Editing Merlon (section)

{{short description|Part of a medieval fortification}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Horizon créneaux Alcazaba, Almeria, Spain.jpg|thumb|260px|Merlons of [[Alcazaba of Almería]] in [[Almería]], Spain]]
A '''merlon''' is the solid, upright section of a [[battlement]] (a [[crenellated]] [[parapet]]) in [[medieval architecture]] or fortifications.<ref>Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 202. {{ISBN|978-0-7509-3994-2}}</ref> Merlons are sometimes pierced by narrow, vertical [[embrasure]]s, or [[tooth]]-like slits designed for observation and fire. The space between two merlons is called a [[crenel]], and a succession of merlons and crenels is a crenellation.<ref name="KaufmannKaufmann2004">{{cite book |author1=J. E. Kaufmann|author2=H. W. Kaufmann|author3=Robert M. Jurga|title=The medieval fortress: castles, forts and walled cities of the Middle Ages |year=2004|publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-81358-0|page=307}}</ref> Crenels designed in later eras for use by [[cannon]]s were also called embrasures.<ref name="Bucher1996">{{cite book|author=Ward Bucher|title=Dictionary of building preservation|year=1996|publisher=Wiley-Interscience |isbn=978-0-471-14413-7|pages=43, 126, and 165}}</ref>