Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

- Tonight, the world's most sacred strongholds.

From mighty fortresses...

- The Romans take down every Jewish stronghold

in the region, but they save Masada for last.

- So they take this fortress, constructed

to keep invaders out, and they turn it into a prison

to keep religious dissenters in.

- To an infamous tower.

- Those who do survive the massacre are those

who made it safely into the tower.

- And even a supernatural barricade.

- In order for a person's soul to reach the underworld,

they have to get help from a God to cross this river.

- The remarkable stories behind history's

most formidable "Holy Marvels."

[dramatic music]

One of the most infamous figures in the Bible is a king

who's well known for his building projects.

Of all his ambitious strongholds,

there's one that towers above the rest.

- Around 63 BC, the Roman General Pompey the Great

conquers Judea on behalf of Rome.

In Jerusalem, they install a client king named Herod,

and he's the guy they've handpicked

and who will carry out their policies faithfully.

- Even though King Herod is basically a puppet

of the Romans, he is no fool.

He knows that his Jewish people have many enemies

that could strike at any time,

and so he decides to build something like a safe house,

and it's called Masada.

Masada, which means strong foundation in Hebrew,

is to be a fortress and a royal retreat.

And construction on this starts around the year 30 BC.

- Herod chooses an 18 acre plateau

that's about 1,400 feet above the Dead Sea.

This is a perfect location as a secure refuge,

because it's almost impossible to attack.

- The fortress is surrounded by a casemate wall.

These things run 4,600 feet altogether.

They're 13 feet thick.

The space between the walls

could be used in peacetime for storage.

However, in wartime, you could fill in that space

with rubble, debris, rocks,

and dirt to make an even stronger defensive wall.

- Masada has two palaces, store rooms,

barracks, an armory, and even a Roman style bathhouse.

The northern palace is an impressive three tier structure

that can serve as Herod's residence.

- To supply the fortress with water,

Herod builds these massive cisterns carved into the rock

that can hold nearly 200,000 gallons,

and they're fed by aqueducts

that capture rainwater from the entire top of the plateau.

A single day's reign could sustain life

for a thousand people over a period of up to three years.

- Herod's survival strategy is, do what favors you can

and when things go bad, escape.

And Masada was his safe house that he could escape

to if everything else turns south.

- [Dennis] Luckily, he never has to use it, but seven decades

after Herod's death, it comes in handy for a group

of Jewish rebels.

[swords clang]

- The First Jewish-Roman War breaks out in AD 66.

This follows years of rising tensions

between the Jewish population and their Roman overlords,

until you have open conflict and warfare between the two.

- [Dennis] As the war continues,

one group in particular look for a more secure post.

They're called the Sicarii.

- The Sicarii are elite Jewish assassins who are known

for taking out their enemies, the Romans obviously,

but also Jewish collaborators with the Romans.

- The Sicarii, they decide that it's time to get out of town

and they move into the abandoned Masada,

by late in the year of 67 AD.

They're sure that the Romans are after them,

but that this is the safest place

that they could possibly hide.

- [Dennis] It turns out to be a smart move.

- By 70 AD, the Romans lay siege to Jerusalem

and pretty much totally destroy it.

The Romans take down every Jewish stronghold in the region,

but they save Masada for last.

- Sometime between 72 and 73 AD, the Romans decide

it's time to attack the Sicarii at Masada.

By this point, the Sicarii have been here holding out

for about five years.

There are about 960 men, women, and children,

and they're very well prepared

to defend themselves under the command

of their leader, Ben Ya'ir.

- The Roman historian, Josephus, documents in real time,

what happens at Masada.

- The Romans basically isolate and cut off Masada.

They create an entire camp down below.

They think by cutting off supply lines,

they're gonna starve them out.

Little do they realize, up there on Masada, there's plenty

of resources, they can hold out for a long time.

- The Romans realize they're gonna have

to storm the place eventually,

but the long, winding path to the top would leave them

totally vulnerable to attacks from above,

while they lug all their gear up the mountain.

- They can't starve them out,

so they have to build this ramp up to Masada,

which is a long way.

