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The Tower of London
ON the 10th of July, 1553, about two hours after noon, a loud discharge of ordnance burst from the turrets of Durham House, then the residence of the Duke of Northumberland, grand-master of the realm, and occupying the site of the modern range of buildings, known as the Adelphi; and, at the signal, which was immediately answered from every point along the river where a bombard or culverin could be planted, -from the adjoining hospital of the Savoy, -the old palace of Bridewell, recently converted by Edward VI., at the instance of Ridley, bishop of London, into a house of correction, -Baynard's Castle, the habitation of the Earl of Pembroke, -the gates of London-bridge, -and, lastly, from the batteries of the Tower, -a gallant train issued from the southern gateway of the stately mansion abovenamed, and descended the stairs leading to the water's edge, where, appointed for their reception, was drawn up a squadron of fifty superbly-gilt barges, -some decorated with banners and streamers, -some with cloth-of-gold and arras, embroidered with the devices of the civic companies, -others with innumerable silken pennons to which were attached small silver bells, "making a goodly noise and a goodly sight as they waved in the wind,"-while others, reserved for the more important personages of the ceremony, were covered at the sides with shields gorgeously emblazoned with the armorial bearings of the different noblemen and honourable persons composing the privy council, amid which the cognizance of the Duke of Northumberland, -a lion rampant, or, double quevee, vert, -appeared proudly con
492 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1840
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190 people want to read
About the author
William Harrison Ainsworth
597 books50 followersWilliam Harrison Ainsworth was educated at Manchester Grammar School and later articled to a solicitor, deserting this profession for literature.
Among his best known novels are The Tower of London (1840), Old St. Paul's (1841), Windsor Castle (1843) and The Lancashire Witches (1848).
Among his best known novels are The Tower of London (1840), Old St. Paul's (1841), Windsor Castle (1843) and The Lancashire Witches (1848).
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 11, 2018
From the author's preface:
"It has been, for years, the cherished wish of the writer of the following pages, to make the Tower of London—the proudest monument of antiquity, considered with reference to its historical associations, which this country or any other possesses,—the groundwork of a Romance; and it was no slight satisfaction to him, that circumstances, at length, enabled him to carry into effect his favourite project, in conjunction with the inimitable Artist, whose designs accompany the work.
Desirous of exhibiting the Tower in its triple light of a palace, a prison, and a fortress, the Author has shaped his story with reference to that end; and he has also endeavoured to contrive such a series of incidents as should naturally introduce every relic of the old pile,—its towers, chapels, halls, chambers, gateways, arches, and drawbridges—so that no part of it should remain un-illustrated."
I would say that with the story of Lady Jane Grey, known forever after as the Nine-Days Queen, Ainsworth met his goal. The 17 chapters of Book One follow Jane from arrival in London to being named de facto Queen, to the arrival of Mary Tudor and her supporters. Lady Jane was basically abandoned to her fate at that time, but the 42 chapters of Book Two, which cover the months until execution day, give us plenty of opportunity to see all the towers, dungeons, secret passages and so on that Ainsworth so delighted in. There is an evil jailer to deal with, the torture chamber to visit more than once, a side romance or two between various minor (and surely made-up) characters.
Knowing that the major episodes here actually happened kept my interest, but I had some problems with the rest of the story, especially (believe it or not) the information given about the Tower. I wish Ainsworth had written either a non-fiction history of the building or else a completely fiction romance. He was constantly having characters enter such and such a room which is now called so and so and has seen much history since the days of our story, including this, that and the other. That type of thing gets old and disrupts the flow of the Romance.
Then there were the three giants, guards in the Tower: all brothers, all huge and all supposedly illegitimate sons of Henry the 8th. The cutesy verbal fencing between them and both Mary and Elizabeth Tudor was a bit too much even for a Romance.
Also a bit much were those incredible dinners the author described. Down in the cellars where the leavings of the royal table were sent. That is where the three giants and the unfortunate dwarf Xit and a few friends took their meals. These scenes were supposed to act as comic relief, I suppose, but they seemed to be more just chances to humiliate Xit. He was always getting dumped into the pies, or teased into a temper tantrum, or coaxed into becoming drunk. I will admit that the dishes described sounded amazing, but the device itself became predictable quickly.
