Crenellation (or crenelation, also known as castellation) is the name for the distinctive pattern that frames the tops of the walls of many medieval castles, often called battlements. A castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. A battlement, (also called a Crenellation) in defensive Architecture such as that of City walls or Castles comprises a Parapet Crenellation most commonly takes the form of multiple, regular, rectangular spaces cut out of the top of the wall to allow defenders spaces to shoot arrows from and other spaces to hide behind full cover.

The fortifications of Château de Pierrefonds feature two levels of crenellated battlements

The technical name for an opening in crenellations is embrasure or crenel (or crenelle), while the raised portions of the wall between them are called merlons. The Château de Pierrefonds is an imposing Castle situated in the commune of Pierrefonds in the Oise département The term embrasure, in Military architecture, refers to the opening in a Crenellation or Battlement between the two raised solid portions or Merlons A merlon, in Architecture, forms the solid part of an embattled Parapet, sometimes pierced by Embrasures The word comes from the Crenellations would have been used originally on defensive walls built around a settlement (with or without a castle), but the modern experience of them is mainly their appearance on the towers and turrets of castles and mock-castles. Towers are tall human-made Structures that are always taller than they are wide usually by a significant Margin. In Architecture, a turret (from Italian: torretta, little tower Latin: turris, tower is a small Tower that They can also be seen in large numbers on the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall of China ( or ( is a series of stone and earthen Fortifications in China, built rebuilt and maintained between the 6th century BC and the 16th

License to crenellate

A license to crenelate was supposedly a grant that gave permission for a building to be fortified. Fortifications are Military Constructions and Buildings designed for defense in Warfare Humans have constructed defensive works for This may have started in the Carolingian Empire as a way to control castle building to prevent local lords from becoming over mighty or too strong but, in feudal society, the license was used both by king and baron as a symbol of their status. Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term sometimes used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty. A king is a male Monarch, or a Head of state, who may or may not depending on the style of government of a nation exercise monarchal powers over a territory usually Baron is a specific Title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin (liber With "few exceptions at times of turbulence, the king's right as overlord to license was a right to grant, not to refuse, permission to crenelate" (Coulson 1982, 71) and "In reality, no feudal or sub-feudal ruler could either in law or in practice deny to his vassal the protection by self-help fortifying which he, as lord, had failed to provide. A vassal (also called feodary or fedary) in the terminology that both preceded and accompanied the feudalism of Medieval Europe, " (Coulson 1982, 97) It was not in reality necessary to obtain a license to crenelate to erect a fortified building. There was "very slight chance of interference by royal officials even in so intensively governed a realm as England, but a license was prestigious and could be had for the asking. " (Coulson 1982, 70). Fortifications were not restricted by law, but the cost of building and, particularly, of providing a garrison restricted true military castles to a very limited number anyway.

References

• Coulson, C. , 1982, 'Hierarchism in Conventual Crenellation' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 26 pp69-100