Machicolation: some postscripts. Lincoln Cathedral from the castle walls. The west end. The Castle Studies Group Journal No 24: 2010-11 213 Machicolation: some postscripts. Machicolation: Some postscripts served as the keep of a castle built by John Harris Bishop Remigius in his rôle as temporal lord. When Bishop Alexander moved the Since I wrote the piece “Machicolation: military base of the bishop’s secular re- History and Significance”1 I have come sponsibilities to Newark in the second across some examples of machicolation quarter of the 12th century, the keep was which, though they may not alter any of the incorporated into a cathedral nave, which arguments discussed in that piece, do add was then rebuilt after a fire in the 1140s. interesting detail. The first example comes They also make a convincing case for the from the earliest days of castle building and tower being completed near the start of touches on the invention of machicolation. Remegius’s building programme, perhaps It has long been known that up in by 1075, so this machicolation (and indeed the intrados of the two flanking arches of the keep itself) is very early. the three on the west front of Lincoln Ca- Much of the argument about thedral, there are slots that look very like whether this is some kind fortified west- slot machicolation, but there has been sur- work to a cathedral or a separate bishop’s prisingly little comment on them. These keep lies outside the scope of this piece.4 slots are accessed from small chambers at Few writers seem to regard the machicola- second floor level, which reinforces the tion as remarkable in itself, apart from its idea that they could serve as machicolation; importance in suggesting the defensible it is assumed that there was a similar slot nature of the building, but I think it is and over centre portal, which is of course high- it seems clear that the idea of slot machico- er than the others and has been altered; lation existed in England nearly a century access to this could have been from a wall- before we find it in a more developed form walk at parapet level. at, say, Krak des Chevaliers, and this seems In 1986, an article by Richard worthy of comment. It has been suggested5 Gem2 was published which suggested that that one possible origin of slot machicola- originally the west end of the cathedral was tion is the double gateways formed of two indeed fortified. This first phase of the separated planes found in Moorish Spain as work was begun by Bishop Remigius in early as the mid-10th century. 1072 and consecrated in 1092. It may seem Here in Lincoln we have machico- surprising that a cathedral should be forti- lation used in association with gateways; it fied, especially when it is so close to a royal seems a simple connection. But Bishop castle of much the same date, but such a Remigius was a Norman; he had held posts theory does explain these slots, for which it in Fécamp and Dorchester but seems to is difficult to find any convincing explana- have had no connection with Moorish tion other than machicolation. Other as- Spain, or with what is now Iraq, where slot pects of the building, in particular what machicolation can be found dating from the must be a latrine, suggest a non-ecclesiasti- late 8th century. But might his designer cal purpose. have been more cosmopolitan than he was? In an article published in 1997, It would be exciting to find that the bishop David Stocker and Alan Vince3 take up had someone in his retinue with experience Gem’s idea and put it into the context of the of military architecture in Spain. evolution of the Roman town into the medi- Stocker and Vince draw parallels aeval Upper City of Lincoln. They argue between this Lincoln tower and the White convincingly that for a time the building Tower in London as examples of the earli- that is now the west end of the cathedral est phase of Norman hall-keep building in The Castle Studies Group Journal No 24: 2010-11 214 Machicolation: some postscripts. Fig.1. Top: Illustration by W. T Ball to Richard Gem’s article (Architectural History 44: 2001). Fig.2. Right: View of flanking portal of Lincoln Ca- thedral, looking upward to show machicolation. Pho- to: John Harris Fig.3. Below:Hypothetical reconstruction of original plans of west front of Lincoln cathedral (Architectural History 44: 2001) The Castle Studies Group Journal No 24: 2010-11 215 Machicolation: some postscripts. England.6 The Lincoln “keep” was some and to have introduced or invented the 34m by 19m; the White Tower is 36m by device of machicolation to answer these 31m. They publish floor plans of a hypo- needs. thetical reconstruction based on Gem’s At the other end of the mediaeval 7 work . Lincoln differs of course in having timescale, there are late-ish examples of a relatively undefended narthex-like machicolation that are worth examining for ground-floor space (or undercroft) with the light they can throw on the use of the three doorways to the west, doorways device in the final years before its phasing- which may have given access to the cathe- out. Each example is worth knowing about 8 dral or some pre-existing church but also in itself. served to add modelling to the building as arcading does at Norwich and the White Soncino castle, the Rocca Sforz- Tower, but more dramatically and splen- esca, near Milan was built in about 1473 didly. The original arrangements to the (Figs. 4, 5). It has rectangular towers and a east, abutting the church are unknown. It is continuous run of machicolation along the tempting to wonder whether the vulnerabil- walls all in a style similar to many north ity of these doorways prompted the think- Italian castles of the period, but it also has ing that led to including the machicolation. a single round angle tower with two layers The slots could have been used to pour of machicolation, one higher than the gen- water on to fires lit against timber doors eral run of wall-top machicolation and one that were larger and more accessible than lower. This tower is higher than the walls those of a typical keep, as well as to shoot and in proportion unlike the torrioni of a or drop missiles on to besiegers. rocca such as that at Imola which is of a very similar date. There the towers have The only mention of anything like been reduced to the height of the walls in machicolation in classical writing response to attack by cannon. We must (Vegetius in the late 4th century) recom- assume that the Soncino tower was built mends slots as a way of dousing such fires with an awareness of the potential of gun- rather than as a way of attacking besiegers. powder artillery, in both defence and at- It is speculation, but as a cleric Remegius tack, although it may represent an would have had access to classical works on-the-hoof change to the design9. While and just possibly could have read Vegetius, there seems to be a wish here to demon- especially as he was a bishop with military strate established authority by a continued responsibilities. Although the actual form use of machicolation and other mediaeval of these slots is different from the type architectural forms in the castle overall, in apparently envisaged by Vegetius, the use of a circular tower, more resistant Remegius’s adoption of his suggestion to cannon fire than the rectangular form might be an introduction of machicolation that had been common in North Italy, and unconnected with its evolution in the east in the use of batter at the base of the towers and in Spain. and walls, there is a recognition of the need As Stocker and Vince say for change. The round tower is to all intents “…Remegius was behaving not as a bish- and purposes a torrione, despite its propor- op, but primarily as a conventional great tions and its height, although one that plac- Norman Lord….symbolising his Lordship es importance on machicolation. in the conventional Norman way by con- This strange arrangement of dou- structing a massive, dominant ....donjon bled-up machicolation might be used to ……” In doing so, he appears to have support almost any theory about the pur- created a building form with special needs pose of machicolation: an enthusiasm for The Castle Studies Group Journal No 24: 2010-11 216 Machicolation: some postscripts. Fig 4. General view of Soncino castle. (Rocca Sforzesca), built in 1473 for Galeazzo Maria Sforza. Fig 5 Double-machicolated round tower at Soncino castle. View from the south. The Castle Studies Group Journal No 24: 2010-11 217 Machicolation: some postscripts. very up to date in its design, as a similar show of strength. This tower might also be taken to reinforce the supposition that flaring- out at the top of a tower has a deep-seated aesthetic im- portance. In this case, it is done twice rather than just once. To my eye, the result is neither elegant nor excit- ing, but oddly, the tower rather resembles a charac- teristic Venetian chimneystack,10 but much larger and with an addition- al flourish. This style of chimney itself seems to re- flect this same fondness for flaring-out of towers at the top (Fig. 6). At the base of this tower there is a marked batter, beneath a cordon.