The Most Dangerous Prisoner of the Tower of London

Since the 13th century, the Tower of London has housed numerous royal gems. In 1066, William the Bastard, later known as William the Conqueror, conquered England and ordered the construction of the Tower of London to establish his new rule with a massive oppressive structure. The White Tower was completed in 1100 and served as a royal residence for many monarchs over the next 500 years. However, it gained notoriety as a prison in the late 19th century.

Throughout history, some of the most famous figures were sent to the Tower of London to await their fates, including the future Queen Elizabeth I, Guy Fawkes, Sir Walter Raleigh, and two of Henry V's wives and Lady Jane Grey. Unfortunately, the latter two's stay ended with an involuntary neck removal surgery. In 1941, German spy Joseph Jakobs became the last person to be executed on Tower grounds. The tower's last prisoners were London gangsters, the Cray twins, who were sent there in 1952 for failing to report for national service.

The Tower of London played a crucial role in defending London over the centuries. Located on the Thames, it likely controlled access to the city and served as a stronghold during conflicts like the Wars of the Roses and the English Civil War. However, its history does not solely revolve around what it kept out. Since the 13th century, it also functioned as a royal zoo.

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, reportedly presented Henry III with naturally occurring free lions and decided that the greatest location for them to be was with all the others in the Tower of London prisoners. The symbol of the lion can be traced back 800 years to the Royal coat of arms of England adopted by the Plantagenet Kings around 1200 A.D. Henry III continued a long-standing family custom of keeping exotic animals alive solely to kill them later and then boasted to his friends about it because he was an avid hunter. However, Henry thankfully ceased killing the unfortunate creatures in 1272 after he too was killed by his own body when it grew old. Consequently, the Woodstock Menagerie was transported to the Tower of London, where it joined a burgeoning community.

Around 1290, Edward the First added a second Lion and the connections to the group. He even constructed a building specifically for the Lions that would later be cryptically referred to as the Lion Tower. Edward the First also named the first formal Master of the Kings bears and apes. His successor Edward III added a few additional lions, and they certainly weren't normal for lions back then. They also enjoyed the occasional leopard, and successive Kings introduced jackals, hyenas, and other animals. When all the lions perished in the 15th century, the keeper was rightfully fired. However, when James became king in the 1600s, the first British explorers began venturing further into Africa and began bringing back lions like they were bottles of duty-free vodka, primarily to provide the horrifying lion baiting sport that was popular at the time.

Lion baiting entails fighting to the death in fires between Lions and dogs. Since it was evident that a lion would easily tear two shades of a dog apart, nothing was provided to the dogs in order to even the chances. When he wasn't sending dogs to their deaths, they all simply perished brutally. James was hard at work filling the tower Menagerie with unusual Marvels like camels, tigers, flying squirrels, and Indian elephants. Since the unfortunate elephant was given a barrel of wine every day from September to April, it seems that English elephant care hadn't advanced all that much. The keepers apparently tried to keep the animal warm over the cold. Not at all. By the beginning of the next century, the tower was home to 11 Lions in addition to other cats, jackals, and birds of prey.

Even Sir Christopher Wren, the renowned designer of Saint Paul's Cathedral, was hired to supervise building a new lion house. Up until this moment, the monarchy had primarily preserved the collection of untamed, undoubtedly very unhappy foreign creatures for amusement and merriment. When they became tired of stuffing gold coins into convicts' eye holes or whatever, the Royal Menagerie was opened to the public and began to resemble what we may now refer to as a zoo by the 18th century.

In 1811, the first grizzly bear to be sighted in England, named Martin, was dispatched to King George III. Shortly thereafter, two ostriches were added to the collection. These large birds were fed a diet of nails, which was considered a stroke of zoological genius at the time, as it was believed that they could digest iron. However, one of the ostriches died due to its terrible diet, which proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the Royal Menagerie. Despite centuries of well-meaning individuals feeding the animals, only Martin and a few big cats remained by 1821.

With the hiring of a new keeper, Alfred Cops, the animals' shockingly short lifespan was about to change. Rather than waiting for the king to receive animals as gifts from wealthy aristocrats and foreign dignitaries, which was becoming increasingly rare, Cops actively sought out new animals to add to the Menagerie. He brought previously unseen creatures to the Tower, including kangaroos, alligators, and zebras. It took a lot of work, and along the way, Cops nearly lost his life during a public exhibition when a hungry bear constrictor nearly strangled him. By the time he was finished, the Menagerie had amassed a collection of over 280 animals from more than 60 kinds.

However, the Tower of London has a history of animal-related incidents. In 1686, Mary Jenkinson was mauled by a lion and died. In the 1700s, a young sailor was killed when a baboon fired a cannonball at his head. In 1830, a man was attacked by a leopard, another man's leg was bitten by a monkey, and a wolf fled and was never seen again. It was decided to move all of the animals to Regents Park, where the Zoological Society of London had already constructed what is now known as London Zoo. By 1835, the guards' headgear was the last remaining furry item at the Tower of London, marking the end of a 600-year era.

The animals must have been relieved, as they were presumably mistreated, starved, and killed. Animal welfare has advanced over the past nearly 200 years, and while many people still view zoos negatively, at least we no longer serve elephants buckets of merlot.