- It takes weeks, probably even months

to complete this ramp and it's really an engineering marvel.

It stretches nearly 375 feet up the side of the mountain

giving the Romans a straight shot

to the fortress walls,

and once they reach the top, they erect a stone platform

where they mount a battering ram.

- [Dennis] As the Romans break through the wall,

[stone rumbling]

they hit a new obstacle.

- The battering ram burst

through the original casemate walls

and the Romans likely think they're about to win,

but the Sicarii have cleverly created a second wall inside

of the first, built from wooden beams, rocks, and dirt.

Ironically, it not only withstands the battering ram,

but as the battering ram hits the wall,

it actually compacts the dirt with the blows,

which makes it even stronger.

- The Sicarii leader Ben Ya'ir knows

that the Romans can only be delayed.

They cannot be stopped.

According to Josephus,

Ben Ya'ir makes a bold speech to his people.

It is still in our power to die bravely

and in a state of freedom.

- [Dennis] Then, the Sicarii choose to go out

in a blaze of glory.

- The Sicarii decide to burn down Masada

and end each other's lives

rather than submit to the Romans.

- Every family head executes the members of his own family.

Then 10 individuals are chosen from that group

to kill all the family heads.

And then lots are drawn between the surviving 10 to see

who will kill the others and then take his own life.

- [Dennis] When the Romans finally

enter Masada ready for battle,

they're instead met with an eerie silence.

- Josephus describes how when the Romans entered Masada

and they found all the Jewish inhabitants dead,

they also found that they still had plenty of food there

so they didn't kill themselves because they were starving.

They did it simply because they wanted to be free.

- Amazingly, there are a few survivors, two women

and five children who had hidden themselves

in the water cisterns, lived to tell the tale to Josephus.

- Once they defeat the Sicarii

they find they don't have a lot of use for Masada,

so they abandon it.

In the Byzantine era, there is evidence

of monks building a monastery up on top,

but after that period, it's left alone.

- [Dennis] The fortress remains lost for over

a thousand years.

- It wasn't until 1828 that Masada is rediscovered

by American scholars, Edward Robinson and Eli Smith.

And during the next 150 years,

archeologists eagerly climbed the mountain to excavate

and to map out this incredible site.

- The first major excavation begins in 1963,

led by Yigael Yadin.

What they find is incredible.

Pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls,

pottery and stone vessels, bronze and gold coins,

weapons, remnants of textiles and food,

all well preserved in the dry climate.

- Within the archeological record of Masada,

we have 250 individual little pieces of pottery

that were discovered.

11 of them are ascribed with names.

One of those is the name Eleazar Ben Ya'ir

who gave the impassioned speech

just before people began to take their lies.

- [Dennis] Excavations at Masada continue to this day.

- Masada is now the second most popular tourist destination

in Israel after Jerusalem,

and you can still walk up that siege ramp yourself.

Nearly a million people make this trek each year

to visit this ultimate symbol of strength and resistance.

A place where a small group of rebels managed to stand up

to the world's most powerful army.

[dramatic music]

- Jerusalem is one of the world's holiest cities,

filled with famous sites like the Tomb of Jesus,

the Temple Mount, and the Dome of the Rock.

So it's no surprise that it's also one

of the most well guarded.

[dramatic music]

- When you approach the historic heart of Jerusalem today,

you can't help but notice the city's most iconic feature.

It's surrounded by these huge, thick walls.

- That wall's about 40 feet high,

about eight to 10 foot thick.

The city wall itself is penetrated by eight gates,

seven of which are open, one is sealed,

and those gates not only welcome residents,

but millions of visitors each year to the old city.

- [Dennis] The history of the walls themselves

is just as fascinating as what they protect.

- During the Bronze Age, a group of people

called the Jebusites establishes a civilization

here where Jerusalem stands today.

It's built on an advantageous location, on elevated terrain

in the Judean Hills where enemies can be spotted

from far away,

and it's surrounded by the Kidron Valley to the east

and the Hinnom Valley to the west and the south,

which provides for natural barriers for defense.

