The Tower of London in the History of the Nation

London England: Cardinal, 1974. The Tower of London is a unique historic institution: at once royal palace, fortress for the City and state prison, and originally the nation's record office and zoo. In these capacities it offers a mirror through which English history may be seen - in the White Tower Richard II abdicated his throne to his cousin Henry Bolingbroke; the Garden Tower, now called the Bloody Tower, was probably the scene of the murder of the little Princes; on the scaffold of Tower Green two of Henry VIII's Queens met their deaths; through Traitors' Gate so many political prisoners passed, including Elizabeth I when she was a princess. Yet the Tower has its lighter side too - up to the reign of James II, monarchs stayed in the Tower on the eve of their coronation, passing to the Abbey at Westminster on the following day; in 1671 there occured the comic episode of Captain Blood's attempt to steal the Crown Jewels, and after the doomed Jacobite rebelion of 1715 the Earl of Nithsdale succeeded in escaping from the Tower in the clothing of his Countess. A. L. Rowse, one of the greatest living historians, tells the story of this incomparable building with all the mastery of narrative, the imagination, poetry and irony at his command. Illustrated...... 1st Cardinal Edition. Softcover. Very Good. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Paperback.