The Tower Menagerie
By Jorgi Sturt
Everyone knows about the Tower of London; the kings the queens and yeomen warders (or beefeaters), but no-one ever knows about the animals that have shared the residence with the kings and queens.
The Tower Menagerie is virtually the least known part of the Tower mainly because that with everything surrounding the Tower, the Menagerie is just a shadow. But even though the Menagerie is relatively unknown, there are many pieces of evidence that tell us it was there and what the animals were used for.
The Royal Menagerie was started at the Tower around 1204, during the time when King John was in power. The country probably hosted a Menagerie earlier, by Henry I in about 1125 at his palace in Woodstock, near Oxford. But its year of origin is stated as being 1235, when Henry III was given a wedding present of three leopards (although they may have been lions) from Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor.
Among the national records many orders exist which have been given to the sheriffs of London, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire to provide for the animals and the keepers. In 1252 Henry III ordered the London sheriffs to pay four pence a day for the maintenance of a white bear.
This provided suitable safety measures for the bear such as a muzzle and a chain to hold him while he fished or washed himself in the river Thames. In 1255 they are again made to build a house in the Tower to hold an elephant, which was sent to the King by Louis of France. It was the first elephant to be seen in England since the Roman period.
Jeremy Ashbee, former curator of the Tower of London and Inspector of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings, explains that, “The menagerie seems to have been a private collection for the King, a sign that he enjoyed good relations with foreign monarchs, who presented him with animals. Lions were particularly prized as the living emblems of the royal arms of England, much like modern mascots.”
As lions died out in northern Europe over 10,000 years ago, the big cats were probably gifts given to the English by their allies. Despite their royal authority, once the animals died they were not given any ceremony, but disposed of in the Tower’s moat. Unlike zoos today, the medieval lions were probably kept in small cages measuring just six metres square. By the 17th century the cages had gained a second storey and an outdoor exercise area.
Samuel Pepys was a civil servant who kept a diary of the whole 1660’s. He liked the menagerie and had a favourite lion called Crowlie. He quotes: “I was on my way home when I went to see Crowlie, he has become a great lion and tame.”
The Bengal Tiger of 1829, named by the keepers as “George” in respect to the king at the time, had been captured when he was a cub by General Watson, who shot his parents. The general captured the two cubs while travelling to England. They were first allowed to walk in the open yard, the visitors playing with them without harm.
They also used be fed only once a day on a bit of beef weighing eight or nine pounds. The tiger was perfectly tame till she had cubs. On one occasion, one of the keepers, finding drove the tiger into the den and although he was only armed with a stick, he evaded the three springs the animal made at him.
In Daniel Hahn’s book The Tower Menagerie there is a part where he tells us that “King Håkon IV” was very fond of King Henry. “He chose to show this respect by presenting Henry with the gift of a pale bear which came a great distance all the way from Iceland. This could have been a polar bear but the records from medieval times are very sketchy.
In the book he tells us that foreign visitors would come to trade at the markets near the Southwark bank and if they looked to the right to the Tower on the north bank, “a large polar bear was sitting lazily in the sun, casually pawing salmon out of the water.”
Yet not all the bears had such nice lives. Bears and animals were baited both at the Tower and in the pits at Southwark. Baiting is where people put animals of different sizes together and make them fight each other. This usually involved dogs and was a sport or a show. The name ‘bulldog’ comes from the dogs that had to bait bulls. It is interesting that while the Tower is a symbol of Britain’s power, the bulldog is a symbol of British-ness.
In about 1255 a man named Matthew Parris heard that something amazing was coming to London. So as keen as he was, he made his way to London. The thing was humongous in size and Parris was desperate to find out what it was. It was an elephant, which of course Parris had never seen.
Ravens have always been part of the Tower. It is thought that there have been at least six ravens at the Tower for centuries. It was Charles II who commanded the removal of the ravens after a complaint from John Flamsteed, the royal astronomer. The ravens did not leave, however, because Charles was then told about the legend behind the ravens (that if they were removed or ever leave the Tower of London, then the White Tower, the monarchy and the entire kingdom would fall).
Now because this followed the time of the English Civil War, Charles was not ready to take a chance with the kingdom falling. At this present moment, there are eight ravens at the Tower that are cared for by the Ravenmaster, a duty given to one of the Yeomen Warders. The oldest raven ever to serve at the Tower of London was called Jim Crow, who died at the age of 44. The names of today’s ravens are Gwylum, Thor, Hugin, Munin, Branwen, Gundulf, Baldrick and Bran.
In my eyes, The Menagerie is a magical and multi-cultural place. Many of the stories seem fictional but nevertheless it gives a sense of real experience. They show what our country has succeeded in; reaching out and exploring the world. They expose how much our country is willing to make connections with different countries and backgrounds.