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43-523: The Serroelofs House was charged with the defence of the Anderlecht gate , seconded as of 1422 by the nation of Saint-Christophe . Gules that is Brussels, nine billets argent, positioned 4, 3 and 2. The Seven noble houses of Brussels ( French : sept lignages de Bruxelles , Dutch : zeven geslachten van Brussel ) were the seven families of Brussels whose descendants formed the patrician class of that city, and to whom special privileges in

86-473: A "stepped" form, with each merlon shaped like an inverted 'T'. European architects persistently used battlements as a purely decorative feature throughout the Decorated and Perpendicular periods of Gothic architecture. They not only occur on parapets but on the transoms of windows and on the tie-beams of roofs and on screens, and even on Tudor chimney-pots. A further decorative treatment appears in

129-402: A basic deterrent against wandering bands of thieves, and it is suggested that the function of battlements was comparable to the modern practice of householders fitting highly visible CC TV and burglar alarms, often merely dummies. The crown usually did not charge for the granting of such licences, but occasionally charged a fee of about half a mark . Battlements may be stepped out to overhang

172-478: A gap of any kind, for example a parking space at the side of the road between two cars, interval between groups of marching troops or a timeslot in a broadcast. In medieval England and Wales a licence to crenellate granted the holder permission to fortify their property. Such licences were granted by the king, and by the rulers of the counties palatine within their jurisdictions, e.g. by the Bishops of Durham and

215-519: A safe distance from the walls, including the addition of ditches, bastions and ravelins . The Fort of Monterey  [ nl ; fr ] was the most important defensive work, its name coming from the Spanish count responsible for modernising the defences. The fort was built between 1672 and 1675, by the military engineers Merex and Blom, on the heights of Obbrussel (Old Dutch: Obbrusselsche , for "Upper Brussels", now Saint-Gilles ), south of

258-466: A series of boulevards bounding the historical city centre. Nowadays, only a few sections of each walls remain, most notably the Halle Gate . The first walls of Brussels (French: première enceinte , Dutch: eerste stadsomwalling ) were a series of fortifications erected around Brussels in the early 13th century. The city quickly outgrew them, and starting in 1356, a second, larger set of walls

301-549: A succession crisis. As both of his sons had died, he left the throne to his daughter Joanna and her husband Wenceslaus I of Luxembourg . Count Louis II of Flanders had married Joan's younger sister Margaret and thought the throne should be his. Louis invaded Brabant and quickly seized Brussels, planting the Flemish lion flag in the middle of the Grand-Place. The city walls offered relatively little protection. During

344-464: Is that battlements became an architectural status-symbol much sought after by the socially ambitious, in Coulson's words: "Licences to crenellate were mainly symbolic representations of lordly status: castellation was the architectural expression of noble rank". They indicated to the observer that the grantee had obtained "royal recognition, acknowledgment and compliment". They could, however, provide

387-445: Is to crenellate the tops of church towers, and often the tops of lower walls. These are essentially decorative rather than functional, as are many examples on secular buildings. The solid widths between the crenels are called merlons . Battlements on walls have protected walkways, termed chemin de ronde behind them. On tower or building tops, the often flat roof is used as a protected fighting platform . The term originated in about

430-588: The Arabs had a more decorative and varied character, and were continued from the 13th century onwards not so much for defensive purposes as for a crowning feature to the walls. They serve a function similar to the cresting found in the Spanish Renaissance architecture . "Irish" crenellations are a distinctive form that appeared in Ireland between the 14th and 17th centuries. These were battlements of

473-590: The Earls of Chester and after 1351 by the Dukes of Lancaster . The castles in England vastly outnumbered the licences to crenellate. Royal pardons were obtainable on the payment of an arbitrarily-determined fine by a person who had fortified without licence. The surviving records of such licences, generally issued by letters patent , provide valuable evidence for the dating of ancient buildings. A list of licences issued by

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516-694: The Halle Gate . As with the rest of the city's fortifications, the fort was ineffective, and was not able to prevent the French bombardment of Brussels in 1695, from the heights of Scheut , in Anderlecht, as part of the War of the Grand Alliance . The defensive works proved equally ineffective when French troops seized the city in 1746 during the War of the Austrian Succession , leaving

559-413: The ducal palace of Coudenberg . The walls were initially made of earth, with a wooden fence on top. These gave way to walls made of stone that were 10 metres (33 ft) tall and 1 to 2.5 metres (3 to 8 ft) thick. The walls were supported by square pillars , spaced roughly 4 metres (13 ft) apart, linked by a row of arches for support. These were buried underneath a talus , and they supported

602-459: The medieval city walls that surrounded Brussels , Belgium, built primarily to defend the city but also for administrative reasons. There were two stages of fortifications of Brussels: the first walls, built in the early 13th century, and the second walls, built in the late 14th century and later upgraded. In the 19th century, the second walls were torn down and replaced with the Small Ring ,

645-490: The 14th century from the Old French word batailler , "to fortify with batailles " (fixed or movable turrets of defence). The word crenel derives from the ancient French cren (modern French cran ), Latin crena , meaning a notch, mortice or other gap cut out often to receive another element or fixing; see also crenation . The modern French word for crenel is créneau , also used to describe

