• Sir
William de la Pole. A nephew of
Edward IV and thus potential Yorkist claimant to the throne, he was incarcerated at the Tower for 37 years (1502–1539) for allegedly plotting against Henry VII, thus becoming the longest-held prisoner. • Alice Tankerville (also Tankerfelde). The only woman who escaped the Tower of London on March 23, 1534. She was recaptured and executed for piracy by hanging in chains at the Execution Dock in Wapping. •
Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, a powerful Irish lord; held in the Tower in 1526 and again in 1530, and again in 1534; he was executed in 1534 when his son
"Silken Thomas" rebelled against the crown. •
Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare ("Silken Thomas"), held in the Tower from 1535 with five of his uncles until their executions in 1537. •
John Frith, a contemporary of
William Tyndale, was imprisoned for 8 months before being tried for heresy and burnt at the stake in Smithfield on 4 July 1533, he is considered to be the first Protestant martyr. • Saint
John Fisher was executed on Tower Hill on 22 June 1535.
Thomas Cranmer's consecration as
Archbishop of Canterbury had taken place in March 1533, and, a week later, John Fisher was arrested. • Saint
Thomas More was imprisoned on 17 April 1534 for treason. He was executed on 6 July 1535 and his body was buried at the Tower of London. • Blessed
Thomas Abel, chaplain to Queen
Catherine of Aragon, was imprisoned for refusing to accept the annulment of her marriage to Henry VIII. He was put to death in Smithfield on 30 July 1540. •
Anne Boleyn, second wife of
Henry VIII of England, was imprisoned on 2 May 1536 on charges of High Treason: adultery, incest, and witchcraft. She remained a prisoner until 19 May 1536 when she was beheaded by a French swordsman on Tower Green. • In 1539,
Hugh Latimer opposed Henry VIII's
Six Articles, with the result that he was imprisoned in the Tower of London (where he was again in 1546). •
Adam Sedbar, Abbot of Jervaulx, imprisoned in 1537 for taking part in the
Pilgrimage of Grace, before being hanged, drawn and quartered. • Blessed
Richard Whiting Abbott of
Glastonbury Abbey was imprisoned in 1539 for a short time before being returned to Glastonbury to be hanged, drawn and quartered. • Blessed
Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury was imprisoned from 1539 until her beheading in 1541 for treason. •
Thomas Cromwell was imprisoned by Henry VIII in 1540 before his execution. •
Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, was imprisoned in 1542 before her execution. •
Lady Rochford, sister in law to queen
Anne Boleyn, held there before her execution with
Catherine Howard. •
Anne Askew, Protestant reformer, was imprisoned and tortured for heresy in 1546 before being burnt at the stake. •
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was imprisoned in the Tower and set to be executed at the time of Henry VIII's death in 1547. Edward VI granted him as a reprieve, but he remained in the Tower until pardoned by
Mary I in 1553. •
Brian O'Connor Faly,
Baron Offaly, was imprisoned in the
Marshalsea in 1548 before being moved to the Tower. He escaped in late 1551/early 1552, but was recaptured near the border of Scotland and England. •
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, and his steward
Sir John Thynne. Although Somerset was released from the Tower and restored to the Council, he was executed for felony in January 1552 after scheming to overthrow John Dudley, Earl of Warwick's regime. •
Thomas Cranmer,
Archbishop of Canterbury, was imprisoned in 1553 before being sent to Oxford in 1554 to be burnt at the stake for heresy. •
Lady Jane Grey, uncrowned
Queen of England and her husband
Guilford Dudley were imprisoned in the tower from 1553 until 12 February 1554, when they were beheaded by order of Queen
Mary I. • In the reign of Edward VI
Stephen Gardiner was imprisoned in the Tower (1548 – 1553) for his failure to conform. Upon Mary's accession to the throne he was restored to his see and made Lord Chancellor. • The future
Queen Elizabeth I was imprisoned for two months in 1554 for her alleged involvement in
Wyatt's Rebellion. • In August 1561
Katherine Grey was imprisoned after her secret marriage to
Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford was revealed. She remained there until November 1564 where she was put under house arrest under
William Petre. • In 1566
Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox was sent to the
Tower, and was released after the murder of
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley in 1567. •
Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton was imprisoned from October 1571 to May 1573 for his part in the
Ridolfi plot to assassinate Elizabeth I and replace her on the English throne with
Mary, Queen of Scots. •
Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, for involvement in several pro-Catholic and Marian plots, from November 1571 to after June 1573, a few weeks in late 1582, and from December 1584 to June 21, 1585, when he was found shot to death in his cell; brought in as a suicide. •
Francis Throckmorton, imprisoned in November 1583 as a conspirator to rescue
Mary, Queen of Scots. • Saint
Henry Walpole was imprisoned in 1593. While incarcerated in the Salt Tower, he carved his name in the plaster along with those of saints Peter, Paul, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, and Gregory the Great. He was put to death in York on 7 April 1595. • Saint
Philip Howard was committed to the Tower of London on 25 April 1585. He died alone on Sunday, 19 October 1595. •
Robert Poley, spy and messenger for the court of
Queen Elizabeth I, was imprisoned on the charge of treason. He used his time in the Tower to gather information on his fellow prisoners. He was released a year and a half later. • Queen Elizabeth imprisoned
Anne Vavasour along with
Edward de Vere and their illegitimate son, from March to June 1581. •
John Gerard, an English
Jesuit priest operating undercover during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, when Catholics were being persecuted. He was captured in 1594 and tortured and incarcerated in the Salt Tower before making a daring escape by rope across the moat in 1597. •
Valentine Thomas, imprisoned in 1598 after confessing a plot to assassinate Elizabeth I. •
William Wright, another Jesuit priest who was arrested in the aftermath of
The Gunpowder Plot. ==17th century==