treason,

found guilty and sentenced to death. But Mary gave her the promised mercy and sent her to

prison instead of the scaffold. 

And then Jane’s father, Henry Grey, came back into the story. Among Mary’s first acts

as queen were bringing in Catholic priests, celebrating Catholic mass and arranging to marry

the King of Spain. Protestant opinion was outraged and a rebellion gathered in the midlands.

Henry Grey joined the rebels and marched towards London. Mary’s professional soldiers put

the uprising down amid much bloodshed. 

Henry Grey fled, but his actions had been enough to convince Mary that Jane had to

die. On 12 February 1554 the young girl was taken from her rooms at the Tower and

beheaded. Her father, meanwhile, had fled to Astley where he hid in a tree. Food and drink

was brought to the fugitive by a servant named Underwood. One day, however, Underwood

brought the queen’s soldiers rather than food. Grey was arrested, taken to London and

executed. The oak in which he had hidden stood just outside the churchyard until 1891, when

it came down in a storm. 

It is the ghosts of this unhappy father and daughter who are seen in and around the

castle. As befits her studious, religious character, Jane is seen sitting reading quietly. Before

the castle was gutted by fire, visitors used to mistake the ghost for some local girl in odd

costume. Now she seems quite out of place among the gaunt stones and, when she appears, is

seen for what she is. 

There is no mistaking her father’s phantom for anything other than a ghost. In time

honoured fashion he is said to appear headless as he walks around the castle ruins. Unlike the

ghost of Jane Grey, however, there are no recent sightings of the ghostly Henry. Perhaps he

has ceased his spectral wanderings. 

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CONCLUSIONS

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iii

GLOSSARY

Moat = a deep wide hole, usually filled with water, that surrounds a castle as protection against attack;

Usurp = to take a job or position that nelongs to someone else without having the right to do this;

Scaffold = a structure on which criminals were killed in the past by being hanged or beheaded;

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Macmillan Dictionary

Alison Weir, The Princes of the Tower (p. 157)

Raphael Holinshed Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland

R. F. Walker, "Princes in the Tower", in S. H. Steinberg et al, A New Dictionary of British History, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1963

http://www.paranormaldatabase.com

http://www.real-british-ghosts.com

http://www.wikipedia.org

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v

APPENDIX

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