Book
Traitors of the Tower
First published 2010
Written as an accessible short history, this book recounts the cases of seven prominent prisoners executed at or near the Tower of London. Their stories include fallen favourites, queens and Lady Jane Grey, each caught in a different crisis of succession, marriage or treason. The concise accounts explain why royal status offered no protection when a monarch or government decided that a life had become politically dangerous.
The seven cases also show how the meaning of treason changed according to the ruler and the crisis. Charges could emerge from dynastic rivalry, religious conflict, failed marriage or factional politics, and legal process often followed decisions already made at court. By placing the prisoners side by side, the book turns the Tower into a lens on the insecurity of power in Tudor and early Stuart England.
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