King HenryVIII:

Introduction_

Avisit to the Tower of London

is an essential part of any

study of the Tudors at Key Stage 2.

This resource is particularly aimed

at integrating a visit into Unit 7

‘Why did Henry VIII marry six times?’

Books and study materials cannot

provide the same stimulus as the

first hand experience of a visit to

the Tower, which featured so

significantly in the story of Henry

and his wives.

T H E T O W E R O F L O N D O N

T U D O R

Why did Henry VIIImarry six times?

Henry VIII after Hans Holbein the Younger, c.1536.

By c

ourt

esy

of t

he N

atio

nal P

ortra

it G

alle

ry,L

ondo

n

Briefing N

otes fo

r TeachersK

S2 History U

nit 7

2 KS2 Unit 7

About these notes_

Because the Tower will be

referred to many times while

studying the unit, we

recommend that you plan

your visit for somewhere

near the start of your course.

This will familiarise pupils

with the Tower as a location,

and help establish basic

concepts such as the names

and order of the wives.

Preparing for your visit_

• The Tower of London is a complex

site. Pupils will benefit most from a visit if it is

thoroughly planned beforehand.

• Make a preliminary visit to the Tower to familiarise

yourself with the site, such as where to find the

different towers, toilets, how many pupils can visit

each tower at a time etc.

• Pupils with some background knowledge of English

history will have an advantage when exploring the

Tower. Group leaders and adult supervisors should

be prepared to answer some of the more obvious

questions they may ask.

• Before you arrive, divide the class up into groups.

Groups should be allocated at least one adult

supervisor. Historic Royal Palaces requires that

you maintain a ratio of at least one adult

supervisor to every ten children at all times.

• Allow at least two to three hours for your visit,

effectively half a day.

• Decide when to have lunch and make allowance for

some free time to absorb the atmosphere of the

Tower. Explain in advance to pupils the timetable

for the day.

• Photography and video recording are allowed

inside the Tower apart from the Jewel House.

Safety_

• Please do not leave children unattended at any

time.Tell children in advance that if they become

separated from their group they should ask the

nearest Yeoman Warder for help.

• The Ravens are potentially dangerous wild animals.

Please do not feed them or attempt to touch

them.

The Tower of London c.1497.

Cour

tesy

of t

he M

useu

m o

f Lon

don

3KS2 Unit 7

Background informationThe Tower of London was already 400 years old

when Henry VIII was born. Henry’s ancestors, the

kings of England, had used the Tower as a castle and

as a royal residence. It also housed other royal

departments as well.These functions continued into

Henry’s reign.

A fortress_

Henry VIII spent £3,593 4s 1d repairing the walls and

towers of the castle. It took 2937 tons of imported

stone from France. He also ordered 4 yeoman

warders and as many gunners as necessary to guard

the gate while it was open. Guns, ammunition and

other weapons were also stored at the Tower. In 1545

an order was given ‘to new build one house wherein

all the King’s Ordnance and other munitions may be

kept’. It included special rooms ‘wherein all the King’s

Majesty’s rich weapons of his own person

should be kept’.

The Royal Mint_

The Royal mint was located in the Tower.

It produced all of Henry’s coins. In 1542, the mint

‘coined money day and night’ to convert the silver

from the monasteries into cash. By the end

frequently called in coins to be replaced by poor

quality new ones.The work was so hard that one of

the mint workers fell asleep for 15 days in 1546.

Royal lodgings_

Henry VIII carried out extensive work on the royal

lodgings, before the coronation of Anne Boleyn in

1533, none of which now survives.The King’s Great

Watching Chamber and Privy Chamber were

refurbished, the Queen’s Great Chamber had a new

roof and the medieval Great Hall and kitchens were

modernised.The King and his future queen Anne

Boleyn stayed in these renovated apartments before

the coronation procession set off along the Thames

to Westminster Abbey. Henry never used them

again, and Anne was to return, a prisoner, in 1536.

