Machicolation: some postscripts. - Castle Studies Group

Machicolation: some postscripts.Fig 6 Typical Venetian chimneys of the 15 th century. Depicted from theHealing of the Madman (detail), from the Miracles of the True Cross Series,1494; tempera on canvas, 365 x 389 cm Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice.Vittore Carpaccio (c.1460 - 1525/1526).dropping missiles vertically, with here anattempt to double the efficiency of thetactic or a demonstration that machicolationhas become so important symbolicallythat two rows of it were better than one.The town of Soncino is on the river borderbetween Sforza land and land that hadrecently been appropriated by Venice: thedouble-machicolated tower can be seen asfist-shaking defiance. Symbolism was certainlypresent in the castle’s design; Venicewas to build a new town – Orzinuovi –on the other side of the river in the 1540s,very up to date in its design,as a similar show ofstrength. This tower mightalso be taken to reinforcethe supposition that flaringoutat the top of a tower hasa deep-seated aesthetic importance.In this case, it isdone twice rather than justonce. To my eye, the resultis neither elegant nor exciting,but oddly, the towerrather resembles a characteristicVenetianchimneystack, 10 but muchlarger and with an additionalflourish. This style ofchimney itself seems to reflectthis same fondness forflaring-out of towers at thetop (Fig. 6).At the base of this towerthere is a marked batter,beneath a cordon. This is anarrangement common tomost torrioni of the period,the batter being introduced(or re-introduced) to resistcannonballs and mining.The continued use ofmachicolation after the introductionof such battershas been much discussed,but here the doubling of themachicolation suggests ithas an importance even with a batter. Thelower range of machicolation is of coursehard up against the wall of the tower, theupper one roughly above the outer edge ofthe batter. 11 Although together the tworanges would certainly clear any attackersfrom the foot of the tower, it is more likelythat the machicolation was not primarilyintended to do this, but would be used withmissile-shooting weapons, to command amuch wider area. Battering rams and escaladehad largely fallen out of use with theintroduction of cannon and the base of aThe Castle Studies Group Journal No 24: 2010-11 218