Myth-Making, Imprisonment and the Cultural Identity of the Tower of London
About the (Hi)stories of Violence Project
This project, funded by the University of Oxford’s John Fell Fund, explores how the Tower of London has been conceptualized in the cultural imagination from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Even though the Tower was a site of torture for only a small portion of its history, it has come to be associated with oppression and state violence.
This project explores the gulf between fact and fiction, and this strand of research offers rich yet untapped potential for investigating the reception and perception of violence, as well as complicating narratives told in scholarship and to visitors today.
Building on a successful TORCH Knowledge Exchange Fellowship between the University of Oxford, Historic Royal Palaces, and the Royal Armouries, ‘(Hi)stories of Violence’ focuses on the cultural identity of the Tower, and, in particular, the ways in which representations of the Tower (including in histories, literature, art, plays, and film) have shaped the way it is and has been understood by past and present visitors.
The project’s place-based approach has the potential to amend how we understand, conceptualize, and communicate (hi)stories of violence to academic and public audiences, and will inform onsite interpretation and live programming.
Image: The Bloody Tower, looking north-east towards a latticed window. © Historic Royal Palaces
Image: A postcard showing a group of visitors in the sub-crypt of the White Tower below the Chapel of St John the Evangelist. © Historic Royal Palaces
Research questions
The project addresses the following key research questions:
- What evidence exists for accounts of violence relating to the Tower?
- Why and for whom were fictional or exaggerated accounts generated, and how have they, in turn, shaped popular perceptions of the site?
- Where do the lines between illicit and licit violence lie? Are definitions of violence consistent across time?
- Can we talk of a unified history of violence in relation to the Tower?
- (How) can the lens of violence enable us to write a more inclusive history of the Tower?
Outputs and findings
Presentations
Jenkinson, C., ‘The Tower of London as Torture Site and Tourist Attraction’, Oxford Early Modern Britain Seminar, 31 October 2024.
Jenkinson, C., ‘Torture and Imprisonment at the Tower of London’, The Keys, Tower of London, 1 November 2024.
Jenkinson, C., panelist, ‘Heritage at Oxford: From our own Correspondents’, Oxford Heritage Pathways workshop, 5 November 2024.
Research team
Principal Investigator: Dr Hannah Skoda (University of Oxford)
Research Co-Investigator: Dr Catherine Jenkinson (University of Oxford)
Research Co-Investigator: Professor Steven Gunn (University of Oxford)
Project Partners: Dr Alden Gregory (HRP), Dr Malcolm Mercer (Royal Armouries), Emma Mawdsley (Royal Armouries)
Supported by Research Team at Historic Royal Palaces (Dr Laura Tompkins and Dr Jemima Hubberstey) and the Oxford Humanities Heritage Partnerships Team (Dr Rachel Delman)
Funding
This project is funded by the John Fell Fund, University of Oxford.
The Knowledge Exchange Fellowship was funded by the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH), University of Oxford.