Ainsworth also had the annoying habit of leaving one chapter to begin the next with people you hadn't read about in quite a few chapters. There was very much a "meanwhile, back at the ranch" feel to the entire book. Since this was originally published in serial form, that style probably kept readers coming back each week or however often to see what happened. But for reading the book all in one go, it felt too clunky.
So, even though I enjoyed parts of the book to a degree, I was fairly unhappy with it overall and do not plan to add any other Ainsworth titles to my lists.
"It has been, for years, the cherished wish of the writer of the following pages, to make the Tower of London—the proudest monument of antiquity, considered with reference to its historical associations, which this country or any other possesses,—the groundwork of a Romance; and it was no slight satisfaction to him, that circumstances, at length, enabled him to carry into effect his favourite project, in conjunction with the inimitable Artist, whose designs accompany the work.
Desirous of exhibiting the Tower in its triple light of a palace, a prison, and a fortress, the Author has shaped his story with reference to that end; and he has also endeavoured to contrive such a series of incidents as should naturally introduce every relic of the old pile,—its towers, chapels, halls, chambers, gateways, arches, and drawbridges—so that no part of it should remain un-illustrated."
I would say that with the story of Lady Jane Grey, known forever after as the Nine-Days Queen, Ainsworth met his goal. The 17 chapters of Book One follow Jane from arrival in London to being named de facto Queen, to the arrival of Mary Tudor and her supporters. Lady Jane was basically abandoned to her fate at that time, but the 42 chapters of Book Two, which cover the months until execution day, give us plenty of opportunity to see all the towers, dungeons, secret passages and so on that Ainsworth so delighted in. There is an evil jailer to deal with, the torture chamber to visit more than once, a side romance or two between various minor (and surely made-up) characters.
Knowing that the major episodes here actually happened kept my interest, but I had some problems with the rest of the story, especially (believe it or not) the information given about the Tower. I wish Ainsworth had written either a non-fiction history of the building or else a completely fiction romance. He was constantly having characters enter such and such a room which is now called so and so and has seen much history since the days of our story, including this, that and the other. That type of thing gets old and disrupts the flow of the Romance.
Then there were the three giants, guards in the Tower: all brothers, all huge and all supposedly illegitimate sons of Henry the 8th. The cutesy verbal fencing between them and both Mary and Elizabeth Tudor was a bit too much even for a Romance.
Also a bit much were those incredible dinners the author described. Down in the cellars where the leavings of the royal table were sent. That is where the three giants and the unfortunate dwarf Xit and a few friends took their meals. These scenes were supposed to act as comic relief, I suppose, but they seemed to be more just chances to humiliate Xit. He was always getting dumped into the pies, or teased into a temper tantrum, or coaxed into becoming drunk. I will admit that the dishes described sounded amazing, but the device itself became predictable quickly.
Ainsworth also had the annoying habit of leaving one chapter to begin the next with people you hadn't read about in quite a few chapters. There was very much a "meanwhile, back at the ranch" feel to the entire book. Since this was originally published in serial form, that style probably kept readers coming back each week or however often to see what happened. But for reading the book all in one go, it felt too clunky.
So, even though I enjoyed parts of the book to a degree, I was fairly unhappy with it overall and do not plan to add any other Ainsworth titles to my lists.
May 21, 2015
The author's characters often spoke in complex compound sentences, sounding like legal briefs from lawyers rather than spontaneous dialog. And the detailed setting descriptions -- of tower after tower at The Tower -- would have been easier to follow with an accompanying floor plan. But the tale is informative of the intrigue of the Crown, the Inquisition, and not a little on the tortures of the day. At one point I broke out in a clammy sweat reading of one victim's time on The Rack (and we think waterboarding is torture!). I got an extra delight reading a work that is 150 years old and still entertaining today.
October 13, 2018
This book was very dense linguistically, but a rich read overall. All characters were explored in complex detail, and even Bloody Mary was portrayed as a "mixed bag". The reader's sympathies are all with Lady Jane Grey by the end though. It seems painfully cruel that such an innocent seventeen-year-old died by beheading. Certainly a deeper look into this period of England's history.
