dungeon

Look up Dungeon or Oubliette in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The dungeons of Blarney Castle.

A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette is a form of dungeon which was accessible only from a hatch in a high ceiling. The image of dark, damp dungeons as the scene of lengthy incarceration and unspeakable cruelty is a powerful one in popular culture.

Etymology

In its original medieval usage, donjon meant a keep, the main tower of a castle which formed the final defensive position to which the garrison could retreat when outer fortifications were overcome. The word dungeon is based on Old French donjon, which is derived from Latin dom(i)niōn- "property" (and ultimately dominus "lord"). By association of a tower with a prison, its English meaning has evolved over time to mean an underground prison or oubliette, typically in a basement of a castle.

In French the term donjon still refers to a "keep", and the term oubliette is a more appropriate translation of English "dungeon". Donjon is therefore a false friend to "dungeon" (for instance, the game "Dungeons and Dragons" is titled "Donjons et Dragons" in its French editions).

An oubliette (from the French oubliette - literally "forgotten place") was a form of dungeon which was accessible only from a hatch in a high ceiling. The word comes from the same root as the French oublier, "to forget," as it was used for those prisoners the captors wished to forget.

The earliest use of the word in French dates back to 1374, but its earliest adoption in English is Walter Scott's Ivanhoe in 1819: 'The place was utterly dark—the oubliette, as I suppose, of their accursed convent.'^[1] There is no reason to suspect that this particular place of incarceration was more than a flight of romantic elaboration on existing unpleasant places of confinement described during the Gothic Revival period.

History

Few Norman keeps in English castles originally contained prisons, though they were more common in Scotland. Imprisonment was not a usual punishment in the Middle Ages, so most prisoners were kept pending trial or awaiting the penalty, or for political reasons. Noble prisoners would not generally be held in dungeons, but would live in some comfort in castle apartments. The Tower of London is famous as prison for political detainees, and Pontefract Castle at various times held Thomas of Lancaster (1322), Richard II (1400), Earl Rivers (1483), Scrope, Archbishop of York (1405), James I of Scotland (1405–1424) and Charles, Duke of Orleans (1417–1430). Purpose-built prison chambers in castles became more common after the twelfth century, when they were built into gatehouses or mural towers. Some castles had larger provision for prisoners, such as the prison tower at Caernarvon Castle. Alnwick Castle and Cockermouth Castle, both in Northumberland, had prisons in the gatehouse with oubliettes beneath them.^[2]

Features

Diagram of alleged oubliette in the Paris prison of La Bastille from Dictionary of French Architecture from 11th to 16th Century (1854–1868), by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc; the commentary speculates that this may in fact have been built for storage of ice.

Although many real dungeons are simply a single plain room with a heavy door or with access only from a hatchway or trapdoor in the floor of the room above, the use of dungeons for torture, along with their association to common human fears of being trapped underground, have made dungeons a powerful metaphor in a variety of contexts. Dungeons, in the plural, have come to be associated with underground complexes of cells and torture chambers. As a result, the number of true dungeons in castles is often exaggerated to interest tourists. Many chambers described as dungeons or oubliettes were in fact storerooms, water-cisterns or even latrines.^[3]

An example of what might be popularly termed an "oubliette" is the particularly claustrophobic cell in the dungeon of Warwick Castle's Caesar's Tower, in central England. The access hatch consists of an iron grille. Even turning around (or moving at all) would be nearly impossible in this tiny chamber.^{[citation needed]}

In literature

Oubliettes and dungeons were a favourite topic of nineteenth century gothic novels or historical novels, where they appeared as symbols of hidden cruelty and tyrannical power, the very antithesis of Enlightenment values such as justice and freedom. Usually found under medieval castles or abbeys, they were used by villainous characters, often Catholic monks and inquisitors, to persecute blameless characters. In Alexandre Dumas's La Reine Margot, Catherine de Medici is portrayed gloating over a victim in the oubliettes of the Louvre.^[4]

Modern criminals' dungeons

The term "dungeon" is still used to describe an underground prison, such as the hidden cells built by certain notorious criminals:

• Marc Dutroux, Belgium
• John Esposito, USA^[5]
• Josef Fritzl, Austria^[6]
• John Jamelske, USA
• Viktor Mokhov, Russia^[7]
• Wolfgang Priklopil, Austria

References

1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary
2. ^ Bottomley, Frank, The Castle Explorer's Guide, Kaye & Ward, London, 1979 ISBN 0718212169 pp 143–145
3. ^ Bottomley, Frank, The Castle Explorer's Guide, Kaye & Ward, London, 1979 ISBN 0718212169 p 145
4. ^ Alexandre Dumas, La Reine Margot, XIII Oreste et Pylade
5. ^ McQuiston, John (1994-07-27). "Man Sentenced to Prison In Kidnapping of L.I. Girl". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE2D6113EF934A15754C0A962958260. Retrieved 2008-08-22. 
6. ^ "Josef Fritzl: Incest dungeon father could face up to 3,000 counts of rape". The Telegraph. 2008-08-03. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/joseffritzl/2619085/Josef-Fritzl-Incest-dungeon-father-could-face-up-to-3000-counts-of-rape.html. Retrieved 2008-08-22. 
7. ^ "Russian girls rescued after 3 years in rape dungeon". Sydney Morning Herald. 2004-05-07. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/06/1083635279844.html. Retrieved 2008-08-22. 

See also

• Immurement