Parts of a Castle – the Battlements
Also Known as Crenellations, a Castle’s Vantage Point
Jun 29, 2009
A medieval castle’s battlements were one of the useful and visible means of deterring an enemy from attacking the castle. Often visible from miles around, attackers knew a castle's defenders could use the battlements as a platform for attacking and fighting.
The Purpose of Battlements on a Castle
As with many words for the parts of a castle, the word for battlements is derived from a French word; batillement, which means tower, denoting the top of the castle.
A castle’s battlements was made up of crenels and merlons. The crenels were the open spaces built between the merlons, which were made of solid stone and were the highest parts of the battlements.
The main purpose of the battlements was to allow a soldier a good vantage point from which to see the approaching enemy and once the enemy was within range, to fire at enemy troops to try to prevent them attacking the castle. Most medieval castles were sited on high ground and so from the battlements, one of the highest parts of the castle, it could be possible to see all approaches to the castle for many miles.
The battlements of a castle could also be used as a fighting point and were particularly useful when the defences of a castle were being breached, with invaders attempting to scale the walls. Anyone on the battlements, looking down on his attackers, was in a superior position and could knock down ladders and fire arrows or throw boiling liquids over the walls.
The History of Battlements on a Medieval Castle
Although battlements were widely used in stone medieval castles, from the eleventh century onwards, this form of architecture was already very old by the Middle Ages. Battlements had been used in Egypt, Syria, Greece and Italy, from before the time of Christ.
As the use of battlements increased in medieval times, variations in the shape and size of the crenels (open spaces) began to occur, to accommodate different types of weapons. Some battlements had shutters which could open when the defender was ready to fire and then close before fire was returned.
From the thirteenth century onwards and following experience gained during Crusades to the Middle East, many European castles began to be built with narrower merlons and more open spaces, which allowed a greater number of soldiers to defend at any one time. The use of arrow slits in the merlons allowed arrows to be fired whilst protecting the attacker.
Source:
Creighton OH, Higham Robert Medieval Castles [Shire, 2003]
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