VMs: V-shaped battlements

["Petr Kazil" <kazil@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Such a group assault on one small detail - we might even get somewhere.

Below are my newest results. BTW - I'm very glad that you give checkable
references, but I would prefer if you gave the dates also. And of course
iconographic evidence (from old illustrations) is stronger than photographs
of (potentially restored) castles.

By now I'm firmly in favour of the "fantasy castle" hypothesis. Because:
- almost all swallow tail castles (with two exceptions) have square towers,
not round ones,
- none (none!) of the castles with swallow tail towers also has "lightning
conductor" style towers.

I go into a lot of detail, but I hope we can draw a map and a timeline from
our (verifiable!) results and then finish this discussion forever.

Here are my finds, I have them from books, maybe you could corroborate them
on the web. I indicate the likeness by number of stars:

*** Castello Montebello in Bellinzona - 13th-15th century - swallow tails,
round and square towers, several layers of battlements, p.512
** Bosen (Sarntaler alpen) - round tower with swallow tails - "Der Gscheibte
(runde) turm am stadtrand von Bozen, wahrscheinlich der Bergfried der Burg
Treuenstein" - no date given, gothic?, p.458
** Chateau st. Pierre bei Aosta - no date given - square layout, square
towers, no round towers visible, p. 576
* Vigolo Baselga (Trentino) - square church tower with swallow tails, p.430

From: Das grosse ADAC Alpenbuch, 10th ed. 1991, ADAC Verlag, ISBN
3-87003-165-4

** Castello Montebello in Bellinzona - 13th-14th century - swallow tails, no
towers shown in picture, p. 411
* Schloss Thun - approx. 1200 - lightning conductors, round towers, no
swallow tails, p.34
* Schloss Aigle - 1488 - lightning conductors, round towers, no swallow
tails, p.34
* Schloss Chillon am Genfer see - no date given, must be older than 1530 -
lightning conductors, round towers, no swallow tails, p.31

From: Die Schweiz entdecken und erleben, 1990, Schweizer Reisekasse, Bern

** Castello scaligero di Villlimpenta, sul fiume Tione - since 1391 owned by
the Gonzaga family - swallow tails, square layout, square towers - p.192
** Palazzo del Capitano, Piazza Sordello, Mantova - end 13th century -
swallow tails, square layout - p.209
** Sirmione - built 1200 - erected by Martino della Scala - many swallow
tails, square layout, square towers - p. 142, 144 - BTW not all walls have
swallow tails, only the inner walls
*  Il castello di Malpaga - built 1383, extended in quattrocento (1400+ ?) -
swallow tails, square layout - p.19
* Bornato - old castle from probably 9th century - a few swallow tails,
square layout - p.150

From: Attarverso 'l Italia: Lombardia/2 - Touring club Italiano - 1986
Codice N 72 - ISBN 88-365-0296-2

* Church tower and fortress in Vigevano (Lombardia, Italy) - built 1492,
1532-1553 (dates not quite certain, fortress tower was designed by
Bramante) - a few swallow tails - all towers are square

From: Attarverso 'l Italia: Lombardia/1 - Touring club Italiano - 1985
Codice N 66 - ISBN

Negative results:

# Schloss Bruck am eingang zum Iseltal (Ost Tirol) - 1270 - just the
ordinary type
## Unexpected negative result: no swallow tails in Venice, not even in the
mosaics and frescoes in San Marco! Just the simple square wave type.

From: Venice, Domenico Crivellari, 1982, Gruppo Editoriale Electa, Milan

Greetz, Petr