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BATTLEMENT (probably from a lost Fr. ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 535 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BATTLEMENT (probably from a lost Fr. See also:form bastillement, cf. mod. Fr. bataille, from Med. See also:Lat. bastilia, towers, which is derived from Ital. bastire, to build, cf. Fr. bdti, ; the See also:English word was, however, See also:early connected with " See also:battle ") , a See also:term given to a See also:parapet of a See also:wall, in which portions have been cut out at intervals to allow the See also:discharge of arrows or other missiles; these cut-out portions are known as " crenels "; the solid widths between the " crenels " are called " merlons." The earliest example in the See also:palace at Medinet-See also:Abu at See also:Thebes in See also:Egypt is of the inverted form, and is said to have been derived from Syrian fortresses. Through See also:Assyria they formed the termination of all the walls surrounding the towns, as shown on has reliefs from Nimrud and elsewhere. Traces of them have been found at See also:Mycenae, and they are suggested on See also:Greek vases. In the battlements of See also:Pompeii, additional See also:protection was given by small See also:internal buttresses or See also:spur walls against which the defender might See also:place himself so as to be protected completely on one See also:side. In the battlements of the See also:middle ages the crenel was about one-third of the width of the See also:merlon, and the latter was in addition pierced with a small slit. The same is also See also:pound in See also:Italian battlements, where the merlon is of much greater height and is capped in a See also:peculiar See also:fashion. The battlements of the Mahommedans had a more decorative and varied See also:character, and were retained from the 13th See also:century onwards not so much for defensive purposes as for a crowning feature to their walls. They may be regarded therefore in the same See also:light as the cresting found in the See also:Spanish See also:renaissance. The same retention of the battlement as a purely decorative feature is found throughout the Decorated and Perpendicular periods, and not only occurs on parapets but on the transoms of windows and on the tie-beams of See also:roofs and on screens.

A further decorative treatment was given in the elaborate panelling of the merlons and that portion of the parapet walls rising above the See also:

cornice, by the introduction of quatrefoils and other conventional forms filled with foliage and See also:shields.

End of Article: BATTLEMENT (probably from a lost Fr. form bastillement, cf. mod. Fr. bataille, from Med. Lat. bastilia, towers, which is derived from Ital. bastire, to build, cf. Fr. bdti, ; the English word was, however, early connected with " battle ")

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