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{{Short description|Room or cell in which prisoners were held, usually during the Middle Ages and Renaissance}}
{{redirect|Oubliette}}
{{about|places of imprisonment}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
[[Image:BlarneyCastle5.jpg|right|thumb|The dungeons of [[Blarney Castle]], Ireland]]
A '''dungeon''' is a room or [[Prison cell|cell]] in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with [[medieval]] castles, though their association with [[torture]] probably derives more from the [[Renaissance]] period.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}} An '''oubliette''' (from the French {{lang|fr|oublier}}, meaning 'to forget') or '''bottle dungeon''' is a basement room which is accessible only from a hatch or hole (an ''[[angstloch]]'') in a high ceiling.

==Etymology==
The word ''dungeon'' comes from French ''donjon'' (also spelled ''dongeon''), which means "[[keep]]", the main tower of a castle. The first recorded instance of the word in [[Middle English|English]] was near the beginning of the 14th century when it held the same meaning as ''donjon''. The earlier meaning of "keep" is still in use for academics, although in popular culture, it has come to mean a cell or "oubliette".{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} Though it is uncertain, both ''dungeon'' and ''donjon'' are thought to derive from the [[Middle Latin]] word ''dominus'', meaning "lord" or "master".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Merriam-Webster new book of word histories.|year=1991|publisher=Merriam-Webster|location=Springfield, Mass.|isbn=9780877796039|page=[https://archive.org/details/merriamwebsterne00merr/page/152 152]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/merriamwebsterne00merr/page/152}}</ref>

In French, the term ''donjon'' still refers to a "keep", and the English term "dungeon" refers mostly to ''oubliette'' in French. ''Donjon'' is therefore a [[false friend]] to ''dungeon'' (although the game ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' is titled ''Donjons et Dragons'' in its French editions).

An oubliette (same origin as the French ''oublier'', meaning "to forget"<ref>{{OEtymD|oubliette}}</ref>) is a basement room which is accessible only from a hatch or hole (an ''[[angstloch]]'') in a high ceiling.

The use of "donjons" evolved over time, sometimes to include prison cells, which could explain why the meaning of "dungeon" in English evolved over time from being a prison within the tallest, most secure tower of the castle into meaning a cell, and by extension, in popular use, an oubliette or even a torture chamber.

The earliest use of ''oubliette'' 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."<ref>Oxford English Dictionary</ref>

==History==
Few [[Norman architecture|Norman]] keeps in English castles originally contained prisons, which were more common in Scotland. Imprisonment was not a usual punishment in the [[Middle Ages]], with most prisoners awaiting an imminent trial, sentence or a political solution. Noble prisoners were not generally held in dungeons, but lived in some comfort in castle apartments. The [[Tower of London]] is famous for housing [[political prisoner]]s, and [[Pontefract Castle]] at various times held [[Thomas of Lancaster]] (1322), [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] (1400), [[Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers|Earl Rivers]] (1483), [[Richard Scrope (bishop)|Richard Scrope]], [[Archbishop of York]] (1405), [[James I of Scotland]] (1405–1424) and [[Charles, Duke of Orléans]] (1417–1430). Purpose-built prison chambers in castles became more common after the 12th century, when they were built into [[gatehouse]]s or mural towers. Some castles had larger provision for prisoners, such as the prison tower at [[Caernarfon Castle]].<ref name=Bottomley>Bottomley, Frank, ''The Castle Explorer's Guide'', Kaye & Ward, London, 1979 {{ISBN|0-7182-1216-9}} pp 143–145</ref>

