Morten St George Theory

[Morten St. George]

You have found swallowtail merlons in northern Italy. Now show me a coned tower with balcony from northern Italy and you win.

There's no proof that it's a coned tower. We've discussed this before.

See the two tickmarks at the top corners of the tower? It's similar to the tower a few inches away, just slightly smaller and less detailed:



That usually means it's a saddleback tower with a flag at each apex, a common style in Bavaria and parts of Lombardy at the time. I've posted pictures of saddlebacks on another thread.

JP, Rectangular towers lead to saddleback tops and circular towers lead to conical tops. That's common sense. The VMS depiction of Montségur gives no indication that the tower is rectangular (like it does for the other depiction you show us), so it could very well be a conical tower with a small opening on top for the protrusion of two flags. The other medieval drawing of Montségur clearly reflects a roundish tower, a circular balcony and a conical top.