The large room in which they found themselves was filled with weapons also, and various relics of the old Tower. It was used as the great Banqueting-hall when the Tower was the Royal Palace, as well as the fortress, the State prison, the Mint, the Armory, and the Record Office. The apartment above this was the Council Chamber. They went up.
“It was here that Richard II gave up his crown to Henry of Bolingbroke who became Henry IV, by demand of the people,” said Mrs. Pitt. “Richard was a weak, cruel king, you remember, and was confined in a distant castle, where he was finally murdered. Suppose we examine some of this armor now. This suit here belonged to Queen Elizabeth’s favorite, the Earl of Leicester. Notice the initials R. D., which stand for his name, Robert Dudley. This here was made for Charles I when he was a boy; and that belonged to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk; and this, to Henry VIII himself. Aren’t they interesting? Yes, what’s that you have found, Barbara?”
The two boys were absorbed in the armor for some time, but Barbara and Betty liked a figure on horseback, which represents Queen Elizabeth as she looked when she rode out in state. It is strangely realistic, for the figure is dressed in a gown of the period said to have belonged to that Queen.
“Do you suppose that jewels were sewn into the dress where those round holes are?” asked Betty, gently touching the faded velvet with one finger.
They all examined the dreadful instruments of torture, some of them taken from the Armada, and the ghastly headsman’s block and mask, and then they descended the winding stairs again and went into the little shadowy St. John’s Chapel, on the floor with the Banqueting-hall.
“I want you all to remember that this is called the ‘most perfect Norman chapel in England,’” began Mrs. Pitt. “Some day when you have learned more about architecture, that will mean a great deal to you. These heavy circular pillars and the horseshoe arches show the ancient Norman style. It’s a quaint place, isn’t it? Here Brackenbury, the Lieutenant of the Tower, was praying one evening when the order came to him to murder the two little Princes. In this chapel, the Duke of Northumberland, the aged father of Lady Jane Grey, heard Mass before he went out to execution. ‘Bloody Mary’ came here to attend service upon the death of her brother, Edward VI. Somewhere on the same floor of this tower, John Baliol, the Scotch King, was imprisoned and lived for some time in great state. There is (at any rate, there was) a secret passage between this chapel and the Royal Apartments. I have read so much about the dreadful conspirators who skulked about the Tower, and the fearful deeds that were done here, that I can almost see a man in armor, with drawn sword, lurking behind one of these pillars!”
Some soldiers in their gay uniforms were parading on Tower Green when they went out again, and the scene was a merry, bright one.
“How different from the days when the scaffold stood under those trees!” exclaimed Mrs. Pitt, as they approached the fatal spot. “Here perished Lady Jane Grey, Anne Boleyn, Katharine Howard, and Queen Elizabeth’s unfortunate favorite, the Earl of Essex. Most of the victims were beheaded just outside, on Tower Hill. Now, we’ll look into St. Peter’s Chapel.”
It is a gloomy, unattractive enough little chapel, but there are buried here many illustrious men and women, whose lives were unjustly taken by those in power. Here lie the queens who suffered at the Tower, and, strangely enough, their tombs are mostly unmarked. John Fisher, the ancient Bishop of Rochester, lies here, and Guildford Dudley, husband to Lady Jane Grey, the Earl of Arundel, Sir Thomas More, and many others whose names are forever famous.
Our party visited the little room in the Beauchamp Tower, which so many examine with intense interest. Many people were imprisoned there, and the walls are literally covered with signatures, verses, coats-of-arms, crests, and various devices cut into the stone by the captives. Perhaps the most famous is the simple word “JANE,” said to have been done by her husband, Guildford Dudley. A secret passage has been discovered extending around this chamber, and probably spies were stationed there to watch the prisoners and listen to what they said.