- Around 1800 BC, the defenses are further built up

with the first set of walls

to be established around Jerusalem.

This is before the Jewish temple.

This is before Christianity, this is before Islam.

The area surrounded by these walls is fairly small,

about 12 to 15 acres.

So what was it that they needed these walls to protect?

The most precious resource they had is water.

- If you've been to Jerusalem, if you've been to Israel,

you know that it's a desert climate.

It's very arid.

So the Jebusites build the walls around the Gihon Spring.

This spring is so important,

because it's the main fresh water site,

so you have to protect your most precious resource.

- [Dennis] Soon, a famous ruler sets his sights on the city.

- The Jewish King David, whom we know from the Bible,

wants a safe and permanent home for his people.

He decides to try and conquer Jerusalem

around 1000 BC.

The Jebusites are confident in their city's defenses,

but David's troops cleverly infiltrate the city

through an access shaft

of the Gihon Spring and they take control.

- [Dennis] After his cunning victory,

King David makes Jerusalem the capital of his new kingdom.

When he dies, his son Solomon takes over.

- Inside the walls, Solomon builds

the first Jewish temple in 957 BC.

According to Judeo-Christian texts,

the Torah and the Old Testament,

this is where the Ark of the Covenant is stored.

So now, the city has even more precious buildings

and objects to safeguard.

So now King Solomon begins to expand the fortifications

of Jerusalem, including adding terraces along the walls.

- [Dennis] 250 years later,

these defenses are put to the test.

- During the reign of King Hezekiah in 701 BC,

the Assyrians invade Judea,

and they take several major cities,

including Lachish and Azekah.

- In response to this invasion by the Assyrians,

Hezekiah increases the fortifications of the walls,

expands the walls,

including making the broad wall 23 feet thick.

He also builds a 2,000 foot tunnel

that redirects the Gihon Spring.

- The Assyrian army surrounds Jerusalem for a matter

of weeks, but it never makes it inside.

- [Dennis] The walls keep Jerusalem safe

for another hundred years.

- The Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II

gets the same idea as the Assyrians,

and he tries to take Jerusalem.

He lays siege to the city in 588 BC.

The fortifications hold off the Babylonians

for nearly 18 months,

but Nebuchadnezzar's forces ultimately make it through.

- They set fire to the city, they destroy the temple,

they destroy the palace, they take the Ark of the Covenant

or possibly destroy it, we don't know.

It disappears from the historical

record at this point.

In short, it's a complete catastrophe

for the people of Jerusalem.

- So this marks the end of the first set

of walls around Jerusalem.

The Judeans are eventually allowed to return

and they slowly start to rebuild.

[dramatic music]

- [Dennis] But they don't stay in control for long.

After the Romans conquer Judea in 63 BC,

and put King Herod in charge,

he starts rebuilding Jerusalem.

- He built a new palace, a new fortress.

He greatly expands the Temple Mount,

and of course for all this,

he needs to build newer and better walls.

These walls of Herod are spectacular.

They rise some 10 stories

and the foundations go down as deep as 60 feet.

- Once Herod's expansions are complete, they're thought

to include seven gates, two in the south,

two in the northeast, one in the north, one in the west,

and one in the east.

- [Dennis] According to Christian tradition,

it's through the Eastern gate known as the Golden Gate

that Jerusalem welcomes its most famous guest.

- It's believed that when Jesus triumphantly arrives

in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, sometime around 33 AD,

as described in the gospels, this is the gate that he uses.

The Golden Gate is the only one

that leads directly into the area of the Jewish temple.

- [Dennis] The gate is alleged to have even more significance.

- Christians also believe that when Jesus returns to Earth,

he will enter the Golden Gate once again

to fulfill prophecy.

This means that this gate on the eastern side of Jerusalem

may eventually become the most important

sacred place on Earth.

- [Dennis] There's just one problem.

The original Golden Gate was destroyed when the Romans

demolished Jerusalem in 70 AD.

- The walls of Jerusalem, the gates,

almost everything are toppled to the ground.

Only a small portion of the western wall known

as the Wailing Wall, remain standing.

