A battlement or series of notches cut into the top of a castle wall for defensive purposes and for shooting arrows or firing weapons.
From Medieval Latin crenellatio, from crena (notch). The architectural term developed in the Middle Ages to describe the distinctive saw-tooth pattern of castle fortifications, combining the Latin root with the -ation suffix.
Crenallations are both functional and symbolic—they made castle walls stronger AND allowed defenders to shoot safely from behind the raised portions, but they also became decorative status symbols on non-military buildings!
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