The Tower’s Animal Menagerie: Lions, Bears and the Hidden Politics of Medieval London

An investigation into how a royal menagerie from the early 13th‑century to the 19th‑century became a tool of kingship, public spectacle and economic management in medieval and early modern London. The episode traces the lives of lions, bears and even an elephant kept at the Tower of London, the costs they imposed, how the court used them for diplomatic symbolism, and how public tours evolved into a proto‑zoo. It also considers why these animals mattered to contemporary audiences and what surviving records reveal about the intersection of animal care, royal finance and medieval politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices