Château de Vincennes in the context of Palais de la Cité

The Vincennes porcelain manufactory was established in 1740 in the disused royal Château de Vincennes, in Vincennes, east of Paris, which was from the start the main market for its wares.

A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the castle fall to an adversary. The first keeps were made of timber and formed a key part of the motte-and-bailey castles that emerged in Normandy and Anjou during the 10th century; the design spread to England, Portugal, south Italy and Sicily. As a result of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, use spread into Wales during the second half of the 11th century and into Ireland in the 1170s. The Anglo-Normans and French rulers began to build stone keeps during the 10th and 11th centuries, including Norman keeps, with a square or rectangular design, and circular shell keeps. Stone keeps carried considerable political as well as military importance and could take a decade or more to build.

During the 12th century, new designs began to be introduced – in France, quatrefoil-shaped keeps were introduced, while in England polygonal towers were built. By the end of the century, French and English keep designs began to diverge: Philip II of France built a sequence of circular keeps as part of his bid to stamp his royal authority on his new territories, while in England castles were built without keeps. In Spain, keeps were increasingly incorporated into both Christian and Islamic castles, although in Germany tall fighting towers called bergfriede were preferred to keeps in the western fashion. In the second half of the 14th century, there was a resurgence in the building of keeps. In France, the keep at Vincennes near Paris began a fashion for tall, heavily machicolated designs, a trend adopted in Spain most prominently through the Valladolid school of Spanish castle design. Meanwhile, tower keeps in England became popular amongst the most wealthy nobles: these large keeps, each uniquely designed, formed part of the grandest castles built during the period.

Château de Vincennes (French pronunciation: [ʃɑto d(ə) vɛ̃sɛn]) is a station on line 1 of the Paris Métro, situated on the border between the communes of Vincennes and the Bois de Vincennes, which is part of the 12th arrondissement of Paris. It is named after the nearby Château de Vincennes.

Louis I, Duke of Anjou (23 July 1339 – 20 September 1384) was a French prince, the second son of John II of France and Bonne of Bohemia. His career was markedly unsuccessful. Born at the Château de Vincennes, Louis was the first of the Angevin branch of the Valois royal house. His father appointed him Count of Anjou and Count of Maine in 1356, and then raised him to the title Duke of Anjou in 1360 and Duke of Touraine in 1370.

He fought in the Battle of Poitiers (1356), in which his father the king was captured by the English. In 1360, he was one of a group of hostages the French surrendered to the English in exchange for the king. He escaped from England, after which his father felt bound in honour to return to English custody, where he later died.

48°50′35″N 2°26′10″E / 48.843°N 2.436°E / 48.843; 2.436

In France, the Defence Historical Service (Service historique de la défense; SHD) is the archives centre of Ministry of Defence and its armed forces. It was set up by decree in 2005.

Vincennes (/vɪnˈsɛnz, væ̃ˈsɛn/; French: [vɛ̃sɛn] ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 6.7 km (4.2 mi) from the centre of Paris. Vincennes is famous for its castle: the Château de Vincennes. It is next to but does not include the Bois de Vincennes, from which it took its name, which is attached to the city of Paris.