15thc perception on swallowtail merlons?

[Koen G]

I assumed they originated before the 15th century since they were named ater the Ghibellines, but I could be wrong. As said, castle restorations really mess up the chronology. Many castles and similar buildings were restored in the age of Romanticism, and if there is one thing they loved it was embellishing battlements. Therefore, any castle with swallowtail merlons today is unreliable unless there is some kind of proof that it already possessed swallowtail merlons in the 15th century.

Therefore, manuscript art (and other art forms) may be more reliable to get a feeling for the prevalence of the architectural form. In You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Rene compares walls in various copies of the Tractatus de Herbis. The clear swallowtail shape only shows up in the early 15th century copy.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. mentions the Tacuinum Sanitatis (Codex Vindobonensis, series nova 2644, fol. 104v), c. 1370-1400:



From these examples, one would believe the "new style"-hypothesis is worth considering. However, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. found this image drawing by Galvano Fiamma (in the 1330s) of a view of Milan:



This means that, as the nickname "Ghibelline" suggests, the swallowtail shape would have been a well-established style by the time the VM drawing was made.

Apparently I posted to the same thread this image: "Attack of the Crusaders on Constantinople, miniature in a manuscript of 9 La Conquête de Constantinople by Geoffreoy de Villehardouin, Venetian ms. circa 1330; Bodleian MS. Laud Misc. 587 fol. 1r."



So they are depicted at least from the early 14th century and almost always by Italian artists (but also in German speaking areas in Tyrol etc.). The location of the subject (castle) varies from portraits of existing buildings to imagined constructs in faraway places.