1.  Choose any two tombs in the Abbey and discuss them in detail.  Describe each tomb.   (You might want to make a rough sketch or purchase a post card if available.)  How is the individual portrayed?  What symbols, dress, artifacts, etc., are illustrated?   What does the inscription tell you about the individual’s life and about contemporary values?  What do the tombs reveal about the era's view of rulers?

2.  Attend one of the area-specific lectures given by the yeoman guards.  What were the key points of the presentation?  What monarchs were mentioned in the presentation?  How were these individuals associated with the Tower?
 

Suggested Readings:
 
Binski, Paul. Westminster Abbey and the Plantagenets: Kingship and the Representation of Power, 1200-1400.  New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.

Brown, R. Allen.  Origins of English Feudalism.  London: Allen and Unwin and New York: Barnes and Noble, 1973.

Laing, Lloyd Robert and Jennifer Laing.  Medieval Britain: The Age of Chivalry.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.

Mason, Emma.  Westminster Abbey and Its People, c.1050-c.1216.  Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 1996.

Wilson, Derek A.  The Tower: The Tumultuous History of the Tower of London from 1078.  New York: Scribner, 1979.

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