Castle Glossary
Castles come with a unique language of their own. It's part military jargon and part architectural and has words taken from a number of languages.
- Arrow-loop or slit
- a hole in wall, most often tall and narrow, through which arrows could be fired.
- Bailey
- a courtyard, often containing domestic buildings, within the curtain walls of a castle.
- Bartizan
- an overhanging, wall-mounted turret that projects out from the wall, often at a corner. It allowed the person inside a better view while offering a measure of protection from missiles.
- Bastion
- a tower or turret projecting out from a wall to allow defenders to fire at attackers approaching the walls.
- Battlement
- a high wall used for defense.
- Bawn
- also known as a barmkin, a courtyard surrounded by outer defensive walls.
- Buttress
- a pillar built against a wall to stregthen it.
- Caponier
- a fortification structure that projects into or across a ditch allowing fire along the bottom of the ditch. These are normally built low and with strong curved roofs to deflect incoming fire.
- Casemate or casement
- a vaulted chamber usually contructed under a rampart used for sheltering troops or stores. Modern usage tends to mean a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired.
- Cesspit
- a pit or covered cistern used to collect sewage and refuse.
- Crenellation
- a pattern of regular, most often rectangular, spaces (crenelles) alternating with solid wall (merlons) along the top of a wall.
- Curtain wall
- the walls of a castle. Often arranged between a gatehouse and tower or between towers and hence appearing to 'hang' between them like curtains.
- Donjon
- the keep or central fortress of a castle.
- Dungeon
- originally a corruption of the word donjon; nowadays it refers to an underground prison or vault underneath a castle.
- Enceinte
- a French term for the inner ring of fortifications around a concentric castle or town. In 20th Century fortification it was often used to refer to the innermost continuous line of defences.
- Garderobe
- a medieval toilet. Often a simple hole which discharges waste to the outside either to a cesspit or the castle's moat, depending on the design of the building.
- Gatehouse
- rooms over a castle entrance.
- Great tower
- the main tower of a castle.
- Gun-port or gun-loop
- a hole in a wall through which guns could be fired.
- Keep
- the main tower of a castle.
- Killing field
- an area outside a castle that has been cleared to allow defenders to easily pick off attackers with ranged weapons. It can also refer to areas within a castle designed to bunch attackers together so that if they breach the outer defences they are vulnerable to attack from murder holes or arrow-loops.
- Knight
- a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a monarch for service to the monarch or country, especially in a military capacity. In medieval times they were regarded as a form of lower nobility.
- Knight Bachelor
- the most basic rank of knight in the British honours system. A man who has been knighted by the monarch, but not as a member of one of the recognised Orders of Chivalry. This is also the oldest class of knight.
- Knight Banneret
- sometimes known as a banneret, a knight banneret led a company of troops under his own square-shaped banner. By custom this rank could only be conferred by the sovereign on the field of battle. His rank was higher than a knight bachelor, but lower than that of an earl or duke.
- Machicolation
- an overhanging part of the wall with holes in the floor to let defenders drop missiles or liquids onto attackers underneath.
- Moat
- a defensive ditch, often filled with water, around a castle.
- Motte
- a hill or mound on which a castle is built, can be man-made or natural.
- Murder Hole or Meurtriere
- an opening in the floor of a gatehouse or above a passageway which allowed defenders to drop missiles or liquids onto attackers below (see machicolation above).
- Palisade
- a defensive fence or wall, typically made from wooden stakes or tree trunks.
- Parapet
- a stone wall on top of a tower or defensive wall which shelters defenders.
- Rampart
- a defensive mound of earth or a wall with a broad top and parapet.
- Revetment
- a sloping wall designed to support the interior wall of a parapet. The slope was used on the outside to help deflect incoming fire.
- Slighting
- the deliberate destruction or dismantling of key defensive features of a castle to render it useless.
- Undermining
- a siege method where attackers dig a tunnel under the walls and light a fire. The sudden collapse of the ground beneath would weaken or bring down part of the wall.
- Yett
- iron gates used to protect a castle entrance.