Oubliettes in the Paris prison of La Bastille
Dictionary of French Architecture from 11th to 16th Century (1854–1868), by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc ( January 27 1814 &ndash September 17, 1879) was a French Architect and theorist famous for his "restorations"

An oubliette (from the French oubliettes (noun plural)) was a form of dungeon which was accessible only from a hatch in a high ceiling. This is about European castles For other uses see Dungeon (disambiguation A dungeon is a place where Prisoners are kept

History

To exit an oubliette was nearly impossible without outside help. 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. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Most prisoners were left to die of starvation.

Another form of oubliette was a shelf in a long steeply sloping tunnel leading down to the moat or to the sea. Once cast down the tunnel, a victim would either slowly starve or cast themselves further down to drown.

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. Sir Walter Scott 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 &ndash 21 September 1832 was a prolific Scottish Historical novelist and Poet popular throughout Ivanhoe is a Novel by Sir Walter Scott. It was written in 1819 and set in 12th century England, an example of Historical fiction ' (OED) 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 during the Gothic Revival period. The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement which began

At Leap Castle in Ireland workers discovered an oubliette. Leap Castle is an Irish Castle in County Offaly, about four miles north of the town of Roscrea on the R421. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world There are spikes at the bottom of this shaft, and when workers were cleaning it out, it took them three cartloads to carry out all the human bones at the bottom. A somewhat chilling report indicates that these workmen also found a pocketwatch dated to the 1840s amongst the bones. There are no indications of whether or not the oubliette was still in use in that period.

There is an excellent example of an oubliette at the chateau in Meung-sur-Loire near Orleans in France. Meung-sur-Loire is a historic commune (town located on the Loire River, in the Loiret département in France. This article is about the French city of Orléans for other meanings see Orleans (disambiguation. This consists of a submerged structure close to the castle. There is an opening at the top which reveals a large circular stone-clad pit, approximately twenty metres in depth, approximately five metres across, with sheer walls. It has a central hole in the floor, a pit within the pit, the lower pit being used for excrement and dead prisoners.

One example of what might be popularly termed an "oubliette" is the particularly claustrophobic cell in the prison of Warwick Castle, in central England. Claustrophobia (from Greek κλειστο closed is the fear of enclosed spaces Warwick Castle (, like warren) is a medieval Shell keep Castle in Warwick, the County town of Warwickshire, England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The access hatch consists of an iron grille secured by a hasp and (now) padlock. Padlocks are portable locks used to protect against Theft, Vandalism, Sabotage, Espionage, unauthorized use and harm

Other meanings

Oubliette is also used to refer to ice formations over lakes or other large bodies of water. As ice crystals formed, and air was introduced in the movement of the tides, tunnels would form under the ice.

Literature and films

Oubliettes were a favourite topic of 19th 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. Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. An historical novel is a Novel in which the story is set among historical events or more generally in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the Author The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century Usually found under medieval castles or abbeys, they were used by villainous characters, often Catholic monks and inquisitors, to persecute blameless characters. The Spanish Inquisition started and was established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile to maintain In Alexandre Dumas's La Reine Margot, Catherine of Medicis is portrayed gloating over a victim in the oubliettes of the Louvre. The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre located in Paris is the world's most visited art museum a historic monument and a national museum of France ^[1]

An oubliette of sorts is featured in Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Though described as a dungeon and associated with other forms of torture, it is outfitted with some life-saving devices and serves as a severe-weather shelter following the introduction of ice-nine into the ocean surrounding San Lorenzo. For other uses see Cat's cradle (disambiguation. Cat's Cradle is a 1963 Science fiction Novel by Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr (November 11 1922 – April 11 2007 (ˈvɒnəgət was a prolific and genre-bending American Novelist known for works blending Satire, Black Ice-nine is a Fictional material conceived by writer Kurt Vonnegut in his novel Cat's Cradle. The novel's narrator laments that "the creature comforts of the dungeon did nothing to mitigate the basic fact of oubliation"^[2]

See also

• Immurement

Footnotes

1. ^ La Reine Margot, XIII Oreste et Pylade
2. ^ Cat's Cradle, p. Immurement is a form of Execution where a person is walled up within a building and left to die from Starvation or Dehydration. 264, New York: Dial Press, 2006.