Ravens of the Tower of London
[7] Local legend puts the origin of the captive raven population at the time of King Charles II (reigned 1660–1685).
[1][8] The earliest legend that connects the Tower with a raven is the euhemerised Welsh tale of the war against the Irish leader Matholwch who had mistreated the princess Branwen.
Branwen's brother Brân the Blessed (King of the Britons) ordered his followers to cut off his head and bury it beneath The White Hill (upon which the Tower now stands) facing out towards France as a talisman to protect Britain from foreign invasion.
The knowledge that Brân's head was buried beneath the White Hill would have served as protective reassurance in the Celtic tradition, just as modern ideas about the presence of ravens does.
[9] Among the ancient Romans the raven was a good omen or auspice in battles and there was a whole art of divination performed by priests called augurs.
See for example one of the versions of the legend of "Corvo de Corvis" for Roccascalegna (Abruzzo, Italy), where the descendants would have venerated ravens at least until the 17th century.
[17][18][19][full citation needed] The raven indicates the victory and prosperity of the civilization brought by the Romans to Great Britain, linked to who governs, the monarchy.
Another proof of the cultural stratification that remained in this regard over the centuries is that ravens and belonging to a family with the cognomen Corvus or Corvinus (Corvo or Corvino in Italian) was an indication of high prestige and excellent Roman descent, as well as divine benevolence, so much so that King Matthias Hunyadi (1443–1490) of Hungary was nicknamed Corvinus both by his court historian Antonio Bonfini and by bishop Pietro Ranzano.
In ancient times, order was symbolized by the god Apollo in antithesis with the disorder of Dionysus,[29] who is also the patron deity of ravens, to whom prophetic powers were attributed.
[30][31][verification needed][32] Sir George John Younghusband wrote that at the execution of Anne Boleyn in 1536, "Even the ravens of the Tower sat silent and immovable on the battlements and gazed eerily at the strange scene.
"[34] According to American author Boria Sax, the ravens of the Tower behaved much worse during the execution of Lady Jane Grey: in 1554, "pecking the eyes from the severed head" of the queen.
[36] According to one legend, John Flamsteed complained to Charles II that wild ravens were flying past his telescope and making it harder for him to observe the sky from his observatory in the White Tower.
[38] Ravens are native to Britain (and most other parts of the Northern Hemisphere), although in recent times breeding populations are mostly restricted to the wilder western upland areas of the British Isles.
However, in later years wild ravens were viewed as a threat to livestock, and during the 19th century they were eliminated in many areas by systematic hunting and shooting.
One is in a special edition of the newspaper The Pictorial World and the other is from the children's Book London Town,[42] written by Felix Leigh and illustrated by Thomas Crane and Elizabeth Houghton.
The second Earl of Dunraven had been a patron of the druidic scholar, poet, and forger Iolo Morganwg, who convinced the family that their castle in Glamorgan had been the original residence of the raven-god Bran, actually an early king.
During Parnell's research, despite the superstition that the Crown depends on the continued presence of the ravens, "[he] has found the blunt statement in the records 'there are none left' – and yet the monarchy and the tower have more or less survived".
After "The Raven", a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, was first published in January 1845, the Western world became fascinated with the birds.
He wrote an account published in 1906 reporting a total of six ravens at the Tower as a central focus during and following an execution at the site.
[48] While visiting the Tower in 2003,[49] Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, is reported to have been taken aback by the verbal skills of one of the birds; Thor greeted each person in his entourage with a "Good morning!".
[52] Upgraded security measures were included in the plans for a major refurbishment of the raven accommodations, funded by the independent Historic Royal Palaces organisation.
A statement released on Twitter reads:[58] We now have 7 ravens here at the Tower – one more than the required 6, so we don't have any immediate plans to fill Merlina's vacancy.
In 2007, the Ravenmaster Derek Coyle commented: "I buy fresh meat from Smithfield – liver, lamb, beef, chicken.
"[citation needed] Their diet consists of raw meat daily, usually liver, lambs' hearts and beef or pork trimming, and every other day includes boiled egg with shell and blood-soaked bird biscuits.
A special decree was issued about the incident: On Saturday 13th September 1986, Raven George, enlisted 1975, was posted to the Welsh Mountain Zoo.
After noticing the commotion surrounding the other raven's death, Edgar Sopper decided he could "play dead" in order to bring more attention to himself.
When the ravenmaster picked up the "corpse", Edgar bit the man's finger and "flapped off croaking huge raven laughs".
Former Assistant Ravenmaster Tom Trent has reported that the ravens appeared to be aware of the death, for they soon gathered on the Tower Green near the chapel, called out, and then became quiet, as though to pay their respects.