May 30, 2010
[These notes were made in 1986. I read a 19th-century edition with George Cruikshank's illustrations:]. George Cruikshank's illustrations - and there is an extraordinary number of them - play a very large part in this novel, tho' a somewhat disorienting one, rather like Ainsworth's text itself. For the plates have to do with the 16th-century 'story,' both the historical one of the rise and fall of Lady Jane Grey, and the fictional ones of Cholmondely/Cicely and the downstairs people; the wood engravings, on the other hand, carefully depict the appropriate parts of the Tower "now" (i.e. 1840). Ainsworth's fondness for each part of the Tower is so great, and his delight in its detail so patent, that it's amazing he manages to integrate his plots and his descriptions as well as he does. In Lady Jane, of course, he has prime dramatic material, and he manages to make Guilford Dudley and Northumberland quite good foils to her. Mary, Elizabeth, Courtenay and Renard the Spanish Ambassador are all also quite well drawn. Next to these people, the obligatory romance hero and heroine, despite their involvement with such Gothic necessities as labyrinthine tunnels, a mad mother, and hidden aristocratic identity, are vapid creatures indeed. Or possibly because of it - Ainsworth, perhaps deliberately, mocks the identity-revealed plot by echoing it on a ludicrous level with his 3 giants - bastard sons of Henry VIII - and dwarf-foundling son of a minor French functionary. (In the constant ludicrous treatment of the dwarf Xit, Ainsworth's sense of humour and mine part company). The two kinds of inevitability - historical and romance - are not particularly in conflict here, but perhaps that is because the real star of the novel is the Tower itself; the real climax of the novel when it is besieged by, and repulses, Wyat's rebellion.
December 6, 2022
The Tower of London, published in 1840, is a medieval romance historical fiction novel set in 1553, and virtually all action takes place at the castle in the title. It is written in the high ornate style of the time, very similar to the tone and style of Sir Walter Scott, and it compares favorably with his writing. I liked it. It's very entertaining, full of lots of surprises, and informative. A great deal of it is fiction (I mean, there are ghosts), but there's a lot of concrete factual information found here, too, and it was an education.
From the title, it is clear that Ainsworth is partly telling the story of a place. In the same way that Hugo, in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, incorporated direct instruction into the layout of Paris and especially the famous cathedral, Ainsworth takes pains to instruct the reader in the various towers, throne rooms, dungeons, and other buildings on the site of the Tower of London. In fact, it becomes obvious that some of the action is included just so that he has an excuse to lead us to another interesting chamber. He literally stops telling the story to describe the construction and history of each location, directly addressing the reader. It is less distracting than it sounds; I found it mostly quaint.
His second purpose in the novel is to give us the story of Lady Jane Grey. The story begins with her arrival at the Tower as a new queen and follows her and those around her to the day of her death on the scaffold. (Sorry--spoiler.) The author is a gifted historian but also a gifted storyteller, and he supplies the reader with a lot of speculation, private conversation, intrigue, and invention to fill in the blank parts of the record. In addition to the main story of plotters and ambassadors and soldiers, he tells the story of many lesser characters in the castle, including their drinking and feasting and fighting and laughing. His favorites are three giants (supposedly bastards of Henry the VII) and a little person named Xit who is combative and proud, all of whom the author had enormous affection for. (Xit is like a smaller and even more foolish Falstaff who is more fortunate in his friends than the doomed Shakespeare character and lands on his feet after making a fool of himself, eventually receiving a knighthood.) The feasts are described in probably too much detail, but you know how they love their food in tales of the time.
Lady Jane Grey is made sympathetic, and even though you know perfectly well what's gonna happen to her, it's hard not to hope something will intervene. Queen Mary comes off as, well, bloody and vindictive, though not completely, and Elizabeth is treated as kinda complicit and kinda manipulated--but lucky. The men around these women are all ambitious and don't have enough sense to quit destroying themselves and everyone who loves them. Now, that sounds horrible, but the mix of melodrama and comedy and, here and there, gothic romance keeps the story from being too much of any one thing. Some folks won't like that; I did.
