A keep is a strong central tower which is used as a dungeon or a fortress. Often, the keep is the most defended area of a castle, and as such may form the main habitation area, or contain important stores such as the armory, food, and the main water well, which would ensure survival during a siege.

An earlier word for a keep, still used for some medieval monuments, especially in France, is donjon; a derivative word is dungeon. In Spanish, this type of structure commonly is referred to as torre del homenaje. In German castles, a tower called abergfried has the defensive, but not the residential, function of a keep.

Keeps exist in a remarkable variety of shapes and sizes. They may be of ’square’ variety, generally found on the British Isles, cylindrical, octagonal, both regular and irregular polygonal forms, or a combination or several of these features. Effectively, some castles in fact, were no more than a keep and often these are referred to simply as tower houses.

Often early keeps were just square towers with very thick walls, scarcely more than a residential hall, such as Château de Langeais. This structure later developed into the more recognizable rectangular residential keep by the eleventh century.

The form and function of the keep changed with time and varied depending upon the region where it was built. As the keep was a defensive structure, the shaping trend changed to adapt to the developments in weapon technology. For example, the round or cylindrical keep was first introduced as a defence against the battering ram. A battering ram could cause severe damage to the flat wall of a square tower; the curved wall of a round tower has significantly more resistance to external impact, for the same reason an arched doorway is stronger than a flat-topped one. Also, round towers have the advantage of less “dead ground”, or, areas not visible from the tower summit.

By the early twelfth century, cylindrical keeps had become popular and they remained prominent in France until the end of the medieval period (e.g. Montlhéry,Rouen). Variations on the rounded type began to appear at the same time. These included towers with triangular, prow-like projections (such as Château Gaillard), polygonal keeps such as at Oxford ”multi-lobed” keeps such as Clifford’s Tower.

From the early thirteenth century onward many castles were designed without traditional keeps, instead the preferred plans for defensive structures were concentrated in the walls and towers of the enceinte, or in a gatehouse. Early examples may be seen at Château de Boulogne-sur-Mer, in Boulogne-sur-Mer and Bolingbroke Castle in Bolingbroke, Lincolnshire, and later, at The Bastille. In some castles the gatehouse took over the functions of the keep, serving as refuge, residence, and command post, such as at Harlech Castle.

As nobles became more interested in grand halls and comfortable living quarters, the keep lost its domestic role. Although keeps continued to be used and built, there is evidence that many had a reduced role, demonstrated by the lack of residential amenities in the tower plans, such as latrines and chimneys.

In Western Europe, however, the defensible residential keep experienced resurgence before the end of the medieval period, as towers were built to house nobles and their retinues securely, but at a very high level of comfort and luxury (e.g. Raglan Castle, Ashby de la Zouch Castle, Château de Vincennes, and Château de Largoët). This luxurious type was particularly popular in late medieval Scotland up until the 1600s (e.g. Craigievar Castle). Another word for this type of keep is the tower house.

Visit My Lineage today to learn if your family lived in a Keep!

Thomas Harriot (Oxford, c. 1560 – London, 2 July 1621) was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. Some sources give his surname as Harriott or Hariot or Heriot. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to Great Britain and Ireland. Harriot was the first person to make a drawing of the Moon through a telescope, on July 26, 1609, over four months before Galileo.

After graduating from Oxford University, Harriot traveled to the Americas on an expedition funded by Raleigh, and on his return he worked for the 9th Earl of Northumberland. At the Earl’s house, he became a prolific mathematician and astronomer to whom the theory of refraction is attributed.
Born in 1560 in Oxford, England, Thomas Harriot attended St Mary Hall, Oxford. His name appears in the school’s registry dating from 1577.

After his graduation from Oxford (in 1580), Harriot was first hired by Sir Walter Raleigh as a mathematics tutor; he used his knowledge of astronomy/astrology to provide navigational expertise. Harriot was also involved in designing Raleigh’s ships and served as his accountant. During this time he also wrote a treatise on navigation prior to his expedition with Raleigh.

He was dedicated to work for Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland with whom he also resided at Syon House, which was run by Henry Percy’s cousin Thomas Percy.
Harriot’s sponsors began to fall from favour: Raleigh fell from favour, and Harriot’s other patron Henry Percy, the Ninth Earl of Northumberland, was imprisoned in 1605 in connection with the Gunpowder Plot as he was the second cousin of one of the conspirators, Thomas Percy.

