Castle Quest - Reply to Topic

Forum:	Castles In General & Medieval History
Topic:	The keep and the donjon?

Want to register?

Who Can Post?	Any registered users may post a reply.
About Registration	You must be registered in order to post a topic or reply in this forum.
Posting Tips:	You will receive a much better response to your questions if you include your age and as much detail as possible. Both of these things allows a person to give you an answer specific to your question and age group.
Your UserName:
Your Password:	Forget your password?
Message Icon:
Your Reply: HTML is OFF UBB Code is ON [IMG] UBB Code Not Allowed!
Options	Show Signature: include your profile signature. Only registered users may have signatures.

If you have previously registered, but forgotten your password, click here.

*If HTML and/or UBB Code are enabled, this means you can use HTML and/or UBB Code in your message.

T O P I C R E V I E W
thebull What is the difference between the keep and
Donjon? My defination of a keep is the
strongest place in the castle where the
damsel in distress, king etc. are kept and
the Donjon is where the criminals and captured foes are kept? The donjon is usually under the keep! Am I correct?
Are Dungeon and Donjon the same thing?
------------------
Where there's a will there's a way
thebull
Levan In the context of castles, the keep and the various spellings of Dungeon are the same thing. Mostly an issue of from which language the terms are derived.
Maria http://www.castlesontheweb.com/quest/Forum12/HTML/000059.html
Look here for more information on this topic
thebull What type of person and/or items are kept
in each?
Maria As keep=donjon, a short answer would be "the same".If when you say person, you mean prisoner, then look at the link mentioned above (post by Philip Davis). But the keep is the residential centre of the castle. So usually the lord lives there. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by items... storage cells would have kept food...
thebull Well the items I meant would be
anything of value, like Treasury
or food stores, weapons and
protection equip when not in use!
Maria "The principle storage place in the castles were the basements of the keeps, which provided secure places for provisions and arms, especially supplies susceptible to pilfering. Sometimes, it could only be entered through a locked door and the keys would be held by a watchman. Some castle storage areas would be below the hall. In Pembroke Castle a cave, beneath the hall called the "Wogan", was used as storage, as well as providing access to the water for re-provisioning."http://www.castles-of-britain.com/castleza.htm
This is an extract from an article called Castle provisions and storage.
Queuxgropius What confues many people is that the English word 'dungeon'derives from the French 'Donjon' but has come to have a totally different meaning, that of a deep, dark place of incarceration. Keep=Donjon and means the central stronghold/building of the castle. Although in architectural literature you increasingly see the term "Great Tower" used instead of either.