“That’s a lot of pressure.”Īs part of a long line of Ravenmasters that stretches back to the 1700s, for the past 11 years he’s risen from his apartment on the tower's grounds at five o’clock each morning to nudge the ravens awake, set them loose, and observe their activities. “Should the ravens leave the Tower of London, it will crumble into dust and great harm befall the kingdom,” Skaife says solemnly, citing popular legend. But their presence is driven by a superstition powerful enough to have survived the ages.
Among the guardians of the thousand-year-old fortress of the murderous King Henry the Eighth, Skaife has a unique position: He’s the official Ravenmaster, in charge of a six-bird flock kept there to fulfil their mythic role as guardians of the tower.Įxactly how Common Ravens came to occupy the fortress centuries ago isn’t known for sure. One sunny afternoon in the ancient courtyard at the Tower of London, Christopher Skaife stands in full ceremonial regalia: a towering top hat and thick navy tunic, his chest emblazoned with a crown in scarlet fabric.
0 kommentar(er)