- [Dennis] The rest of the walls and gates are rebuilt in 1537.

- When Suleiman the Magnificent is in charge of Jerusalem,

the walls are in a state of terrible disrepair.

No one has maintained these walls since Roman times.

- Most of the work is done between 1537 and 1541 AD.

He doesn't have to rebuild everything.

The Roman-era Western Wall is still there

from King Herod's time.

The Golden Gate that was rebuilt in the seventh century

is still there, but a large majority of the walls

and all of the remaining gates,

he has to pretty much rebuild from scratch.

- Suleiman's version of the walls are the ones

that we still see today when we visit Jerusalem.

It is a testament to the incredible engineering required

in order to preserve this ancient fortress.

- Some fortifications are built to protect,

others are constructed to punish.

In 15th century Spain, one notorious castle becomes a place

of torture and terror.

- In the Spanish town of Cordoba,

there is the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos.

It means the Castle of the Christian monarchs.

- When you first approach the castle,

you first notice it's imposing walls made

of solid stone blocks.

Inside is a one acre complex.

You can climb the towers, view ancient ruins,

see the live archeological digs.

It was all built in 1328 by Alfonso XI of Castile.

- [Dennis] In the late 1470s,

the castle gets two new occupants,

Christian monarchs, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

- As Ferdinand and Isabella's seat of power,

the castle sees some pretty important moments in history.

For instance, this is where the royal couple famously meets

Christopher Columbus about financing his voyages

to the new world.

- [Dennis] But in 1499, the palace starts

to serve a much darker purpose.

- The king and queen donate the castle

to the Catholic church,

and the reason they need to do this is

because the church needs a Cordoba headquarters

for the infamous Spanish Inquisition.

- The Spanish Inquisition is a 350 year period

of religious persecution that started around 1478.

During which, Spain's monarchs collude with the church

to unite the country by making Catholicism

the nation's only religion,

by force.

- [Dennis] The castle is renovated

to accomplish this mission.

- So they take this fortress,

constructed to keep invaders out,

and they turn it into a prison

to keep religious dissenters in.

- They build a new tower

called the Tower of the Inquisition,

and this is where the main interrogation rooms

and prison cells are located.

The cells are positioned around a central courtyard

of the western wing of the building.

- The baths are turned into torture cells,

into places of interrogation.

The balcony where you're supposed to survey

who's coming at you, is now meant to survey

who's trying to escape.

- [Dennis] Leading the charge here is Head Inquisitor,

Diego Rodríguez de Lucero.

- According to the church,

Lucero's job is to root out heretics

and as a result, he's given free reign to apprehend,

to torture, or a kill anyone who is not a Christian.

- He earns the nickname "El Tenebrero,"

the bringer of darkness,

because of his sadism, because of his terror tactics.

- One famous example of his cruelty happens in 1504,

when a cleric is accused of preaching doctrines of Judaism.

Lucero rounds up a list of 107 people

who attended those services

and he burns them alive at a single public burning.

- [Dennis] For others, death doesn't come as quickly.

- Various torture methods are used on prisoners

to elicit information or confessions to heresy.

The inquisitors would use water boarding,

as well as something called garrucha,

where a prisoner's hands are bound behind their back

and suspended from a pulley,

letting gravity painfully dislocate their arms.

- Lucero also has this habit of identifying young women

and compelling them to do as he wishes

with the power of the Inquisition.

- According to his historical documents, in one case,

he kidnaps the wife of a local Christian

named Julian Trigueros.

Trigueros seeks justice from King Ferdinand

who agrees there should be a trial,

but the trial is overseen by Lucero.

Not surprisingly, it ends with Trigueros

being burned alive 10 days later,

and his wife being locked away in the castle

as Lucero's mistress.

- In one of the worst accounts we have from the castle's

secret prison, an unnamed female prisoner is raped,

resulting in the birth of a child.

Eventually, the mother is taken to be burned

with the child in her arms.

- Lucero is operating this castle with impunity

and powers that be actually do not have a problem with it

because those who he kills or expels,

the state assumes their money,

assumes their estates, assumes whatever they have.

