Donjons, which were the residence of the lord of the castle, evolved to become more spacious. The design emphasis of donjons changed to reflect a shift from functional to decorative requirements, imposing a symbol of lordly power upon the landscape. This sometimes led to compromising defence for the sake of display.
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At this time the "dihqans", a new class of feudal landowners came into existence. They were descendants of the ancient nobility, courtiers or soldiers who had been rewarded for military services. Their agricultural estates were called "rustaq". They lived in "donjons", small square forts surrounded by a defensive wall.
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It was Lubomirski who erected, according to Maciej Trapola's design, the quadrilateral castle with corner donjons surrounded by fortifications. Other traces of Lubomirski's restructuring include parts of the castle fortification, presumably the work of Krzysztof Mieroszewski (1600-1679). During the Swedish invasion of Poland, in 1656, the castle was visited by King John II Casimir (1609-1672).
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The smaller towers surrounding the court were as big as the donjons being built at that time by the French monarchy. The rest of the bluff is covered by the lower court of the castle, and the small town.Charles-Laurent Salch, Dictionnaire des châteaux et des fortifications du moyen-âge en France . Publisher: Editions Publitotal, Strasbourg (France); 1979.
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Edward I may have been familiar with Aigues-Mortes having passed through the fortress on the way to join the Eighth Crusade in 1270. An alternative possibility is the influence of Jean Mésot on James of Saint George, Mésot having worked in Southern France before influencing Saint George in Savoy.de Raemy, Daniel. 2004. Chateaux, donjons et grandes tours dans les Etats de Savoie (1230-1330).
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The Palace of the Counts of Cocentaina, located in the municipality of Cocentaina, Alicante, Spain, is a 14th-century medieval building. This building originated as an old fortress with four halls and four towers on donjons crowned by merlons. The art gallery of the palace shows works with artistic value like the gothic altarpiece of Saint Barbara or the altarpiece of Saint Anthony by Nicolás Borrás and the sacred Bible from the 15th century.
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Chinese 龙与地下城 (Dragons and Underground Castles, or Dragons and Underground Cities). Some translations used a false friend of "dungeon", even if it changed the meaning of the title, such as the French Donjons et dragons (Keeps and Dragons). In Hebrew, the game was published as מבוכים ודרקונים (Labyrinths and Dragons). Additionally, some translations adopted the English word "dungeon" as a game term, leaving it untranslated in the text as well.
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The donjon, the major defensive component of the castle, measures approximately 30 metres in height and 13.6 metres in diameter. It is the typical of the donjons being built by Philip Augustus at this time (e.g. Rouen), and by French nobility through the 13th century. The donjon separated from the castle by its own ditch The conception of the geometric pattern and isolated donjon was similar to that of the castle of the Louvre.
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In time of war the towers served as donjons, whereby wooden stellages were built round the towers, from where the enemy could be bombarded.Den Hartog (1992), pp.177-178. This happened among other occasions in conflicts between the abbey and the neighbouring town of Brustem, during which the abbey was sacked at least once. Under abbot Wiricus (abbot 1155-1180) the conventual buildings were modernised, a task which according to the Gesta abbatum Trudosensium (the annals of Sint-Truiden) lasted three-quarters of a century.
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Gradually, the two functions merged into the same building, and the highest residential storeys had large windows; as a result for many structures, it is difficult to find an appropriate term. The massive internal spaces seen in many surviving donjons can be misleading; they would have been divided into several rooms by light partitions, as in a modern office building. Even in some large castles the great hall was separated only by a partition from the lord's "chamber", his bedroom and to some extent his office.
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In the reign of Siegfried II of Westerburg (1275–1295), it successfully resisted a five-week siege by the Count of Cleves. Weyden, p. 40. Successive archbishops continued to improve the defenses with stronger walls, adding levels to the central Bergfried, which was cylindrical, not square like many medieval donjons. In addition to the construction of the small residence, these archbishops also expanded the inner works to include dungeons and a chapel; they fortified the walls with towers and crenelations, added a curtain wall, and improved the roads that led to the entrance in a series of switchbacks.
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Architectural edifices were created in Loire valley from the 10th century onwards with the defensive fortress like structures called the "keeps" or "donjons" built between 987 and 1040 by Anjou Count Foulques Nerra of Anjou (the Falcon). However, one of the oldest such structures in France is the Donjon de Foulques Nerra built in 944.Williams & Boone, p. 19 This style was replaced by the religious architectural style in the 12th to 14th centuries when the impregnable château fortresses were built on top of rocky hills; one of the impressive fortresses of this type is the Château d'Angers, which has 17 gruesome towers.
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The country was therefore successfully harried and burned by him and the town of Mag Samradhain and the donjons of the country likewise were burned by him on that occasion. And many of the magnates of the country were slain by Mag Uidhir on that occasion. Mag Uidhir returned to his house on that expedition after triumph of victory and overthrow and so on. The Annals of Loch Cé for 1431 state- John, son of Cuchonnacht, son of Philip Mag Uidhir, was slain by the Tellach-Echach in treachery. In 1439 his first cousin Mrs More MacManus died.
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Only a few examples of staircase towers have survived from ancient times (e.g. on the Imperial Baths in Trier); staircases were often superfluous on the only single-storey buildings or were built into the outer walls of buildings that were often several feet thick. This tradition continued in the keeps (donjons), churches and castles of the early and high Middle Ages; and this situation only changed with the increasing construction of purpose-built and generally rather undecorated staircase towers of the High and Late Middle Ages (Romanesque and Gothic architecture styles). Since the Renaissance period, staircase towers were markedly more decorative and representative of status.
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The fortification had been originally constructed in the medieval style and in the reign of Siegfried II of Westwald (1275–1295) successfully resisted a five-week siege by Count William of Cleves. Weyden, p. 40. Successive archbishops continued to improve the fortifications with stronger walls and expanded moats, adding levels to the central Bergfried, which was cylindrical, not square like many medieval donjons, expanded the inner works to include a small residence, dungeons, and chapel, fortified the walls, added a curtain wall, and improved the roads. By the 1580s, it was an elaborate stone fortress, and it had been enhanced partially in the style made popular by Italian military architects.
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Matsumoto Castle The category includes nine designated National Treasures located at five sites (Himeji Castle, Matsumoto Castle, Inuyama Castle, Hikone Castle, and Matsue Castle) and comprises eighteen structures such as donjons, watch towers, and connecting galleries. Himeji Castle, the most visited castle in Japan and a World Heritage Site, has five National Treasures; the other castles each have one. The designated structures represent the apogee of Japanese castle construction, and date from the end of the Sengoku period, from the late 16th to the first half of the 17th century. Built of wood and plaster on a stone foundation, the castles were military fortifications as well as political, cultural, and economic centers.
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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") is a basement room which is accessible only from a hatch or hole (an angstloch) in a high ceiling; however, the description of these basement rooms as "dungeons" stems from the romanticised castle studies of the 19th century. There is no evidence to indicate that prisoners were really lowered through the angstloch into the dungeon using a rope or rope ladder as these 19th century accounts suggest.
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