Spencer Coll. MS. 65: an Italian herbal abundant with swallowtail merlons

[Pierre Dumont Himself]

This castle is already on the map.

That sketch is a "highly imaginative reconstruction" according to the book you shared (una ricostruzione molto fantasiosa, p. 134). However, the mid-19th century drawing and the 1982 survey support an early origin for the merlons. The castle was abandoned at the end of the fifteenth century, and there were no renovations in the prior decades, so this was likely anyway.

Disegno di Vincenzo Marcelliani (metà del 1800). 
An earlier survey from 1972 provides further confirmation:

The only surviving original merlons at Tuscania are of the ghibelline type (Fig. 3). These have two projecting stone hooks on them from which wooden shutters were hung between the merlons to give extra protection to the defenders in the embrasures. Hooks, loops and other means of attaching shutters are quite widespread throughout Europe, but hitherto seem to have gone unrecorded in Italy although they cannot be uncommon there. (We owe this information on the use of shuttering to Prof. A. W. Lawrence. See also Toy 1955, 196.) Two other types of merlon occur at Tuscania: square and shouldered. The former are all modern. The latter are a rare type and though it would be easy to dismiss them as decorative additions, they could well be original since they too have hooks, and arrow slits have been cut into them.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
By the way, there is ample evidence of shutters between the merlons nowadays.


Porta di Poggio was built in 1774, so those merlons are late. 
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.