a pale or fence placed in front; the foremost pale in a paling or palisade.
From 'fore-' (front) combined with 'pale' meaning 'a wooden stake or fence' (from Latin 'palus'). Describes the frontmost stake in a defensive structure.
Medieval fortifications relied on pales (wooden stakes), and 'forepale' was the critical front line—literally the first thing attackers encountered, which is why historians track its positioning.
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