‘Shall I go into a Dungeon?’ she asked the

Constable of the Tower, Sir William Kingston. ‘No

madam,’ he replied ‘you shall go into your lodging

that you lay in at your coronation.’

Other functions_

King Henry’s collection of lions and other exotic

animals, the Royal Menagerie, was housed in the Lion

Tower. Official royal documents were stored in the

White Tower, the Wardrobe Tower and elsewhere.

Tudor cannon© T

he B

oard

of T

rust

ees

of t

he A

rmou

ries

4 KS2 Unit 7

Prisoners_

The Tower of London was not built to be a prison.

It did not have cells or dungeons. Because it was so

secure from attack, however, from its very earliest

years it was used to house prisoners. In Tudor

times, prisoners in the Tower were usually very

important people, or those accused of high level

political crimes.

Standards of imprisonment varied.

Because of their importance, prisoners

at the Tower usually enjoyed

reasonably good conditions, with

servants, decent food, comfortable

furniture and minor

luxuries such as

books. Only if

Henry intended to

break the spirit of the

prisoner, as with Thomas More and

Bishop Fisher, were those comforts removed and the

prisoner left in a bare stone cell with little food and

water. Few prisoners were tortured in the Tower.

Ordinary people were very unlikely to be

imprisoned in the Tower, let alone executed on

Tower Hill. If you were a friend of Henry VIII, a

member of his family or a minister in his

government, things were far more risky. Sir Thomas

Wyatt, a poet imprisoned here, wrote: ‘It thunders

round the throne ’ meaning the nearer you got to

the King, the more dangerous it became.

The Tower was not often used for imprisonment

until 1534.After this it was used for prisoners

connected to the King's marital problems and the

Break with Rome. Important prisoners included Sir

Thomas More; John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester;

Henry’s wives Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard;

Thomas Cromwell; the Duke of Norfolk and

potential rivals to the throne such as the Duke of

Buckingham, the Earl of Devon, the Earl of Surrey

and members of the Pole family.

From John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs published 1563. It shows Cuthbert Simpson,

a Protestant, being tortured on the rack in the reign of the Catholic, Queen Mary.

Block and Axe

© T

he B

oard

of T

rust

ees

of t

he A

rmou

ries

5KS2 Unit 7

Executions_

The usual execution sites of Tudor London were to

the west of the City.Tower Hill, just outside the

Tower, was used for the execution of some of the

Tower prisoners.The Tower of London itself was not

generally used as a place of execution.

When Henry VIII came to the throne, only one

person,William, Lord Hastings, had been executed

inside the Tower, although some murders or

suspected murders had taken place here. Henry VIII

ordered the executions of Anne Boleyn, Lady

Margaret Pole, Catherine Howard and

her accomplice

Lady Rochford to be

carried out inside the Tower.These were the

only executions carried out in the Tower in the

whole of his reign.

Executions on Tower Hill could be watched by

thousands of members of the public. Executions

inside the Tower

took place in

front of a few

important

nobles and

officials.Anne

Boleyn had

her head cut

off by a sword,

the other ladies with

an axe.Anne and

Catherine Howard

both made speeches,

declaring their punishment was just and in Anne’s

case asking for God’s blessing on the King. Lady

Rochford, however, was taken to the scaffold ‘in a

frenzy’ while Margaret Pole refused to submit and

was chased round the block by her executioner.

Contemporaries, used to public executions,

considered these manner of executions to be

merciful, as the legal punishment for women who

committed treason was burning at the stake.

Everyone executed by Henry suffered according to

the law, not the whim of the King. Most had public

trials.Thomas Cromwell suggested the idea of

passing an act of Parliament, an Act of Attainder, to

get enemies executed without a

normal trial.

Ironically, it was

Cromwell himself who became the first victim

of the new process, followed by Margaret Pole and

Catherine Howard.