Again, those who liked anything by Hugo or Dumas or Scott are likely to find the writing of Ainsworth--language, plotting, characters, themes--similar enough to see a lot to like in this or another of his novels. Anyway, I did.
Recommended.
From the title, it is clear that Ainsworth is partly telling the story of a place. In the same way that Hugo, in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, incorporated direct instruction into the layout of Paris and especially the famous cathedral, Ainsworth takes pains to instruct the reader in the various towers, throne rooms, dungeons, and other buildings on the site of the Tower of London. In fact, it becomes obvious that some of the action is included just so that he has an excuse to lead us to another interesting chamber. He literally stops telling the story to describe the construction and history of each location, directly addressing the reader. It is less distracting than it sounds; I found it mostly quaint.
His second purpose in the novel is to give us the story of Lady Jane Grey. The story begins with her arrival at the Tower as a new queen and follows her and those around her to the day of her death on the scaffold. (Sorry--spoiler.) The author is a gifted historian but also a gifted storyteller, and he supplies the reader with a lot of speculation, private conversation, intrigue, and invention to fill in the blank parts of the record. In addition to the main story of plotters and ambassadors and soldiers, he tells the story of many lesser characters in the castle, including their drinking and feasting and fighting and laughing. His favorites are three giants (supposedly bastards of Henry the VII) and a little person named Xit who is combative and proud, all of whom the author had enormous affection for. (Xit is like a smaller and even more foolish Falstaff who is more fortunate in his friends than the doomed Shakespeare character and lands on his feet after making a fool of himself, eventually receiving a knighthood.) The feasts are described in probably too much detail, but you know how they love their food in tales of the time.
Lady Jane Grey is made sympathetic, and even though you know perfectly well what's gonna happen to her, it's hard not to hope something will intervene. Queen Mary comes off as, well, bloody and vindictive, though not completely, and Elizabeth is treated as kinda complicit and kinda manipulated--but lucky. The men around these women are all ambitious and don't have enough sense to quit destroying themselves and everyone who loves them. Now, that sounds horrible, but the mix of melodrama and comedy and, here and there, gothic romance keeps the story from being too much of any one thing. Some folks won't like that; I did.
Again, those who liked anything by Hugo or Dumas or Scott are likely to find the writing of Ainsworth--language, plotting, characters, themes--similar enough to see a lot to like in this or another of his novels. Anyway, I did.
Recommended.
August 28, 2018
I read the Kindle version. It was full of typographical errors, on almost every page and sometimes several on a page. So many that I tired of commenting on them and correcting them. As was previously noted, sometimes the characters spoke in terribly complex sentences, which i doubt even royalty spoke. For all the misspellings it was sometimes difficult to read. The extrememly detailed descriptions were also rather tedious and unnecessary.
With the above being said , I enjoyed the book and feel it was historically accurate but for some characters I had never heard of. Perhaps they existed, perhaps they were a product of the author's imagination, after all, it is a historical novel, a piece of semi-fiction.
I would truly like to read a "corrected" version of the book, perhaps condensed somewhat.
In short, I loved the book, despite its many, many technical shortcomings.
With the above being said , I enjoyed the book and feel it was historically accurate but for some characters I had never heard of. Perhaps they existed, perhaps they were a product of the author's imagination, after all, it is a historical novel, a piece of semi-fiction.
I would truly like to read a "corrected" version of the book, perhaps condensed somewhat.
In short, I loved the book, despite its many, many technical shortcomings.
August 25, 2023
A somewhat interesting though at times dreary read as seen through the eyes of a writer that grew up in a time when novels had to be romanticised. There were however some good references to what could very well have happened to someone undergoing specialised questioning.
I don't think I will be reading the author's other works.
I don't think I will be reading the author's other works.
October 5, 2024
First time in a long time I’ve given up (after book 1) on completing reading something. The subject of the story is interesting but the writing really failed to compel me.
April 18, 2025
I just couldn't get into the romance, I love historical fiction but sometimes the history seemed to distract from the story Ainsworth was trying to tell.
