The Crown Jewels Heist: Thomas Blood's Audacious Theft
Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, befriended the elderly Keeper of the Jewels, Talbot Edwards, over several weeks before attacking him with a mallet on May 9, 1671, and attempting to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Blood flattened St. Edward's Crown with a mallet to fit it under his cloak, and an accomplice filed the Sovereign's Sceptre in half to conceal it in a bag. Edwards' son arrived unexpectedly, raising the alarm. The gang fled but was caught at the Tower wharf. Blood famously demanded to speak only to King Charles II. In a baffling turn, the king pardoned Blood, restored his Irish lands, and granted him a pension of 500 pounds a year. No convincing explanation for the pardon has ever been established.
May 9, 1671
355 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on May 9
Thutmose III chose the narrow Aruna pass over safer routes, ignoring every advisor who told him it was suicide. His gamble worked. The Canaanite coalition waite…
Athanasius ascended to the patriarchate of Alexandria, launching a decades-long defense of Nicene Christianity against the rising tide of Arianism. His relentle…
Melus of Bari had already tried once to throw off Byzantine rule and failed. But in 1009, this Lombard nobleman tried again, rallying forces in the port city th…
The roof was gone before they finished the walls. Lincoln Cathedral's consecration in 1092 came twenty years into construction—they blessed a building site, ess…
The wine was the thing. England needed Portuguese ports to break France's stranglehold on Bordeaux, and Portugal needed English archers to keep Castile from swa…
He ruled for six years and died in his bed. Sort of. 'Abd al-Latif, who'd blinded his own father Ulugh Beg to seize the Timurid throne in 1449, got strangled by…
Talk to History
Have a conversation with historical figures who witnessed this era. Ask questions, explore perspectives, and bring history to life.