==Features==
[[Image:Oubliettes.Bastille.png|thumb|Diagram of an alleged oubliette found in the ''[[Bastille]]'' prison in Paris, from {{harvp|Viollet-le-Duc|1854–1868}}<ref>{{cite book |first=E. |last=Viollet-le-Duc |author-link=Eugène Viollet-le-Duc |year=1854–1868 |title=Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle |lang=fr |trans-title=Reasoned Dictionary of French Architecture from the 11th to the 16th&nbsp;Century |place=Paris, FR |publisher=Bance Morel Edition (Balthazar Bance) |url=https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionnaire_raisonn%C3%A9_de_l%E2%80%99architecture_fran%C3%A7aise_du_XIe_au_XVIe_si%C3%A8cle |via=wikisource.org }}<br/>Alternate source: {{cite web |title=Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture ... |website=[[Project Gutenberg]] (gutenberg.org) |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30781 |lang=fr }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=E. |last=Viollet-le-Duc |author-link=Eugène Viollet-le-Duc |year=1919 |title=Rational Dictionary of French Architecture from 11th to 16th&nbsp;Century (1814–1879) |place=Paris, FR / Champaign, IL |publisher=Henri Sabine / University of Illinois Press |translator-last=Ricker |translator-first=Nathan Clifford |lang=en |url=https://archive.org/details/rationaldictiona11viol }}</ref> the commentary {{grey|[by le&nbsp;Duc?]}} speculates that the structure depicted, may actually have been an [[Ice house (building)|ice well]] built to keep ice. If so, whether or not it was known to also have been used as an oubliette is not clear.]]
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, as a whole, have become 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 water-cisterns or even [[Garderobe|latrines]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bottomley |first=Frank |year=1979 |title=The Castle Explorer's Guide |publisher=Kaye & Ward |place=London, UK |ISBN=0-7182-1216-9 |page=145 }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hull |first=Lise |year=2005 |title=The Great Castles of Britain & Ireland |place=UK |publisher=New Holland Publishers |page=34 }}</ref>

However, the tiny chamber that is described as the oubliette, is in reality a short shaft which opens up into a larger chamber with a latrine shaft entering it from above. This suggests that the chamber is in fact a partially back-filled drain. The positioning of the supposed oubliette within the larger dungeon, situated in a small alcove, is typical of [[garderobe]] arrangement within medieval buildings. These factors perhaps point to this feature being the remnants of a latrine rather than a cell for holding prisoners. Footage of the inside of this chamber can be seen in episode&nbsp;3 of the first series of ''[[Secrets of Great British Castles]]''. 
[[Image:Muzej Međimurja, Čakovec - vrata tamnice u Starom gradu Zrinskih.jpg|right|thumb|A dungeon door in the [[Čakovec Castle|Zrinski Castle in Čakovec]], Croatia]]

A "bottle dungeon" is sometimes simply another term for an oubliette.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hull |first=Lise |year=2016 |title=Understanding the Castle Ruins of England and Wales: How to interpret the history and meaning of masonry and earthworks |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476665979 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DKPiCwAAQBAJ&q=%22bottle+dungeon%22&pg=PA137|lang=en }}</ref> It has a narrow entrance at the top and sometimes the room below is even so narrow that it would be impossible to lie down but in other designs the actual cell is larger.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hull |first=Lise |year=2006 |title=Britain's Medieval Castles |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-2759-8414-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fBbNJLEWiLIC&q=%22fancied+the+bottle+dungeon%22&pg=PA31 |lang=en }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Keep |series=Alnwick Castle |website=alnwickcastle.com |place=Alnwick, Northumberland, UK |publisher=Alnick Castle |url=https://www.alnwickcastle.com/explore/history/castle-history/keep |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402164009/http://www.alnwickcastle.com/explore/history/castle-history/keep |archive-date=2 April 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The identification of dungeons and rooms used to hold prisoners is not always a straightforward task. [[Alnwick Castle]] and [[Cockermouth Castle]], both near England's border with Scotland, had chambers in their gatehouses which have often been interpreted as oubliettes.<ref name=Bottomley/> However, this has been challenged. These underground rooms (accessed by a door in the ceiling) were built without latrines, and since the gatehouses at Alnwick and Cockermouth provided accommodation it is unlikely that the rooms would have been used to hold prisoners. An alternative explanation was proposed, suggesting that these were strong-rooms where valuables were stored.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brears |first=Peter |year=2011 |contribution=The administrative role of gatehouses in fourteenth-century north-country castles |editor1-first=M. |editor1-last=Airs |editor2-first=P.S. |editor2-last=Barnwell |title=The Medieval Great House |pages=204–208 |series=Rewley House Studies in the Historic Environment }}</ref> [[Folklore]] often has it that one mode of use for oubliettes in the Borders, which would [[wikt:obviate#Verb|obviate]] latrines anyway, was to throw attackers into the oubliette, close the latch, and leave them to die.<!--[[WP:BLUE]]--> It seems likely that this gruesome act was threatened more often than it was carried out in practice, with the real aim being [[deterrence (penology)|deterrence]] of potential attackers via the notoriety of the rumor that such a fate was entirely possible, and (plausibly) perhaps not unlikely, for anyone who might dare to attack.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}

