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A battlement, in defensive architecture such as city walls and castles, is a parapet—a low protective wall between chest and head height—in which regularly spaced gaps or indentations, usually rectangular, allow defenders to launch arrows or other projectiles while the solid sections afford cover.^[1] The gaps are called embrasures, also termed crenels or crenelles; a wall or building furnished with them is described as crenellated, while the older synonyms castellated and embattled remain in common use. The act of cutting crenels into a previously unbroken parapet is known as crenellation.

The solid sections between crenels are called merlons. Battlements on walls protect a walkway, the chemin de ronde, running behind them; on towers or buildings the roof itself typically serves as a sheltered fighting platform.

A building might be designed from the outset with battlements, or an existing structure—a manor house, for example—might later be fortified by adding them. From the later Middle Ages onwards, battlements also became a widely used decorative motif on churches, secular buildings, and architectural details with no defensive function.

The word battlement entered English around the 14th century from the Old French batailler, “to fortify with batailles“—fixed or movable defensive turrets. Crenel derives from the Old French cren (modern French cran), from Latin crena, meaning a notch, mortice, or gap cut out to receive another element; compare crenation. The modern French créneau retains its literal sense of any gap or slot—applied colloquially to a roadside parking space, an interval between columns of troops, or a broadcast time-slot.^[2]

In medieval England and Wales a licence to crenellate granted its holder royal permission to fortify a property. Such licences were issued by the monarch and, within their own jurisdictions, by the rulers of the counties palatine—among them the Bishops of Durham, the Earls of Chester, and, after 1351, the Dukes of Lancaster. The number of castles in England greatly exceeded the number of licences issued.^[3] Owners who had fortified without licence could obtain a royal pardon on payment of an arbitrarily assessed fine. The surviving licence records, normally issued as letters patent, constitute valuable evidence for dating ancient buildings. A comprehensive list of licences granted by the English Crown between the 12th and 16th centuries, originally compiled by Turner and Parker, was expanded and corrected by Philip Davis and published in The Castle Studies Group Journal.^[4]

The purpose of the licensing system has been debated by historians. The traditional military interpretation holds that licensing limited the number of strongpoints available for use against royal forces. The view now more widely accepted, advanced principally by Charles Coulson, is that battlements had become an architectural status symbol eagerly sought by the socially ambitious: “Licences to crenellate were mainly symbolic representations of lordly status: castellation was the architectural expression of noble rank.”^[5][4] They signalled that the grantee had received “royal recognition, acknowledgment and compliment”.^[6][4] A secondary benefit was a basic deterrent against opportunistic theft, a function Coulson compares to the modern installation of conspicuous CCTV cameras and burglar alarms, often non-functional. The Crown ordinarily waived the fee, though it occasionally charged around half a mark.^[4]

Battlements may be corbelled outward so that they overhang the face of the wall below. When openings are left between the supporting corbels, defenders can drop stones, hot liquids, or burning materials onto attackers at the base of the wall; these projecting galleries with floor openings are called machicolations. Where full stone machicolation was impractical, timber hoardings served the same purpose and could be removed when not needed.

Battlements are among the oldest known architectural defensive features. The earliest confirmed example is at the Buhen fortress in Egypt, dating to the Middle Kingdom. Battlements also appear on the walls of Assyrian towns, as shown in bas-reliefs from Nimrud and other sites. Traces survive at Mycenae in Greece, and representations on ancient Greek pottery suggest their widespread use. The Great Wall of China incorporates battlements along much of its length.

In European battlements of the Middle Ages the crenel was typically one-third the width of the adjacent merlon. Merlons were frequently pierced with arrow loops of varying profiles—round, slit, or cruciform—matched to the weapon in use; later designs accommodated early firearms. From the 13th century, merlons could be fitted with hinged wooden shutters called mantlets, which were swung open during shooting and closed to protect the defender during reloading.

Roman military engineers initially used low wooden pinnacles on their aggeres (earthwork terrepleins). Stone battlements at Pompeii show a refinement peculiar to Roman practice: small internal buttresses or spur walls project inward at the base of each merlon, allowing a defender to press against them and be shielded on one flank while shooting through the adjacent crenel.

Italian battlements are distinguished by merlons of notably greater height than their northern European counterparts, often capped with a distinctive profile. Ghibelline (or swallowtail) merlons, associated with the Imperial faction, have a V-shaped notch at the top that creates two horn-like projections; a defender could stand fully upright and shoot while remaining largely covered on both sides. The plain rectangular merlon, by contrast, became known retrospectively as the Guelph type. Loop-holes were common throughout Italian battlemented construction.

South Asian battlements differ substantially from European and Middle Eastern traditions. Merlons were typically semicircular and pointed at the top rather than rectangular; in some cases, such as at Chittorgarh, the parapet is solid and merlons are represented in relief on the outer face only.^[7] Loopholes were placed both within the merlons and beneath the crenels, oriented either horizontally to command distant approaches or downward to cover the foot of the wall. A single merlon might contain two or three loopholes, often divided by horizontal or vertical partitions into narrower slits. The shape of both merlons and loopholes could vary within a single fortification, as is evident at Kumbhalgarh.^[7]

In Islamic and North African fortifications, merlons were frequently rounded rather than rectangular. Arab battlements in particular took on an increasingly decorative and varied character from the 13th century onwards, functioning less as a practical defensive feature than as an ornamental crowning element for walls and towers—a role comparable to the cresting found in Spanish Renaissance architecture.

“Irish” crenellations are a distinctive regional form that emerged between the 14th and 17th centuries. Each merlon is stepped into an inverted-T shape, giving the parapet a characteristic silhouette visible on many surviving tower houses and fortified churches across the island.^{[8][9][10][11]}

European architects continued to employ battlements as a decorative element well beyond their military usefulness, particularly during the Decorated and Perpendicular phases of Gothic architecture. Beyond parapets, the motif appeared on window transoms, the tie-beams of roofs, interior screens, and even Tudor chimney-pots. Merlons and the parapet wall above the cornice were further enriched by elaborate panelling incorporating quatrefoils and other carved forms filled with foliage and heraldic shields. A distinctive characteristic of late medieval English parish churches is the crenellation of tower tops—and often of lower nave and aisle walls—solely for aesthetic effect, a tradition that persisted into the 19th-century Gothic Revival.

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  Rohtas Fort, Pakistan
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  Idrakpur Fort, Bangladesh
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  Taghmon Church,
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  Blagaj Fortress, Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Coulson, Charles, 1979, “Structural Symbolism in Medieval Castle Architecture”, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, vol. 132, pp. 73–90.
• Coulson, Charles, 1994, “Freedom to Crenellate by Licence—An Historiographical Revision”, Nottingham Medieval Studies, vol. 38, pp. 86–137.
• Coulson, Charles, 1995, “Battlements and the Bourgeoisie: Municipal Status and the Apparatus of Urban Defence”, in Church, Stephen (ed.), Medieval Knighthood, vol. 5, Boydell, pp. 119–95.
• Coulson, Charles, 2003, Castles in Medieval Society, Oxford University Press.
• King, D. J. Cathcart, 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum, Kraus.