- [Dennis] Eventually, it's not the crown,

but the people who take action against this tyrant.

- One of Lucero's greatest supporters is Queen Isabella.

When she dies in 1504, the Córdobans, who are outraged,

write to the Archbishop of Seville in 1505,

asking him to put a stop to what Lucero's been doing.

- The archbishop, of course, does nothing about it,

and the guardrails are off.

Lucero ramps up his murderous ways,

demolishing houses he accuses of being synagogues

and burning evidence of his crimes,

including some of his torture devices.

- In November, 1506, a group of nobles bands together

to storm the castle for some justice.

They break into the fortress

and free the prisoners from the dungeons.

In all the commotion, Lucero manages to disguise himself,

escape through a hidden passage,

and ride away on a mule.

- [Dennis] He evades capture for well over a year.

- It takes until 1508 to finally arrest Lucero.

This is a huge deal,

because it's the first time an inquisitor is ever

brought to public trial.

- Although Lucero was found guilty,

the punishment barely fits his crimes.

Lucero was jailed for a few months and then he's set free.

He lives out the rest of his days on an estate in Seville,

one that was seized during the Inquisition.

Even with Lucero out of the way,

the brutality in the secret prisons

of the castle continues for centuries.

- [Dennis] Finally, in the 1950s,

it's declared a national monument.

- Today, the Tower of the Inquisition still stands

as a warning about the perils of absolute power

and religious persecution.

- Sacred fortifications are often manmade,

but there's one natural formation

that's had a powerful impact

on both legends and actual events,

the Rock of Gibraltar.

- On the southern tip

of the Iberian Peninsula is a narrow passage

that separates the Atlantic Ocean

and the Mediterranean Sea, a huge cliff-like mountain,

some 1,400 feet high, that's also full of caves.

- It almost feels like it's watching over

this strategic location, kind of a gateway to Europe

and the Middle East.

- [Dennis] Although Gibraltar is currently

a British territory, its story goes back many centuries.

- The caves of Gibraltar have been offering protection

to humans on and off for more than a hundred thousand years.

Fossil records show that some of the last Neanderthals

had kind of a final stand here 28,000 years ago

as the European climate got colder

and they eventually died out.

- Once the Neanderthals go extinct,

Homo sapiens continue to occupy the caves at Gibraltar,

and when the Bronze Age hits around 2000 BC,

Gibraltar becomes a well established stronghold

for trading and fishing.

- If you are a seafaring culture that wants to expand

or import or export goods, there's only one way

to exit the Mediterranean,

and that's the eight mile wide Strait of Gibraltar.

And so right away,

people start giving this place a sacred significance

because of how crucial it is to their daily lives.

- Some of the earliest legends that we have about Gibraltar

actually come from the Phoenicians

about the ninth century BC.

- The strait is flanked by the Rock of Gibraltar

to the north and the Jebel Musa to the south

on the northern tip of Morocco.

And in Phoenician mythology,

these two mountains become known as the Pillars of Melqart.

They mark the end of the known world

where unimaginable sea monsters

and navigational hazards lay ahead.

- A couple of centuries later,

the Greeks integrate Gibraltar into their story of Heracles,

who the Romans call Hercules.

Both of these cultures, Greek and Roman,

refer to Gibraltar as the Pillars of Hercules.

- [Dennis] According to the legend, Hercules travels west

to the edge of the Mediterranean Sea

in search of an infamous monster.

- Hercules is tasked with bringing back the cattle

of a three-headed monster named Geryon,

who lives beyond the pillars.

He succeeds, and in some versions of the story,

Hercules then narrows the strait

to prevent sea monsters from entering the Mediterranean.

- [Dennis] Gibraltar also protects against human invaders.

- Given its tactical location,

you can spot enemies from miles away

from the top of that mountain.

We know that the Romans, the Vandals, the Visigoths,

the Muslims, and the Christians all use it

as a strategic lookout.

- [Dennis] By 711 AD,

Muslim forces gain control of the site.

- The first references to manmade defenses here

begin in 1067 and by 1160,

when Abd al-Mu'min takes control

of The Rock, he orders the establishment

of a fortified city known as the City of Victory.

