Editing Merlon (section)

==As part of battlements==
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As an essential part of [[battlement]]s, merlons were used in fortifications for millennia. The best-known examples appear on [[medieval]] buildings, where battlements, though defensive, could be attractively formed, thus having a secondary decorative purpose. Some (especially later) buildings have false "decorative battlements".  The two most notable European variants in Middle Ages merlons shape were the [[Ghibelline]] and the [[Guelphs and Ghibellines|Guelph]] merlon: the former ended in the upper part with a swallow-tailed form, while the latter term indicates the normal rectangular shape merlons ([[wimperg]]).

Other shapes include: three-pointed, [[quatrefoil]], shielded, flower-like, rounded (typical of Islamic and African world), pyramidal, etc., depending either from the type of attacks expected or aesthetic considerations.

In [[Ancient Rome|Roman times]], the merlons had a width sufficient to shelter a single man. As new weapons appeared in the [[Middle Ages]] (including [[crossbow]]s and the first [[firearms]]), the merlons were enlarged and provided with loop-holes of various dimensions and shapes, varying from simply rounded to cruciform. From the 13th century, the merlons could also be used to pivot wooden shutters; these added further protection for the defenders when they were not firing, or were firing downwards near the base of the wall. The shutters, also known as [[mantlet]]s, could be opened by hand, or by using a [[pulley]].

<gallery mode="packed" heights="130px">
File:Creneau.romain.png|Usage of merlons, from [[Eugène Viollet-le-Duc]]'s [http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionnaire_raisonn%C3%A9_de_l%27architecture_fran%C3%A7aise_du_XIe_au_XVIe_si%C3%A8cle ''Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle'']
File:Castello di St.Pierre.jpg|Ghibelline merlons at [[Saint-Pierre Castle]], Italy
File:Castello_montechino_torrione.jpg|Guelphs merlons in the [[Montechino Italian Castle Piacenza|Castle of Montechino]], Italy
</gallery>