This is popularly known as a

portrait of Catherine Howard

but is unproven

Anne Boleyn

The

Roya

l Col

lect

ion

© 2

003

The

Roya

l Col

lect

ion

© 2

003

A beheading sword

6 KS2 Unit 7

Full records of all the

prisoners at the

Tower do not

survive. However, we

know that:

• there were about 112 people kept prisoner at the

Tower during Henry’s reign of which 11 were

women and 101 were men

• only 4 are known to have been tortured at

the Tower

• 69 were executed, 4 in the Tower, 20 on Tower Hill

and 45 elsewhere, mainly at Tyburn, west London

• all except 4 of the known prisoners were either

released or executed within a year

• of the others, one was held for 2 years, one for

four years, one for 7 years . (The Duke of Norfolk

was held one year under Henry, but was saved

from execution by Henry's death.The rest was

served out under Edward VI)

• the longest serving prisoner was Edward Courtney,

Earl of Devonshire, a cousin of the King and rival

to the throne. He was imprisoned in the Tower

aged 12 and stayed there for the next 15 years,

most of which again was under Edward VI

• 11 prisoners were close members of Henry’s

family, 18 were connected to them, 7 were non-

royal government officials and 22 were lords or

high ranking churchmen.Another 7 were Scottish

prisoners of war

• imprisonment for long fixed terms was incredibly

unusual in Tudor England.

Prisoner

statistics

Interior of the Salt Tower, one of the towers where high ranking prisoners were kept.

7KS2 Unit 7

Working on siteLearning Objectives Teaching Activities Learning Outcomes

• Pupils should learn

the names and order

of Henry VIII’s wives,

and the fates of

Anne Boleyn and

Catherine Howard

• Investigate the

changing appearance

of Henry VIII and his

favourite sport, the

tournament

• Find out about the

Pilgrimage of Grace

and other religious

dissent against the

King and what

happened to

dissenters.

• Visit the towers and

other locations

associated with Henry

VIII, his wives and

other important

characters from

his reign

• Look at portraits

of famous Tudor

prisoners

• Compare fictional or

humorous modern

descriptions of Tudor

prisoners at the Tower

with reality.

• Learn the names of

the six wives and put

them in sequence

• Recognise the names

and fates of other

famous prisoners of

the time

• Know about the

physical appearance of

Henry and how this

changed over time

• Know about one of

his favourite sports,

the tournament

• Understand the term

the Dissolution of the

Monasteries

• See ways in which

people protested

against the King and

what happened

to them.

The Tower of London showinglocations of connections toHenry VIII and his wives

• Henry VIII

• Anne Boleyn

• Catherine Howard

Scaffold site

• Henry VIII

• Anne Boleyn

• Catherine Howard

St Peter ad Vincula

• Henry VIII

• Elizabeth I

Bell Tower(not open to the public)

• Anne Boleyn

• Henry VIII

Byward Postern

• Anne Boleyn

Site of the Great Hall

• Henry VIII

Tower Green

• Henry VIII

Beauchamp Tower

8 KS2 Unit 7

9KS2 Unit 7

• Henry VIII

• Catherine of Aragon

• Catherine Parr

White Tower

• Anne Boleyn

Lanthorn Tower

• Anne Boleyn

• Henry VIII

Wardrobe Tower

• Anne Boleyn

Traitors’ Gate

1 0 KS2 Unit 7

Ravens’ Arch

If you enter through the Middle

Drawbridge, go straight ahead through the

Ravens’ Arch.This is the best location to give an

overview of the Tower as an ancient fortress and

royal residence. If your group comes in by the

Byward Tower, start with the section on The Bell

Tower (page 15) then go through the Ravens’ Arch.

FOR PUPILS: Can you see any evidence of other

buildings at the Tower which are no longer standing?