688-597: The English Crown between the 12th and the 16th centuries was compiled by Turner & Parker and expanded and corrected by Philip Davis and published in The Castle Studies Group Journal . There has been academic debate over the purpose of licensing. The view of military-focused historians is that licensing restricted the number of fortifications that could be used against a royal army. The modern view, proposed notably by Charles Coulson,

731-546: The Halle Gate is the last remnant of the second walls of Brussels. Their course can be seen by the current Small Ring , although it stops short of the Halle Gate, and they still define downtown Brussels, often called the Pentagon . In the 1950s, with pressure from the automobile , new plans to improve traffic flow were implemented, partly due to the 1958 Brussels World's Fair ( Expo 58 ). Later, tunnels were dug, and one of

774-540: The city was also envisioned, but that would not be effected until the construction of the Brussels–Charleroi Canal around 1830. The work was to be financed by selling the land that was freed up, although this took over twenty years to do. In 1830, as Belgium gained its independence , demolition work had reached the Halle Gate . Since its closing, it had served as a military prison, and later as storage of archives. The new government decided to spare it. In 1840,

817-718: The defender might stand so as to gain complete protection on one side. Loop-holes were frequent in Italian battlements, where the merlon has much greater height and a distinctive cap. Italian military architects used the so-called Ghibelline or swallowtail battlement, with V-shaped notches in the tops of the merlon, giving a horn-like effect. This would allow the defender to be protected whilst shooting standing fully upright. The normal rectangular merlons were later nicknamed Guelph. Many South Asian battlements are made up of parapets with peculiarly shaped merlons and complicated systems of loopholes, which differ substantially from rest of

860-455: The defenders by giving them part of the parapet to hide behind, from which they can quickly expose themselves to launch projectiles, then retreat behind the parapet. A defensive building might be designed and built with battlements, or a manor house might be fortified by adding battlements, where no parapet previously existed, or cutting crenellations into its existing parapet wall. A distinctive feature of late medieval English church architecture

903-477: The defensive works in ruins. By that time, siege was no longer an important part of warfare. Due to the growth of commerce and improved roads, the fortifications did little more than frustrate transit into and out of the city. In 1782, Emperor Joseph II ordered the dismantling of most fortifications in the Low Countries , including those of Brussels. The dismantling work of the exterior defences began in

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946-546: The direction of the road leading out of the gate. An eighth was added in 1561, the Shore Gate (French: Porte du Rivage , Dutch: Oeverpoort ), designed to control access to the Port of Brussels from the newly constructed Willebroek Canal . In the 16th and 17th centuries, new siege weapons and techniques, including the advent of artillery , forced the city to modernise the defences in order to keep potential attackers at

989-661: The east of the city. The Fort of Monterey was sold and destroyed, and all of the Gates were razed with the exception of the Laeken Gate and the Halle Gate . In 1795, when Republican France invaded and annexed the Low Countries, the demolitions were stopped, not resuming until an order from Napoleon in 1804. The Laeken Gate was destroyed in 1808. By an ordinance on 19 May 1810, the French Emperor ordered

1032-527: The existence of battlements. The Great Wall of China has battlements. In the European battlements of the Middle Ages the crenel comprised one-third of the width of the merlon: the latter, in addition, could be provided with arrow-loops of various shapes (from simply round to cruciform), depending on the weapon being utilized. Late merlons permitted fire from the first firearms . From the 13th century,

1075-506: The first port on the river Senne . They extended to the heights in the east of the city, enclosing the first Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula (then a collegiate church ) on the Treurenberg hill (French: Mont des pleurs ; "Mount of tears"), where the St. Gudula Gate stood (integrated in these first walls), and which was later used as a notorious prison, hence its name, as well as

1118-539: The first walls were no longer large enough, as the city had begun to spread out beyond them. It had become clear that further defences, better adapted to the current era, needed to be constructed. Following the succession crisis, city authorities decided to build a new set of walls. Everard 't Serclaes , who had been named schepen (alderman), was among those contributing to the decision. The second walls of Brussels (French: seconde enceinte , Dutch: tweede stadsomwalling ) were erected between 1356 and 1383. The wall

1161-645: The government of that city were granted until the end of the Ancien Régime . Together with the Guilds of Brussels they formed the Bourgeoisie of the city. Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Misplaced Pages article at fr:Lignage Serroelofs ; see its history for attribution. Fortifications of Brussels The Fortifications of Brussels ( French : Fortifications de Bruxelles ; Dutch : Vestingwerken van Brussel ) refers to

1204-408: The launch of arrows or other projectiles from within the defences. These gaps are termed embrasures , also called crenels or crenelles , and a wall or building with them is described as crenellated ; alternative older terms are castellated and embattled . The act of adding crenels to a previously unbroken parapet is termed crenellation. The function of battlements in war is to protect

1247-549: The main lines of the Brussels Metro now runs primarily underneath the Small Ring. Nowadays, the Small Ring is a major arterial ring road . Crenellation A battlement , in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles , comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals to allow for