- [Dennis] The Muslims remain unchallenged here until 1309

when a Spanish force tries to conquer the fort.

- Despite multiple attacks using two siege catapults,

the Spanish are unable to breach the walls.

However, ultimately, the Muslims surrender in exchange

for safe passage back to North Africa.

- The Muslims and Christians go through several periods

of back and forth, but the fortifications

of Gibraltar never actually break.

- [Dennis] After control of Gibraltar changes hands

many times over the next 400 years,

Britain wins the rock in 1713.

It gains the territory as part of the Treaty of Utrecht,

an agreement which brings a long dynastic war to an end.

- The Spanish, French, Dutch, British,

and Portuguese are all combatant powers during the war

of Spanish succession.

The outcome of the conflict is that

the French take control of Spain,

but the British get the big prize

in the form of Gibraltar.

The British begin advancing tunnels through The Rock

beginning in the late 18th century.

There are now 35 miles of tunnels in Gibraltar,

including the longest one of them all, the Great North Road,

which is three and a half miles long.

In addition to that, there are training facilities

for the British military inside The Rock as well.

- During World War II, the British host

General Dwight D. Eisenhower for 21 days

within The Rock of Gibraltar,

where he commands Operation Torch,

which is a combined US and British invasion,

where they drive the Nazis out of North Africa.

- Today, Gibraltar remains an active archeological site

with several ongoing excavations,

but it's also still serving as a place of protection,

albeit with a modern twist.

It currently houses one of the most secure computer

data centers in the world.

It's quite an upgrade from the days when Hercules used it

to battle sea monsters.

[dramatic music]

- The Rock of Gibraltar has marked the passage

for sailors from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean

for thousands of years.

But according to the Greek mythology, there's one boundary

no human can cross.

The one separating the living from the dead.

- In the epic Greek tales, such as Homer's "Iliad,"

there's a natural barricade called the River Styx.

It's a mythical body of water

that protects both our world

as well as the underworld of Hades.

- The living aren't meant to enter Hades

and the dead aren't meant to come back from it.

So this river is crucially important

to the sacred order of things.

- The River Styx is said to be impossible to cross

by natural means, because it flows

with a corrosive black water that poisons

and dissolves everything that comes in contact with it.

Now, this water can cause paralysis.

It could even harm the gods.

In one story,

it causes the gods to lose their ability to speak.

- In order for a person's soul

to reach the underworld,

they have to get help from a God to cross this river.

If they tried to swim, even their soul would disintegrate.

- Legends like these cement the Styx

as perhaps the most powerful sacred body

of water in Greek mythology.

- [Dennis] But is it just a legend,

or could it be an actual place?

- Homer gives us one of the earliest written accounts

of the River Styx, and interestingly,

he doesn't just chalk it up to being a mythical location.

He gives real world clues as to where it might be.

According to something called "The Catalogue of Ships,"

in Homer's "Iliad," he refers to the Titaressus as a river

that quote, "Flows from the waters of Styx."

- The Titaressus is actually a 43 mile long tributary

that flows from the slopes of Mount Olympus.

- There are many rivers in this area,

some of which originate underground,

but no ideal candidate for the River Styx has been found.

- [Dennis] A recent discovery could change that.

- Around 130 miles south

of Mount Olympus lies a river called Mavroneri,

which literally means "black water."

- It originates in the high mountains of Achaea

where it's cold waters cascade

over this kind of limestone crag

to form the second highest waterfall in Greece.

- They find that a toxin called calicheamicin

flows through the Mavroneri.

It's a naturally occurring soil bacteria

that was discovered in the 1980s in deposits

of calcium carbonate

that form on the limestone in the river.

Cytotoxins like calicheamicin cause cell death,

which can induce fever, chills,

and severe muscular and neurological pain.

- [Dennis] Scientists back this up with even more proof.

- The report suggests that the water from the Mavroneri

could have been used to kill Alexander the Great.

- Alexander is out drinking

and he gets really sick one night in 323 BC.

