Embrasure

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Embrasure

The term embrasure, in military architecture, refers to the opening in a crenellation

Crenellation

Crenellation is the name for the distinctive pattern that frames the tops of the walls of many medieval castles, often called battlements. 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 c...
or battlement

Battlement

A battlement, in defensive architecture such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet , in which portions have been cut out at intervals to allow the discharge of arrows or other missiles....
between the two raised solid portions or merlon

Merlon

A merlon, in architecture, forms the solid part of an battlement parapet, sometimes pierced by embrasures.The word comes from the French language, adapted from the Italian language merlone, possibly a shortened form of mergola, connected with Latin mergae , or from a diminutive moerulus, from murus or moerus ....
s, sometimes called a crenel or crenelle. In domestic architecture this refers to the outward splay of a window or arrow slit on the inside.

A loophole, arrow loop or arrow slit passes through a solid wall and was originally for use by archers

Bow (weapon)

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Embrasure'

Start a new discussion about 'Embrasure'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

The term embrasure, in military architecture, refers to the opening in a crenellation

Crenellation

Battlement

Merlon

Bow (weapon)

A bow is a weapon that projects arrows powered by the elasticity of the bow. Essentially, it is a form of Spring . As the bow is drawn, energy is stored in the limbs of the bow and transformed into rapid motion when the string is released, with the string transferring this force to the arrow....
. The purpose of embrasures is to allow weapons to be fired out from the fortification while the firer remains under cover. The splay of the wall on the inside provides room for the soldier and his equipment, and allows them to get as close to the wall face and arrow slit itself as possible. Excellent examples of deep embrasures with arrow slits are to be seen at Aigues-Mortes

Aigues-Mortes

Aigues-Mortes is a commune in France in the Gard Departments of France in southern France.The medieval city walls surrounding the city are well preserved....
and Château de Coucy

Château de Coucy

The Ch?teau de Coucy is a France castle in the commune of Coucy-le-Ch?teau-Auffrique, in the d?partement in France of Aisne, built in the 13th century and renovated by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th....
, both in France.

The etymology of embrasure expresses widening.

By the nineteenth century, a distinction was made between embrasures being used for cannon

Cannon

A cannon is any tubular piece of artillery, that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile over a distance....
, and loopholes being used for musket

Musket

A musket is a Muzzle -loaded, smoothbore long gun, which is intended to be fired from the shoulder.Usually, the musket is thought to be the weapon that replaced the arquebus, and was in turn replaced by the rifle....
ry. In both cases, the opening was normally made wider on the inside of the wall than the outside. The outside was made as narrow as possible (slightly wider than the muzzle of the weapon intended to use it) so as to afford the most difficult possible shot to attackers firing back, but the inside had to be wider in order to enable the weapon to be swiveled around so as to aim over a reasonably large arc.

A distinction was made between vertical and horizontal embrasures or loopholes, depending on the orientation of the slit formed in the outside wall. Vertical loopholes—which are much more common—allow the weapon to be easily raised and lowered in elevation

Elevation (ballistics)

In ballistics, the elevation is the angle between the horizontal plane and the direction of the barrel of a gun, Mortar or heavy artillery. Originally, elevation was a linear measure of how high the gunners had to physically lift the muzzle of a gun up from the gun carriage to hit targets at a certain distance....
so as to cover a variety of ranges easily. However to sweep from side to side the weapon (and its firer or crew) must bodily move from side to side to pivot around the muzzle, which is effectively fixed by the slit. Horizontal loopholes, on the other hand, facilitate quick sweeping across the arc in front, but make large adjustments in elevation very difficult. They were usually used in circumstances where the range was very restricted anyway, or where rapid cover of a wide field of arc was preferred.

Another variation had both horizontal and vertical slits arranged in the form of a cross, and was called a crosslet loop or an arbalestina since it was principally intended for arbalest

Arbalest

The arbalest was a late variation of the Middle Ages Europe crossbow. A larger weapon, the arbalest had a steel prod . Since an arbalest was much larger than earlier crossbows, and because of the greater tensile strength of steel, it had a greater force....
iers (crossbowmen). In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, after the crossbow had become obsolete as a military weapon, crosslet loopholes were still sometimes created as a decorative architectural feature with a Christian symbolism

Christian symbolism

Christian symbolism invests objects or actions with an inner meaning expressing Christian ideas. Christianity has borrowed from the common stock of significant symbols known to most periods and to all regions of the world....
.

Embrasure

See also