FOR TEACHERS: There are ruined buildings

between the Wakefield Tower and the White Tower, a

ruined wall section in front of the shop, traces of

other buildings on the wall of the Wakefield Tower, a

ruined tower (The Wardrobe Tower by the White

Tower).We know from such evidence that there were

once buildings here, the royal palace.The court stayed

here before the coronation of Anne Boleyn.The trial

of Anne Boleyn was held in the Great Hall that stood

in the area in front of the Medieval Palace shop.

The Tower of London

1 1KS2 Unit 7

Lanthorn Tower

The Queen’s apartments ran from here

up towards the White Tower.This is where

Anne Boleyn stayed before her coronation and also

before her trial and execution.

FOR PUPILS: How do you think Anne Boleyn felt

when she came here before her coronation? How do

you think she felt three years later before her trial?

What might other people have thought?

FOR TEACHERS: Anne and her family were very

pleased at the time of the coronation.This seems

not to have been shared by most people.Anne

remarked to Henry that she ‘saw a great many caps

on heads and saw but few tongues’ and a Spanish

merchant also confirmed that few people cried ‘God

save you’ as she processed to Westminster Abbey

from the Tower.Three years later,Anne pointed out ‘I

was received with greater ceremony the last time I

entered here’. She feared that she would be cast in a

dungeon (perhaps thinking of the fate of More and

Fisher) and asked her jailer ‘Shall I die without

justice?’ ‘The poorest subject if the King hath justice’,

he replied at which Anne laughed.

White Tower

As your group approaches the staircase,

notice the ruins of the Wardrobe Tower.

Much of the jewellery used at the coronations was

kept here.The actual crowns and coronation regalia

did not arrive at the Tower until 1661. By that time

all the Tudor Crown Jewels had been destroyed.

Only the Anointing Spoon, used for the holy oil,

survives to be seen in the Jewel House. It was used

at Henry VIII’s coronation and almost certainly at

Anne Boleyn’s too.

FOR PUPILS: Why did the King keep precious

jewels at the Tower?

FOR TEACHERS: It was and is a very secure

location. Compare this with its use for prisoners.

Go into the White Tower. Go upstairs to the model

of the Tower in 1547. Look at the layout of the

Tower at the end of Henry’s reign.This is a good

place to orientate your group. Show where they

came in and the White Tower, the royal palace

buildings, the water-filled moat which added an extra

line of defence, the Lion Tower where the King’s

Lion’s were kept.

FOR PUPILS: Which parts of the Tower of London

have stayed the same since Henry’s day?

Which have changed?

The White Tower

Henry VIII’s armour for man and

horse, made in 1520 when Henry

was aged 28 or 29.

1 2 KS2 Unit 7

The Royal Armoury

FOR TEACHERS: Follow the route

through to the next room where cases

hold King Henry VIII’s armour and weapons. Start by

the case with the armour for man and horse.

FOR PUPILS: What is this? What was it used for?

Who do you think wore it? Can you see any clues?

Look at the decoration. Do you think this was

expensive? Can you see the initials K and H? What do

you think they stand for?

FOR TEACHERS: The armour for man and horse

was made for King Henry VIII in 1520, probably for

use in the meeting with the French King Francis I at

the Field of Cloth of Gold, near Calais.This

diplomatic meeting included a tournament.The main

use of decorated armour like this was in

tournaments, but the king wore similar suits to war.

The decoration includes the Tudor Rose for the king.

The skirt, a steel imitation of the fabric skirts

knights usually wore over their armour, has the

initials H for Henry and K for

Katherine of Aragon.

Her pomegranate

badge is included in the

decoration.

A decorated suit of

armour for a man cost at

least £12. In 1520, most men

in England earned less than £6

a year.

FOR PUPILS: What does

this suit of armour tell you

about Henry VIII?

FOR TEACHERS: Henry was rich, he liked taking

part in tournaments, he was a knight, he trained to

go into battle and he loved Katherine of Aragon

when the suit was made. Physically he was very tall

(about 6’ 2”) and was well built but not fat. He had a

36” chest.The armour was made to measure so it

shows us exactly how big he was

in 1520.

