Curtain wall (fortification)

For the modern architectural feature, seeCurtain wall (architecture).

Acurtain wallis adefensive wallbetweenfortified towersorbastionsof acastle,fortress,or town.

Beaumaris CastleinAngleseyinNorth Wales,with curtain walls between the lower outer towers, and higher inner curtain walls between the higher inner towers.

Ancient fortifications

Reconstruction of the 9th-century BC defensive walls around ancientTel Lachishin modernIsrael.

Evidence for curtain walls or a series of walls surrounding a town or fortress can be found in the historical sources from Assyria and Egypt. Some notable examples are ancientTel Lachishin Israel andBuhenin Egypt. Curtain walls were built across Europe during theRoman Empire;the early 5th centuryTheodosian WallsofConstantinopleinfluenced the builders of medieval castles many centuries later.

Curtain wall castles

The 12th-century curtain wall of theChâteau de FougèresinBrittanyin northern France, showing the battlements, arrowslits and overhangingmachicolations.

In medieval castles, the area surrounded by a curtain wall, with or without towers, is known as thebailey.The outermost walls with their integrated bastions andwall towerstogether make up theenceinteor main defensive line enclosing the site.

In medieval designs of castle and town, the curtain walls were often built to a considerable height and were fronted by aditchormoatto make assault difficult. Walls were topped withbattlementswhich consisted of aparapet,which was generally crenellated withmerlonsto protect the defenders and lower crenels orembrasureswhich allowed them to shoot from behind cover; merlons were sometimes pierced by loopholes orarrowslitsfor better protection. Behind the parapet was awall walkfrom which the defenders could fight or move from one part of the castle to another. Larger curtain walls were provided with mural passages or galleries built into the thickness of the walls and provided with arrowslits. If an enemy reached the foot of the wall, they became difficult to see or shoot at directly, so some walls were fitted with a projecting wooden platform called ahoardingor brattice. Stonemachicolationsperformed a similar function.

Early modern fortifications

Two sections of the 16th-century curtain wall aroundBerwick-upon-Tweed,at the eastern end of theAnglo-Scottish border.

The introduction of gunpowder made tall castle walls vulnerable to fire from heavycannon,which prompted thetrace italiennestyle from the 16th century. In these fortifications, the height of the curtain walls was reduced, and beyond the ditch, additionaloutworkssuch asravelinsandtenailleswere added to protect the curtain walls from direct cannonading.

See also

• Bawn
• Enceinte
• Rampart

References

• Curry, Anne; Hughes, Michael, eds. (1999),Arms, Armies and Fortifications in the Hundred Years War(illustrated, reprint, revised ed.), Boydell & Brewer, p.134,ISBN9780851157559
• Friar, Stephen (2003),The Sutton Companion to Castles,Stroud: Sutton Publishing,ISBN978-0-7509-3994-2
• Hull, Lisa (2006).Britain's Medieval Castles.Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers.ISBN978-0275984144.
• Turnbull, Stephen(2004).The Walls of Constantinople AD 324–1453.Osprey Publishing.ISBN978-1841767598.
• Whitelaw, A.,ed. (1846),The Popular Encyclopedia; or, Conversations Lexicon,vol. I, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London: Blackie & Son, p.444

External links

• Media related toCurtain walls (fortification)at Wikimedia Commons