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==Genel bilgiler==
[[Orta Çağ]] [[İngiltere]]sinde mülkünü tahkim ederek mazgalla donatmak isteyen kişilerin merkezi idareden onay alması gerekmekteydi.<!--Licence to crenellate--> Bu tür onayların hem merkezi orduya karşı dayanabilecek yapıların kontrol altında tutulması hem de bu tür yapılara sahip yerel kişilere bir tür ünvan verilmesi olarak anlamlandırıldığı görülmüştür.
Mazgallar binlerce yıldır kullanılmaktadır. Bilinen ilk örnekleri [[Teb, Mısır]], [[Asur]] uygarlığına ait kentlerde ve özellikle [[Nimrud]] tahkimatlarında görülmüştür. [[Miken]] uygarlığında izleri görülmüştür, [[Çin Seddi]]'nde de vardır. Orta Çağdaki Avrupa mazgallarında mazgalın uzun ve kısa kenarı arasında 1:3 oranı kullanılmıştır. İtalya'daki uygulamalarda mazgalın tepesinde V şekli kullanılmış ve savunmadaki askerin ayaktayken ateş edebilecek durumda korunması amaçlanmıştır.
Mazgallar modern dönemde [[gotik]] sanatın bir parçası oalrak yalnızca dekoratif olarak kullanılagelmiştir.
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There has been academic debate over the purpose of licencing. The view of military-focussed historians is that licencing restricted the number of fortifications that could be used against a royal army. The modern view, proposed notably by Charles Coulson, 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".[4] They indicated to the observer that the grantee had obtained "royal recognition, acknowledgment and compliment".[5] They could however provide 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.[6]
Battlements have been used for thousands of years; the earliest known example is in the palace at Medinet-Abu at Thebes in Egypt, which allegedly derives from Syrian fortresses. 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 the existence of battlements. The Great Wall of China has battlements.
Development
Cutaway diagram of a tower of Château de Pierrefonds showing its three levels of defensive architecture
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, the merlons could be connected with wooden shutters 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.
Ancient Rome
The Romans used low wooden pinnacles for their first aggeres (terreplains). In the battlements of Pompeii, additional protection derived from small internal buttresses or spur walls, against which the defender might stand so as to gain complete protection on one side.
Italy
Gradara Castle, Italy, outer walls 13th-14th century, showing on the tower curved v-shaped notches in the merlons
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[citation needed].
Middle East and Africa
In Muslim and African fortifications, the merlons often were rounded. The battlements of 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.
Decorative element
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 the elaborate paneling of the merlons and that portion of the parapet walls rising above the cornice, by the introduction of quatrefoils and other conventional forms filled with foliage and shield.
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==Galeri==
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