Medieval Glossary

Bartardeau

A French term for a wall built across a ditch or fortification, with a sluice gate by which the height of the water in the ditch on both sides may be regulated. To prevent this wall from being used as a passage across the ditch, it is built up to an angle at the top, and armed with iron spikes. To render the attempt across still more difficult, a tower of masonry is built upon it.

Related term(s): Fortification
Category: Castles and Fortifications
Added: 10.02.05
Source information: Wilhelm, Thomas. A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer. Philadelphia: L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1881. 49.

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