3/20/2014
The Tower of London started being built while William I
(William the Conqueror) was king. It was finished during the reign of his son,
William II. Part of the Tower was to hold the kings or queens the day before
their coronation, other parts were to torture prisoners or hold them captive
including future and present kings or queens.
While Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) was reigning, she tried to
bring back Catholicism back to England after her father King Henry VIII broke
away from the Roman Church and created the Church of England when he was
infatuated with Anne Boleyn. She is called Bloody Mary because she had many
Protestants burned at the stake for not converting to Catholicism. There
happened to be an uprising during her reign and she thought that her sister
Elizabeth was behind the uprising of Sir Thomas Wyatt and brought her to the
Tower. Two months after being in the Tower, Queen Elizabeth was set free.
Another incident that someone of royal blood was cast into
the Tower was King Edward V. His father died suddenly when he was only 12 years
old. His uncle, King Richard III, was protector of the realm and of young King
Edward. To keep both King Edward V and the King’s brother “safe,” he put both
of the princes in the Tower. Both Edward V and Richard are known as the Princes
of the Tower. It is believed and most probable that they were both killed while
they were in the Tower.
It is believed that King Richard III, the boy’s uncle,
ordered the boys to be killed. It is said that they were killed by smothering
while they were asleep. When no one saw the boys, they believed that they were
indeed killed and word got to Henry Tudor (later known as King Henry VII).
Henry marched into England with an army and fought Richard III for the crown
because he was a usurper and committed treason by killing the rightful King of
England. That is how the Tudor line came to be on the throne and later Queen
Elizabeth I being Queen best known for the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
In the mid-1600s, two bodies of children were found in the
Tower of London and it was believed to be the bodies of King Edward V and his
brother Richard. For over 300 years since the time the bodies were found, there
wasn’t any DNA testing to determine if it was in fact those children. Only
measurements of the bodies and analysis of the bones were able to determine
that they belonged to two male children most likely of those of the princes.
Today, I have heard that it was in fact not the boys and I have also heard that
it is not for certain if it is or not. I hope the truth will be able to be
discovered, for the little boys deserve to finally be at peace.
Seeing the Tower of London and the approximate area that the
two skeletons were found, it made me sad. Sad that someone could be so power
hungry that they are willing to kill their own nephews just so he could be on
the throne. I was overwhelmed with that thought and I felt even angry towards
Richard III for what he did to the boys. Karma is a wonderful thing, he got
what came to him when Henry VII overpowered him and took the crown away from
him. If the skeletons were in fact not of the two princes, I hope that they can
be found and laid to rest.
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