http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/04/09/stinwenws01043.html April 9 2000 BRITAIN Richard Brooks Arts Editor EXCAVATION work beneath the ramparts of the Tower of London has revealed new evidence of a medieval menagerie which held an extraordinary array of animals. A dig under the Lion Tower and new research in royal, cathedral and university archives have produced proof that 100 different species were once housed within the walls of the palace. Bones of rhinoceroses, antelopes and tigers have been discovered, as well as the skins of snakes and alligators. The remains of ostriches, brought by sailing ship from Africa, have also been found. The huge flightless birds died after they were fed nails because their keeper thought that iron was good for them. One was found with 90 nails in its throat. The menagerie was founded during the Crusades in the reign of King John (1199-1216), and was closed in 1835 when London Zoo opened in Regent's Park. Never bigger than the size of a "largish suburban garden", according to researchers, the Tower zoo stood beneath what is now the West Tower, near the Thames. "Most of the early animals came through kings and some queens of Europe exchanging gifts," said Rory Browne, professor of history at Harvard University and the author of several books on menageries. "The king of Norway sent his polar bear to Henry III in about 1250 and the elephant, a year or so later, was from a French monarch, who in turn had taken it from the Middle East." The elephant walked from Kent to the capital, but died after it was plied with wine to keep out the cold. The polar bear fared better, swimming and living off fish in the Thames. A zebra also made its way to the Tower and was regularly ridden by a young boy as it paraded around a tiny yard. "Sometimes animals had been captured in wars," said Browne. "Captive lions, in particular, really appealed to kings. After all, the king himself was the arch beast." Hence Henry III, during whose reign the Tower zoo was substantially built up, had three lions on his coat of arms. It is an emblem that has lived on, decorating flags and even the shirts of England football players. Some lions became closely linked with the lives of their owners. A lion which Queen Elizabeth I named after herself died within days of the monarch's own death. Baiting of the animals was commonplace. James I and Henry III took the most sadistic interest in "their zoo", clearly loving to goad or kill animals. Salt and pepper were put into the wounds of injured bulls to increase their pain, while elephants were fed broken bottles. Commoners joined in the baiting - visitors who took their cat or dog to the zoo and fed it to the lions did not have to pay the entry fee. Geoffrey Parnell, the Tower's chief archivist, said: "It was clearly London's longest-running show, which entertained both royalty and commoners for centuries." The first known Tower keeper was William de Botton, who ran the zoo from 1243. In its early years the menagerie's keeper was a nobleman, reflecting its importance to the monarchy. In the 15th century men as eminent as the 13th Earl of Oxford and Sir Robert Brakenbury served as keepers. But by the 16th and 17th centuries the zoo's management had been taken over by different generations of the Gill family from Essex. The menagerie was important in Europe because of its uninterrupted longevity. Other zoos were set up by kings in France, but tended not to last because of the more unstable state of the country. At the Tower, itself a symbol of English royalty, the zoo was maintained largely because of the great interest of successive monarchs. Only Oliver Cromwell tried to close it. He failed, but did manage to stop some of the particularly excessive baiting. Not until the early 19th century did people begin to question cruelty to animals. Dr Hilda Keene of Ruskin College, Oxford, the author of several papers on animal cruelty, said: "Up to then many people took a perverse delight in simply being cruel to them. Until a couple of hundred years ago there was also no notion of an animal possibly having a soul." John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, used to go to the Tower zoo to play his flute to the lions to see whether they had souls. With the abolition of slavery, a debate began about the treatment of animals. In 1822 the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was set up and shortly afterwards, spurred by the realisation that the creatures needed more space, the Tower zoo closed. Its animals were sent to London Zoo or shipped to America. Although experts had been aware of the existence of the zoo, the excavations, partly financed by BBC2's Timewatch programme, have revealed extraordinary details of the historic animal residents of one of England's most famous institutions. -- ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ________________________________________________________ 1stUp.com - Free the Web® Get your free Internet access at http://www.1stUp.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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