1290-456: The main wall, which had a number of arrow slits in it. A second arcade supported a crenellated parapet , where defenders could stand. A large ditch was dug in front of the walls, and in places this could be flooded with water to form a moat if needed. Along the length of the walls, there were roughly forty defensive towers, in addition to seven primary gates and five smaller entrances. The death of Duke John III of Brabant in 1355 sparked

1333-433: The merlons could be connected with wooden shutters ( mantlets ) that provided added protection when closed. The shutters were designed to be opened to allow shooters to fire against the attackers, and closed during reloading. The Romans used low wooden pinnacles for their first aggeres ( terrepleins ). In the battlements of Pompeii , additional protection derived from small internal buttresses or spur walls, against which

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1376-613: The night of 24 October 1356, a group of Brabantian patriots led by Everard t'Serclaes scaled the city walls and drove the Flemings from the city. This enabled Joanna and Wenceslaus to make their Joyous Entry into Brussels, granting a charter of liberties that would be seen as the equivalent of the Magna Carta for the Low Countries . Since the construction of the first walls in the 13th century, Brussels had grown extensively and had become quite important. On account of this growth,

1419-505: The other hand, from historical maps and other documents which have been preserved, the precise former course of the walls is known. The walls were 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) long. In the west, they encompassed Saint-Géry/Sint-Goriks Island (the site of the city's founding and first development, where today's Halles Saint-Géry / Sint-Gorikshallen are located), the Grand-Place/Grote Markt (the city's main square), and

1462-419: The period. The design was fairly typical of medieval defences before the introduction of gunpowder, and was surrounded by a moat in the lower parts of the city. The two sets of walls coexisted until the 16th century, when the original set of walls began to be dismantled. In the 16th century, there were seven gates: Laeken , Flanders , Anderlecht , Halle , Namur , Leuven and Schaerbeek , each named for

1505-478: The second walls demolished and replaced by boulevards with a median in the centre. The fall of the First French Empire prevented the project's immediate execution. With the return of stability, in 1818, authorities organised a contest for plans to demolish the ramparts and replace them with boulevards suited to the exigencies of contemporary life in the city. The proposal of Jean-Baptiste Vifquain

1548-405: The street just inside of the gate was raised 3 metres (10 ft), making it impassable to vehicles. From 1868 to 1871, as the city was being modernised, the architect Henri Beyaert , with little regard for historical accuracy, transformed the austere medieval tower into something of a neo-Gothic castle, which fit better with the contemporary romantic perception of the Middle Ages . In 1860,

1591-717: The taxes on commercial goods were lifted, and the last barrier between Brussels and its suburbs was destroyed. The intersections at the Anderlecht Gate and the Ninove Gate are the only two where the toll pavilions still stand. Those of the Namur Gate were moved, and now stand at the end of the Avenue Louise/Louizalaan , at the entrance to the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos . Although modified,

1634-643: The wall below, and may have openings at their bases between the supporting corbels , through which stones or burning objects could be dropped onto attackers or besiegers; these are known as machicolations . Battlements have been used for thousands of years; the earliest known example is in the fortress at Buhen in Egypt . Battlements were used in the walls surrounding Assyrian towns, as shown on bas reliefs from Nimrud and elsewhere. Traces of them remain at Mycenae in Greece , and some ancient Greek vases suggest

1677-411: The wall). Sometimes a merlon was pierced with two or three loopholes, but typically, only one loophole was divided into two or three slits by horizontal or vertical partitions. The shape of loopholes, as well as the shape of merlons, need not have been the same everywhere in the castle, as shown by Kumbhalgarh . In Muslim and African fortifications, the merlons often were rounded. The battlements of

1720-458: The world. Typical Indian merlons were semicircular and pointed at the top, although they could sometimes be fake: the parapet may be solid and the merlons shown in relief on the outside, as is the case in Chittorgarh . Loopholes could be made both in the merlons themselves, and under the crenels. They could either look forward (to command distant approaches) or downward (to command the foot of

1763-465: Was built to better enclose and defend the city. The now superfluous walls were dismantled between the 16th and 18th centuries. Isolated portions of the first walls can still be seen today. Construction of the first walls of Brussels is estimated to have taken place at the beginning of the 13th century, during the reign of Henry I , the first duke of Brabant . The beginning and end dates are not clear, but construction would have lasted several decades. On

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1806-421: Was to have a length of nearly 8 km (5 mi), which was enough to enclose the surrounding hamlets and fields that supplied the city. There were to be 72 semicircular towers along the wall. There were seven main gates, corresponding to the seven entries into the first walls of Brussels, but the similarities mostly end there. The second walls were a monumental project and represented a colossal undertaking for

1849-406: Was ultimately chosen. It involved construction of squares and boulevards, with spaces to walk and two to four rows of trees lining the route, a main road and parallel side roads. A barrier with a ditch running its length was still installed, however, and toll pavilions built at the entrances, to allow continued taxation of commercial goods entering the city. The extension of the canal to the west of

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