==In fiction==
Oubliettes and dungeons were a favorite topic of nineteenth century [[gothic novels]] or [[historical novels]], where they appeared as symbols of hidden [[cruelty]] and [[Tyrant|tyrannical]] power. Usually found under medieval castles or [[abbey]]s, they are often used in the narrative by [[villain]]s persecuting blameless characters. For example, in [[Alexandre Dumas]]'s ''[[La Reine Margot (novel)|La Reine Margot]]'', [[Catherine de Medici]] is portrayed gloating over a victim in the oubliettes of the [[Louvre]].<ref>{{cite book |first1=A. |last1=Dumas |author1-link=Alexandre Dumas |first2=A. |last2=Maquet |author2-link=Auguste Maquet |year=1845 |title=La Reine Margot |title-link=La Reine Margot (novel) |chapter=XIII&nbsp;Oreste et Pylade }}</ref>

[[File:Warrek’s Nest.jpg|thumb|A "dungeon" map created for a tabletop roleplaying game]]
Dungeons are common elements in modern fantasy literature, related [[tabletop game|tabletop]], and [[video games]]. The most famous examples are the various ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' media. In this context, the word "dungeon" has come to be used broadly to describe any [[labyrinth]]ine complex (castle, cave system, etc.) rather than a [[prison cell]] or [[torture chamber]] specifically. A [[role-playing game]] largely consisting of dungeon exploration is called a [[dungeon crawl]].

Near the beginning of [[Jack Vance]]'s [[high-fantasy]] ''[[Lyonesse Trilogy]]'' (1983–1989), King Casmir of Lyonesse commits Prince Aillas of Troicinet, who he believes to be a vagabond, to an oubliette for the crime of having seduced his daughter. After some months, the resourceful prince fashions a ladder from the bones of earlier prisoners and the rope by which he had been lowered, and escapes.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}<!-- Available online, but [[WP:COPYVIO]]. ''Lyonesse'', Chapters 11 ("The floor was a circular area about fourteen feet in diameter, flagged with heavy slabs of stone. The stone walls rose vertically six feet, then funneled up to the central shaft, which entered the cell about twelve feet over the floor"), 16 ("In a bell-shaped cell fourteen feet in diameter and seventy feet underground") and 17 ("At the bottom of the oubliette"). -->

In the musical fantasy film [[Labyrinth (1986 film)|''Labyrinth'']], director [[Jim Henson]] includes a scene in which the [[hero]]ine Sarah is freed from an oubliette by the [[Dwarf (mythology)|dwarf]] Hoggle, who defines it for her as "a place you put people ... to forget about 'em!"<ref>{{cite journal |last=Carroll |first=Shiloh |date=Fall 2009 |title=The heart of ''the Labyrinth'': Reading Jim Henson's ''Labyrinth'' as a modern dream vision |journal=[[Mythlore]] |volume=28 |issue=1–2| page=109 |issn=0146-9339 }}</ref>

In the [[Thomas Harris]] novel ''[[The Silence of the Lambs (novel)|The Silence of the Lambs]]'', Clarice makes a descent into [[Buffalo Bill (character)|Gumb's]] basement dungeon labyrinth in the narrative's climactic scene, where the killer is described as having an oubliette.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Messent |first1=Peter |date=December 2000 |title=American gothic: Liminality in Thomas Harris's Hannibal Lecter novels |journal=Journal of American and Comparative Cultures |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=23–35 |doi=10.1111/j.1537-4726.2000.2304_23.x |lang=en |issn=1540-594X }}</ref>

In the [[Robert A. Heinlein]] novel ''[[Stranger in a Strange Land]]'', the term "oubliette" is used to refer to a trash disposal, much like the "memory holes" in ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four (novel)|Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''.

==See also==
* [[Immurement]]
* [[Keep]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Wiktionary|dungeon|oubliette}}
{{commons category|Dungeons}}
* {{Cite journal |title=Megadungeon [special issue] |journal=Magazén: International Journal for Digital and Public Humanities |year=2023 |language=en |volume=4 |issue=2 |doi=10.30687/mag/2724-3923/2023/02 |issn=2724-3923 |editor-first1=Paolo |editor-last1=Berti |editor-first2=Stefania |editor-last2=De Vincentis |editor-first3=Gabriele |editor-last3=de Seta|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |last=Nevell |first=Richard |year=2014–15 |title=Castles as prisons |journal=The Castle Studies Group Journal |volume=28 |pages=203–224 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10871/128699 |hdl=10871/128699 |hdl-access=free}}

{{Man-made and man-related Subterranea}}

[[Category:Castle architecture]]
[[Category:Rooms]]
[[Category:Imprisonment and detention]]