More about dungeons
If you were thrown into prison life could be pretty grim unless you had money or friends with money. For the right fee, the goaler could make your life in prison quite comfortable and even let you out of the prison now and again. Important prisoners never got to see the inside of a dungeon. They were held prisoner in more comfortable surroundings, until their friends or family paid a ransom for their release.

Really unlucky prisoners weren't kept in a dungeon either. They ended up in a windowless room with only one way in (a hole in the ceiling) and they very rarely came out! These horrible holes were called oubliettes.

Sometimes people in prison wrote stories to help pass the time. Sir Thomas Malory was in prison for many years during the 15th Century. He wrote a collection of stories about King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table.

HomeHome Back to the dungeon