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犯罪与劫案
1671年5月9日 · 伦敦塔
抢劫与盗窃状态: 已侦破
详细档案目前仅提供英文版本。
图片: G. Scott · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
£500a year was the yield of the land Blood received from the king after his pardon
Thomas Blood, born in Ireland in 1618, had fought in the English Civil War first for the king and then for Parliament and had been rewarded with land for it. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 he lost that land. In 1663 he plotted an attack on Dublin Castle and in 1670 he tried to abduct the Duke of Ormond in London, both times without success; there was a price on his head. The Crown Jewels, newly made after 1660, could be viewed on payment of a fee to the keeper.
In the spring of 1671 Blood, dressed as a clergyman, visited the Jewel House in the Tower with a woman who passed as his wife. She pretended to be taken ill, after which the Edwards family received them upstairs; a friendship developed, and Blood even proposed a marriage between an invented nephew and Edwards's daughter. On 9 May he came back with three men and asked to see the jewels. Inside they threw a cloak over Edwards and struck him down with a wooden mallet.
Exactly how the alarm was raised is not certain. According to the best-known account Edwards's son, just back from Flanders, came home unexpectedly, while Edwards himself worked his gag loose and cried that the crown had been stolen. The thieves fled towards their horses and fired at the warders, but were overpowered at the wharf. The crown, the orb and the sceptre were recovered, though some stones had come loose. Blood refused to say anything to anyone but the king and was taken in chains to the palace.
Charles II questioned Blood in person, in the presence of his brother and Prince Rupert. Instead of a trial for high treason there followed a pardon and an estate in Ireland; his accomplices were freed as well. Historians have offered various explanations: the king is said to have admired his audacity, to have wanted to use him as a spy, or to have feared revenge by his followers. The keeper Edwards was promised compensation that was only partly paid. Blood died in 1680; since then the jewels have been guarded far more strictly.