[MR] Wikipedia: Tower of London Taken

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

The Tower of London, one of England's mightiest castles, has withstood
several sieges in its long history, but on 14 June 1381 it fell to a mob of
mere peasants.

During Wat Tyler's Rebellion, much of London had been trashed by mobs that
attacked religious houses, palaces, prisons and other centers of Royal and
Church authority. The "Boy King" Richard II had only the Tower garrison,
his personal escort and a few hundred soldiers at his disposal (the rest of
his forces were in France, or watching the Scottish border) holed up in the
Tower. That morning he rode out to Mile End to negotiate with Tyler and the
rebels taking most of his men as a security force. The gates had been left
open, for some reason, possibly in case the King had to make a hasty
retreat.

Suddenly a mob appeared outside the Tower and swept away the few guards at
the gate. Within minutes the fortress was in their hands. The rebels
captured the hated Archbishop Simon Sudbury, Chancellor of England, and Sir
Robert Hales, the equally despised Lord High Treasurer. Both were beheaded.
William Appleton, physician to John of Gaunt, and John Legg, a Royal
sergeant, were also chopped, and their four heads were piked on London
Bridge. The rebels then looted the Tower of its treasures and arms.
Apparently the rebels had no interest in holding the Tower, and within days
it was reoccupied by royal troops.

The Tower's fall is discussed in a larger Wikipedia article on the
rebellion at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasants%27_Revolt .

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
(and Tower of London geek)