December 12, 2014
"The Tower of London" is an interesting, easy read, but definitely not the greatest achievement of storytelling. Ainsworth wrote the novel as a serial and a labor of love about the Tower. He succeeds in exploring some of the values and ways of life of 1500s England, but fails to create likeable characters or an intriguing plot. In part to stay to some semblance of historical accuracy, the characters of nobility in the book are very poorly defined and explored. More liberty is taken with the lower class characters, and thus they are more interesting. Overall, however, the book is longer than it needs to be (probably because he was paid by the word) and is mostly to be appreciated for the window into the past it offers.
The story revolves around the brief reign and ultimate beheading of Lady Jane Grey (Dudley). Ainsworth refuses to paint Jane in any sort of negative light, perhaps contrary to historical fact, and instead treats her as one simply manipulated by those closest to her. The religious overtones of the book are fantastically interesting as they explore a time very different from our own in terms of the importance of different sects of Christianity and the zeal with which different characters fought for their beliefs. Yet they also paint Jane as a martyr, perhaps too sympathetically.
The bulk of the interesting part of the plot revolves around a tragic pair of lovers from the lower class. Subjected to a litany of trouble and finally absolved through the beneficence of the queen and an unlikely turn of events, they present the most interesting of several storylines in the book. Yet none of the storytelling approaches the skill of contemporary, better known authors of the time. While worth a read for those interested in history of the period following Henry the Eighth, the book is definitely not something to be read by all.
The story revolves around the brief reign and ultimate beheading of Lady Jane Grey (Dudley). Ainsworth refuses to paint Jane in any sort of negative light, perhaps contrary to historical fact, and instead treats her as one simply manipulated by those closest to her. The religious overtones of the book are fantastically interesting as they explore a time very different from our own in terms of the importance of different sects of Christianity and the zeal with which different characters fought for their beliefs. Yet they also paint Jane as a martyr, perhaps too sympathetically.
The bulk of the interesting part of the plot revolves around a tragic pair of lovers from the lower class. Subjected to a litany of trouble and finally absolved through the beneficence of the queen and an unlikely turn of events, they present the most interesting of several storylines in the book. Yet none of the storytelling approaches the skill of contemporary, better known authors of the time. While worth a read for those interested in history of the period following Henry the Eighth, the book is definitely not something to be read by all.
June 28, 2016
Originally published in 1840, The Tower of London is a novel set against a background of unrest and insurrection following changes to the monarchy in 1553-1554. Ainsworth's writing style means that the story pauses often so that any moments of pomp and ceremony can be described in sumptuous and repetitive detail, whilst longer pauses occur occasionally so that an almost travelog description of the surrounding area can take place, as well as very long sequences where the story stops dead while a history lecture is delivered. To be fair, Ainsworth does not do these things to quite the same extremes as in later novels, but it is noticeable. The story, set against so many events and with a number of threads, tends to be episodic but I think that this works in its favour in creating a lot more focus and momentum than that which it would have had otherwise given the aforementioned built in pauses. I was surprised by the sometimes graphic nature of the descriptions of torture given at times, yet it fits the setting and circumstances so well. Ainsworth also manages to inject some very good humour into the story alongside that various grim events, and it all hangs together very well.
February 24, 2010
This was the condensed version and it was interesting. The writing was not particularly stellar (seemed like it was written in haste or by a young person) but the story was fun. If you like castle intrigue and murder and torture, this is a good one for a quick read.
Boy meets girl, they fall in love but are parted by jealous suitor of girl. Boy gets thrown in dungeon, escapes, thwarts plan to kill the much hated new queen, gets re-arrested, escapes several more times, gets tortured, finally marries girl after suitor in his dying moments pardons him and gives girl family papers that restore her family lands and fortune. New queen is ultimately beheaded.
Fast read because it was a bit condensed but it was still good.
Boy meets girl, they fall in love but are parted by jealous suitor of girl. Boy gets thrown in dungeon, escapes, thwarts plan to kill the much hated new queen, gets re-arrested, escapes several more times, gets tortured, finally marries girl after suitor in his dying moments pardons him and gives girl family papers that restore her family lands and fortune. New queen is ultimately beheaded.
Fast read because it was a bit condensed but it was still good.
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