The first person to be imprisoned in the Tower of London was also the first person to escape from it.
When work started on what later became known as the Tower of London, probably in 1078, it was a serious part of the new Norman regime’s defences against the supposedly conquered English. William the Bastard’s chaplain later wrote of the need to secure the city “against the restlessness of the huge and brutal populace,” by which he meant yer actual Londoners.
The “tower” is actually a collection of buildings, of various dates, which over the centuries have had varied purposes: a mint for coins, a menagerie, a royal residence, a tourist attraction, an execution ground, an armoury and an archive. But it has also been, frequently, a place where the government could detain people who were too important or too posh for prison.
Ranulf Flambard wasn’t, despite the name, a children’s TV entertainer or a provincial ladies’ hairdresser; he was the Bishop of Durham and, more importantly, he ran William II’s government. Born around 1060 in Bayeux, Ranulf was of humble stock. Bright, ambitious, entirely ruthless, but good-looking, he rose through the ranks of the Norman occupation of England until, once William Rufus came to the throne in 1087, Ranulf was more or less the most powerful man in the country. He was certainly the most hated man in the country, being especially skilled at coming up with new and better ways of taxing the oppressed natives.
But he’d gambled when he backed Rufus, instead of any of his brothers, and what had for some years looked like a winning hand turned bad when, in 1100, Rufus died in one of history’s most debated hunting accidents. His brother Henry immediately seized the throne – and, of course, after a sudden regime change the lieutenants of the now discredited deceased are rarely invited to stay on. It can’t have hurt that by sacking Ranulf Flambard, the hurriedly crowned king Henry I would gain some credit with the English.
That’s how Ranulf ended up in the Tower of London, charged with simony and embezzlement. He wasn’t exactly chained to the wall and whipped, though; it was that peculiar type of elite imprisonment which permitted the prisoner to host banquets in his comfortable rooms. Still: a bit of a comedown from running the country, and Bishop Ranulf wasn’t going to stick it for long.
In the end, how secure a prison is depends on how corruptible or gullible its staff prove to be. Ranulf’s escape suggested that his jailers needed to be sent on a few more Ongoing Training & Competency courses.
The bishop had his friends send him a barrel of wine, which on 3rd February 1101 he generously shared with his guards. Once they had drunk themselves into insensibility, he fished out – from the bottom of the barrel, where his pals had placed it – a length of rope. Out of the window he went, and down the wall. His accomplices (including, in some accounts, his dear old ma) were waiting there to spirit him away to the continent. (At least, that’s the story as it’s been handed down to us. Another possibility is that the man in charge of the Tower owed Ranulf a favour, and simply let him out. I’m going with the abseiling version.)
In France, Ranulf attached himself to yet another of William I’s sons. Henry I’s brother, Robert Curthose, was actually William’s eldest boy and as such reckoned he should be King of England. The reason he wasn’t was because his father had thought him an idiot, but Robert didn’t agree.
Long story short: Robert invaded England, with Ranulf Flambard as one of his main men. The two kings, Robert and Henry, met in Hampshire, at Alton (I did have a joke about Alton Towers here, but it’s escaped). Each brother made a big speech about how he’d never give an inch to the other and how their claim to the throne was too sacred to compromise and then Henry offered Robert a pension for life if he’d agree to piss off and Robert said “Oh, go on, then.”
And that was that. Except for various wars they fought against each other later on, but that’s not our story. Ranulf, remarkably, was pardoned for all his various crimes (including the rope-in-the-barrel trick) and he spent his final years peacefully in Durham, overseeing major architectural works for which, at least, posterity thanks him. He died in 1128 and is buried in Durham Cathedral.
He had been the first recorded prisoner in the Tower of London, the first person to escape from the Tower of London and, incidentally, he was involved in building the Tower of London. If they don’t sell t-shirts at the Tower of London bearing his image and the caption “Mr Tower of London,” then I for one want my money back.
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Sources:
www.historytoday.com/archive/robert-normandy-invades-england
www.historytoday.com/archive/kings-tower-london
https://exploring-london.com/2020/03/09/a-moment-in-londons-history-the-escape-of-ranulf-flambard/
History Today July 2001
The English rebel by David Horspool (Viking, 2009)