What are the crenellations on a castle called?

What are the crenellations on a castle called?

Each upright section is called a merlon or crenel, and they protected defenders from attacks. You can see these fishtail merlons at multiple castles, including Fénis Castle. Its double curtain walls and medieval frescoes reflect its history as a high-status fortified residence, yet it was restored in the 19th century.

What is the difference between Castellations and crenellations?

As adjectives the difference between castellated and crenellated. is that castellated is having turrets or battlements, like a castle while crenellated is having crenellations or battlements.

What are merlons in a castle?

A merlon is a solid, vertical part of the wall of a fort or a battlement. The narrow opening or tiny window in a merlon is called an “embrasure slit.” Merlons are always solid, and often they are the upright, pointed sections of a parapet or fortification wall.

What does the word crenellations mean?

Definition of crenellation 1 : battlement. 2 : any of the embrasures alternating with merlons in a battlement — see battlement illustration.

Why do churches have crenellations?

The act of adding crenels to a previously unbroken parapet is termed crenellation. The function of battlements in war is to protect the defenders by giving them something to hide behind, from which they can pop out to launch their own missiles.

What are the tops of castles called?

In architecture, a battlement is a structure on top of castle or fortress walls that protects from attack. Historically, battlements were usually narrow walls at the top of the outermost walls of a castle. Battlements have several important parts. The short, topmost part of the wall was called the parapet.

What is a Postern in a castle?

A postern is a secondary door or gate in a fortification such as a city wall or castle curtain wall. Posterns were often located in a concealed location which allowed the occupants to come and go inconspicuously.

What are crenellated abbeys?

English Language Learners Definition of crenellated : having open spaces at the top of a wall so that people can shoot guns and cannons outward. See the full definition for crenellated in the English Language Learners Dictionary.

What is crenellated wall?

adjective [usually ADJECTIVE noun] In a castle, a crenellated wall has gaps in the top or openings through which to fire at attackers.

Who were the Ghibellines and where did they come from?

This was the start of the feud between the house of Welf (Guelph), the followers of the dukes of Saxony and Bavaria, and the house of the lords of Hohenstaufen, whose castle at Waiblingen (near present-day Stuttgart) lent the Ghibellines their name.

What is the difference between the Ghibellines and the Welfs?

Thus, the Staufers became known as the Ghibellines and the Welfs eventually became known as the Guelphs. The Ghibellines were the imperial party, while the Guelphs supported the pope.

What were the wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines?

Wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. The Guelphs and Ghibellines (/ɡwɛlfs ˈɡɪbɪlaɪnz/, US also /-liːnz, -lɪnz/; Italian: guelfi e ghibellini [ˈɡwɛlfi e ɡɡibelˈliːni]) were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in the Italian city-states of central and northern Italy.

What is the difference between the Ghibelline and Guelf factions?

Sometimes, there could also be different Guelf and Ghibelline factions in the same city. For example, in Florence after the fall of the Ghibellines, the Guelphs divided into the White Guelphs and Black Guelphs. Dante belonged to the White Guelphs. In general, the Guelphs were more often victorious.