For two weeks, he can only move his hands and his eyes

and he's completely unable to speak

before falling into a coma

and dying just short of his 33rd birthday.

- These symptoms are remarkably similar

to those that are described

if you encountered the River Styx.

- A geochemical analysis of this river really needs

to be conducted to see whether the concentration

of calicheamicin in the water here could have been deadly,

but it's pretty incredible

that modern researchers are still looking

into the legendary River Styx

after nearly 3,000 years of speculation.

[dramatic music]

- Betrayal, imprisonment, execution.

The Tower of London has seen it all.

It's dark cells have held many prisoners,

some very well known, and some might surprise you.

- Located on the northern bank of the River Thames,

the Tower of London is the well-known home

of the British Crown Jewels,

but one of the Tower's most important roles in history

is fairly unknown outside of academic circles.

It's a central location

in the story of England's medieval Jewish community.

- Jews start arriving after 1066,

when William the Conqueror takes over

during the Norman Conquests.

- The Jewish immigrants come mainly from Northern France

as well as from Spain, Italy, and Russia,

and they settle in the urban centers of England.

It's actually William's government

that brings the Jews over,

and they do it for financial reasons.

- Building and running a kingdom is expensive,

so William needs money, lots of it.

The taxes that he collects aren't always enough,

meaning he has to supplement his income

by borrowing large sums.

But the problem is, in medieval England,

Christians consider lending money with interest to be a sin.

- When the Jewish immigrants come to England,

they take up those traditional roles they'd served elsewhere

in Europe, that of money lenders and and bankers.

They provide a very important income

to William the Conqueror,

and they do very, very well serving the king

and his greater ambitions.

- William the Conqueror uses some of his wealth

to build the central building in the Tower of London

around 1078.

It's called the White Tower

and it gives the entire complex it's name.

This is the first stone keep in the entire country.

- [Dennis] For more than a century,

the Jewish population lives peacefully in London, until 1189

when King Richard I takes the throne.

- There are about 5,000 Jewish people

in England at this point,

many of whom want to attend Richard's coronation.

But because part of the ceremony is religious,

conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury,

they're barred from entry.

When a few Jewish leaders try to show up anyway with gifts

for the king, it does not go well.

- Guards actually intercept these Jewish leaders

and they are stripped and flogged.

Because of this, rumors begin to spread immediately

that the new king is very antisemitic

and even sanctions the killing of all Jews.

- As the riots break out across London,

Jews are being murdered and their homes

and businesses are being burned.

Rumors of King Richard's antisemitism are unfounded.

He actually opens the gates of the Tower

to allow Jews to seek refuge.

Those who do survive the massacre are those

who made it safely into the Tower.

- [Dennis] The next incident occurs in 1255.

- Nearly a hundred Jewish residents of the nearby town

of Lincoln are accused of crucifying

and killing a nine-year-old child.

They are found guilty after a man named Copin

has confessed under torture.

- 18 of these people are hanged immediately

after protesting the all Christian jury.

The remaining 74 are locked in the Tower of London

until 1256.

- For centuries, the Tower of London continues to serve

as a religious prison for enemies of the crown.

- The religion of the people in prison in the Tower really

depends on just who's in charge.

For instance, King Henry VIII wants to divorce his wife,

but the Catholic Church won't allow him to do it.

He gets excommunicated

and right away, he starts his own Church of England

and puts the Tower to good use.

- Anyone who refuses to accept the Church

of England is punished.

Catholic Bishops, priests, even the Chancellor Thomas More,

they all get thrown into prison at the Tower of London,

eventually getting executed.

- [Dennis] The Tower's reputation as a prison

continues all the way through World War II.

- The last prisoner at the Tower of London

was none other than Adolf Hitler's deputy,

Rudolf Hess, the man who had authorized the expulsion

of Jews from mainstream German life

with the implementation of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935.

[dramatic music]

- Powerful strongholds like the Tower of London

or the fortress at Masada may protect us,

but they also serve as a stern warning.

Cross these barriers, only if you dare.

I'm Dennis Quaid, thanks for watching "Holy Marvels."