Place: Chateau de Falaise, Falaise, Normandy, France

Most Medieval castles had one keep, or central fortress tower.  Over the years, Chateau de Falaise in Normandy acquired three keeps.  It was important in the history of the Norman and early Plantagenet kings.

The word falaise means cliff in Norman French.  The castle site is on a very steep bluff overlooking a valley in the Calvados Department of Normandy.  The town is famous as the birthplace of William the Conqueror, the first Norman King of England in 1028.  The castle he was born in was later replaced by his son, Henry I, who built the squared-off Norman stone keep on the bluff.  Later, a second keep, the petit donjon, was added alongside the larger structure.  Henry I's heirs, the Plantagenets, kept the castle in their possession.  It was here in 1202 that Arthur, Duke of Brittany, was interned by his uncle, King John, to prevent Arthur from exercising his claim to the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy.  Later, in 1203, Arthur would be taken to Rouen and there disappear from history.  By 1207, Phillip II had overtaken most of Normandy.  He acquired Chateau de Falaise and began constructing a round tower keep near the other two. 

But the Plantagenets weren't through trying to reconquer their ancestral portions of France and the castle changed hands several times, particularly during the Hundred Years War.  The round tower is often called La Tour Talbot, after one English commander during the Hundred Years War, John Talbot, later Earl of Shrewsbury.  The castle was deserted during the 17th century and survived the French Revolution.  In 1840, it was designated a historical monument by the French Ministry of Culture.  The area suffered bombardment during World War II but the three keeps were unscathed.