In architecture, a merlon forms the solid part of an embattled parapet, sometimes pierced by embrasures. The space between two merlons is usually called a crenel,[1] although those later designed and used for cannons were called embrasures.[2]
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The word comes from the French language, adapted from the Italian merlone, possibly a shortened form of mergola, connected with Latin mergae (pitchfork), or from a diminutive moerulus, from murus or moerus (a wall). An alternative etymology suggests that the medieval Latin merulus (mentioned from the end of the 10th century) functioned as a diminutive of Latin merle, expressing an image of blackbirds sitting on a wall.
As an essential part of battlements, merlons were used in fortifications for millennia. The best-known examples appear on mediaeval buildings, where battlements were often used as much for decoration as for defensive purposes. The two most notable European variants in Middle Ages merlons shape were the Ghibelline and the 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 Roman times, the merlons had a width sufficient to shelter a single man. As new weapons appeared in the Middle Ages (including crossbows 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. The shutters (also known as "mantlets") could be opened by hand, or by using a pulley.
After falling out of favour when the invention of cannon forced buildings to take a much lower profile, they re-emerged as decorative features in buildings constructed in the neo-Gothic style of the 19th century.