Harriot himself was interrogated and briefly imprisoned but soon released. Walter Warner, Robert Hues, William Lower and other scientific peers were present around the Earl of Northumberland’s mansion as they worked and lent a hand in the teaching of the family’s children.

Halley’s Comet in 1607 turned Harriot’s attention towards astronomy. In early 1609 he bought a “Dutch trunke” (telescope), invented in 1608, and his observations were amongst the first uses of a telescope for astronomy. Harriot is now credited as the first astronomer to draw an astronomical object after viewing it through a telescope: he drew a map of the Moon on July 26, 1609, preceding Galileo by several months. He also observed sunspots in December 1610.

Discover if Thomas Harriot is part of your family lineage and visit My Lineage today.

The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake, took place on Saturday 1 November 1755, at around 9:40 in the morning. The earthquake was followed by a tsunami and fires, which caused near-total destruction of Lisbon in the Kingdom, and adjoining areas. Geologists today estimate the Lisbon earthquake approached magnitude 9 on the moment, with an epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean about 200 km (120 mi) west-southwest of Cape St. Vincent. Estimates place the death toll in Lisbon alone between 10,000 and 100,000 people, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes in history.

The earthquake accentuated political tensions in the Kingdom of Portugal and profoundly disrupted the country’s eighteenth-century colonial. The event was widely discussed and dwelt upon by European Enlightenment philosophers, and inspired major developments in theodicy and in the philosophy of the sublime. As the first earthquake studied scientifically for its effects over a large area, it led to the birth of modern seismology and earthquake engineering.

The prime minister’s response was not limited to the practicalities of reconstruction. He ordered a query sent to all parishes of the country regarding the earthquake and its effects. Questions included:
1. At what time did the earthquake begin and how long did the earthquake last?
2. Did you perceive the shock to be greater from one direction than another? Example, from north to south? Did buildings seem to fall more to one side than the other?
3. How many people died and were any of them distinguished?
4. Did the sea rise or fall first, and how many hands did it rise above the normal?
5. If fire broke out, how long did it last and what damage did it cause

The answers to these and other questions are still archived in the Torre do Tombo, the national historical archive. Studying and cross-referencing the priests’ accounts, modern scientists were able to reconstruct the event from a scientific perspective. Without the query designed by the Marquis of Pombal, this would have been impossible. Because the marquis was the first to attempt an objective scientific description of the broad causes and consequences of an earthquake, he is regarded as a forerunner of modern seismological scientists.

The geological causes of this earthquake and the seismic activity in the region continue to be discussed and debated by contemporary scientists.

Visit My Lineage today to learn about events from your country of origin.

Jeffery Amherst was born in Sevenoaks, England on 29 January 1717, into a family of lawyers. From an early age he received the patronage of the Duke of Dorset. Amherst became a soldier in 1735 when he became an ensign in the Grenadier.

From 1741 he served in the War of the Austrian Succession. His regiment was part of the British force sent to protect the Austrian in 1741. He became an aide to General John Ligonier the following year. As a staff officer he participated in the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 and the Battle of Fontenoy. Along with much of the army in Flanders, he was recalled to Britain during the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745. Returning to the continent he was given a prestigious post as an aide to the Duke of Cumberland, the commander of the British forces and saw further action.

In February 1756 Amherst was appointed commissariat to the Hessian forces that had been assembled to defend Hanover as part of the Army of Observation. As it appeared likely a French invasion attempt against Britain itself was imminent, Amherst was ordered in April to arrange the transportation of thousands of the Germans to southern England to bolster Britain’s defense. By 1757 as the immediate danger to Britain had passed the troops were moved back to Hanover to join a growing army under the Duke of Cumberland.

Amherst fought with the Hessians at the Battle of Hastenbeck in July 1757. The Allied defeat there forced the army into a steady retreat northwards to Stade on the North Sea coast.
Amherst was left dispirited by the retreat and by the Convention of Klosterzeven by which Hanover agreed to withdraw from the war. He began to prepare to disband the Hessian troops under his command, only to receive word that the Convention had been repudiated and the Allied force was being reformed. Amherst was in Stade preparing to retake the offensive under the army’s new commander Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick when he received word summoning him back to England.

Discover if Amherst is part of your family lineage and visit My Lineage.