FOR PUPILS: How old was king Henry in 1520

when he wore this armour?

FOR TEACHERS: He was born in 1491, so he was

28 or 29.

Beside the case is the lance used by Henry VIII’s

friend and brother-in-law, Charles Brandon, Duke of

Suffolk, who fought against Henry in tournaments.

Go over to the larger case. Look at the large suit of

armour facing the suit you have just been

looking at. It was made for Henry VIII in

1540. By this time he was married to

Catherine Howard, his fifth wife.

FOR PUPILS: How old was Henry

VIII in 1540? How had he changed?

FOR TEACHERS: Henry was 49

when this new armour was made. He

now had a 56” chest and similar

waist measurement. He no

longer took part in

tournaments.This armour

was probably only for show.

Perhaps he was trying to

appear young and fit.The

reality was he was older

with badly injured legs from

accidents in earlier

tournaments. He took less

exercise while still eating the

same amount of food - about

1 3KS2 Unit 7

5000 calories a day.At the end of 1540, he actually

went on a diet and course of exercise called ‘his new

rule of living’!

The other displays of the White Tower show arms

and weapons of Henry’s reign and later. Upstairs is a

portrait of Thomas Seymour, brother of Jane

Seymour.After Henry’s death Thomas married

Catherine Parr, Henry’s sixth wife. Princess Elizabeth

(the future Elizabeth I) lived with them.

Tower Green

The Church to the north of Tower

Green is the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad

Vincula, (St Peter in Chains). It was built by King

Henry VIII in 1519-20 and served as the church for

prisoners and their guards.Anne Boleyn and

Catherine Howard are buried inside. It is only

possible to visit the Chapel Royal as part of a

Yeoman Warder’s guided tour.

In front of the Chapel is the scaffold site.We do not

know exactly where the scaffolds, the wooden

platforms on which executions were carried out,

were set up in the Tower.The executions were near

the Chapel Royal, and this site has been traditionally

marked as where they took place.

FOR PUPILS: How many people were executed

here? How many were executed in King Henry’s reign?

What were their names? What was similar about

them? Are you surprised at the number? Why do you

think they were executed here?

FOR TEACHERS: Only very important women

were executed in the Tower under Henry.This was

mainly for reasons of privacy and security. Other

famous executions at the Tower in fact took place

outside on Tower Hill, where huge crowds

could watch.

FOR PUPILS: Why were they executed?

FOR TEACHERS: Execution was the standard

punishment for all serious crimes in Henry’s England.

You could be executed for stealing significant

amounts and for murder as well as for political and

religious crimes. Executions could only be carried

out legally, on people found guilty of breaking the

law.They were not killed just because the King did

not like them or for cruelty. Most victims, including

the queens, acknowledged their guilt and the King

was praised for his mercy in offering them a swift

death. On the other hand, the King saw to it that his

enemies were tried. He could pardon them if he did

not want them to die and he usually did not show

mercy in the manner of their executions.

The Queen’s House

Built by Henry in 1540 for the

Lieutenant, the officer in charge of the

Tower. It is not open to the public. Your group

may notice the difference between it and the

medieval White Tower.

The Beauchamp Tower(pronounced Beecham)

Go in and up the stairs.

FOR PUPILS: What do you think this tower

was used for? What evidence can you see?

The Queen’s House

1 4 KS2 Unit 7

FOR TEACHERS: Like all the towers, this was built

for defence in the Middle Ages. However, we know

for certain it was used for prisoners in Henry VIII’s

time. It would have been very difficult to escape.The

prisoners have carved their names and inscriptions

on the wall. Look around for their names. Most

inscriptions are from the reigns of Henry’s children

Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. Some date from

Henry’s time, including 6 from 1537, left by men

associated with the Pilgrimage of Grace for example

Inscription 61 was made by Adam of Sedborough,

Abbot of Jervaulx. He was executed at Tyburn.The

revolt was prompted by the Dissolution of the

Monasteries.The rebels captured Lord Latimer and

his young wife, the future Queen Catherine Parr.As

they advanced southwards, Queen Jane Seymour had

begged the King to restore the monasteries, saying

that ‘God has permitted this rebellion for the ruining

of so many churches’. Henry replied telling her to

attend to other things, reminding her that the last

Queen had died in consequence of meddling too

much in state affairs.

