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Author
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Topic: Dungeons
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Zaire
Member
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posted 06-03-99 07:21 PM
 
I must give a talk on Medieval dungeons. I need information on what they looked like, on how they were used, etc. I need a lot of interesting details. Thanks a lot. Zaire
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DreamWarrior
Senior Member
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posted 06-04-99 07:59 AM
I would be interested in any information on this too. I figure if you're going to have an authentic-looking castle, it ought to have a dungeon, right?  DW
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Philip Davis
unregistered
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posted 06-07-99 12:44 AM
In England and Wales the answer to DW's question is a qualified no. Specific prison cells are fairly rare in castles. The Tower of London, which has 850 years history of being used as a prison, has no dungeons.Firstly a bit of etymology. The term dungeon is a corruption from the french term Donjon which means the main residential tower in a castle. The modern equivalent term is the keep.
Keeps could be used as prisons in two distinct ways.
1. High status prisoners would be imprisoned in the main residential rooms of the keep with good furnishing, food and servants until they were released (usually when the ransom was paid). Since the king had many castles and most barons had a fair few there were spare keeps to use in this way, or in larger castles the towers around the walls were used as prisons (again providing spacious accommodation for state prisoners).
2. Storage cellars were converted into cells for low status prisoners. Nearly all keeps had storage cellars, usually at ground floor level, which were dark (as a consequence of having a few small windows, if any, because of the need for defense) and damp (as a consequence of not having damp courses) but could be quite large, or divided into smaller rooms. Most dark, damp rooms in castles are storage cellars OCCASIONALLY, if ever, used as prisons. When used as prisons prisoners could be kept separately both more often in groups. It is recorded that during the early reign of Edward I 600 jews were crowded into the sub crypt of the White Tower in the Tower of London.
A few castles do have classic dungeon, notably at Warwick Castle.
Since the main quality of a dungeon is dampness I do not recommend building one. ------------------
Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics live in them,
Psychiatrists charge the rent, art therapists do the interior design
and nurses clean out the garderobes!
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DreamWarrior
Senior Member
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posted 06-07-99 08:47 AM
Well, what can I say for us bloody Americans? Always giving in to the stereotypes and romanticized myths which are in fact American in origin anyway. Thanks for the info!DW
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znachy
Senior Member
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posted 06-09-99 10:55 PM
I decided to write several sentences about this topic. In Czech Republic the situation with dungeon is similar to the situation in UK castles that Philip Davis described above. But there are some exceptions. For example Rabi Castle (western Bohemia) has very deep dungeon, originally used as a storage cellars that is accesible by quite long dark passage. Threre is the stone column where the prisoners were kept chained down. Another Czech castle (Loket Castle) has even five level dungeon with small chambers placed in one of it`s mural towers.
On the other hand one of the most known castle used as a prison (Krivoklat Castle) has no special prison chambers.
What to say at the end. Some of the Czech castles have deep prison cells but originally they were used for different purposes.
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wurdsmiff
unregistered
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posted 09-21-99 03:46 PM
Dungeons are a (reasonably) common feature of castles in Scotland, notably the 'bottle dungeon' variety. These were as the name implies accessible only from a hatch above, and as Philip accurately describes, less than hospitable places. There often was no provision for light or sanitation, and were usually built within the thickness of the exterior walls. They normally had room for only one prisoner, though in those dark days who is to say how many could be thrown down.
notable examples exist at Mains Castle near East Kilbride (a private residence) and at Crookston Castle in Glasgow. There are many others, not always to an identical plan. A large prison tower once existed at Bothwell, the base of which remains, and the remaining 'cell' is accessed from above. This distribution perhaps reflects a Scottish trend, where many lesser Lords legally held the power of pit and gallows over their tenants, or took it upon themselves!!!
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