FOR PUPILS: What do you think it would have

been like to be imprisoned in this tower?

FOR TEACHERS: Point out that most prisoners

were less crowded, and had more comforts.

However, the darkness, damp and cold would have

been the general conditions in most of the old

towers.When Catherine Howard heard of the cold

conditions in which Margaret Pole was kept during

the winter, she sent her at her own expense a furred

night gown, a furred petticoat, four pairs of hose and

shoes, a pair of slippers and other clothes to keep

her warm.

Bloody Tower

Notice the ruins of the Cold Harbour

Gate. In 1534 Alice Tankerville was

imprisoned in the Tower, apparently in the Cold

Harbour Gate, for financial offences. She escaped

with the help of one of her guards, the only escapee

in Henry’s time.

FOR PUPILS: How would you try to escape

from the Tower?

Traitors’ GateFOR PUPILS: What is a traitor? Why

might they have come in through this gate?

What is on the other side of the gate? What is above

the gate?

FOR TEACHERS: The Water Gate led to a tunnel

under the wharf and then out to the Thames. It was

normal for the nobles to travel to the Tower by

boat. It was quicker and more convenient than

travelling through the narrow crowded streets of

London by horse or carriage. It was also a very

convenient way of bringing traitors, people who

plotted against the king, into prison.There was less

chance of them escaping or being rescued, and it

could be done unobtrusively, to stop crowds

forming.Although there was more than one river

entrance, popular tradition has always placed the

arrival of most of the famous prisoners of Henry’s

time at this gate.

Traitors’ Gate

Henry’s ancestor King Edward I built private rooms

above the gate.These can still be visited as ‘The

Medieval Palace’.At the time of Anne Boleyn’s

coronation, they were rebuilt as lodgings for

important officials and much of the woodwork dates

from that occasion.

Bell Tower(not open to the public)

According to

tradition Thomas More

and Bishop Fisher were

imprisoned in this

Tower, in separate cells.

From the top of the

Bell Tower, Sir Thomas

Wyatt was forced to

watch the execution of

Anne Boleyn’s brother and the

other men accused with her

on Tower Hill. He had been a

friend of the Queen and was

shown this a warning.

Mint Street(not open to the public)

Mint Street is named after the Royal Mint

which was housed there. It produced the gold and silver

coins used in Tudor England and the metal needed to

make them.

FOR PUPILS: Why were the coins made in the

Tower of London?

FOR TEACHERS: For security: it would be hard

to steal them.

Byward Postern

This was the gate by which the

monarchs entered the Tower.According to

tradition, it is where Anne Boleyn entered the Tower

before her coronation.

FOR PUPILS: Why did the kings and queens use

this side entrance?

FOR TEACHERS: Probably for convenience.

The main gates, with their large double doors,

drawbridges and portcullis might have been awkward

or time consuming to lower and raise. Monarchs

came to the Tower by boat, so it was easy to enter

by the gates leading to the Thames.

Lion Tower

This is where Henry’s collection of

exotic animals was kept.

1 5KS2 Unit 7

“The Terrific Combat between

the lion, tiger and tigress”

By c

ourt

esy

of t

he N

atio

nal P

ortra

it G

alle

ry,L

ondo

n

© T

he B

oard

of T

rust

ees

of t

he A

rmou

ries

Sir Thomas Moore,

after Hans Holbein

the Younger, 1527

Unless otherwise stated all pictures are Crown ©:Historic Royal Palaces