6 ms·

Portcullis

readthenotes1 2y ago
"Portcullis" seems somehow much more deadly than "sliding door"
- n3storm 2y ago
  not if you know spanish
082349872349872 2y ago
> For example, soldiers could drop hot oil from holes in the ceiling, while archers and crossbowmen could shoot missiles from arrowslits on the sides. The Santa Barbara County Courthouse, despite having been constructed in 1926, incorporates such holes and slits. I don't think opposing counsel has ever had boiling oil dumped upon them, but at least the architects (and tradies?) had a bit of fun putting these in.
Mountain_Skies 2y ago
The only reason why I already knew the name of this type of gate was because Fezzik was ordered to prevent it from closing in 'The Princess Bride'. Porte cochere are very common in my neighborhood as there's a zoning requirement for all garages to be behind the primary residence, but so far, I've yet to see anyone equip one with a portcullis.
denton-scratch 2y ago
> They were an essential defence mechanism, as they allowed the castle to be organized when facing an ambush. How do you "ambush" a castle? Perhaps TFA meant "siege"?
- michaelt 2y ago
  One of the key features of a portcullis is because it drops into the closed position under gravity, it's very fast to close. Opening it is slow and involves a winch. That's in contrast to another iconic medieval castle feature, the drawbridge, which drops into the open position, and closing it involves a winch. And in contrast to simple doors, which are reasonably fast to both open and close, with no winches required, and which are widely used to this day. Presumably the article's authors then asked themselves under what circumstances a castle would need something very fast to close - faster than a door or drawbridge - and concluded it was for surprise attacks.
  - chasingthewind 2y ago
    I seem to recall that some drawbridges could be counter weighted and have supports that could be removed quickly that would then free the counterweight and close the bridge immediately.
- triceratops 2y ago
  Macbeth can tell you how.
- zardo 2y ago
  You sneak up at night, maybe with a few key people paid off ahead of time.
sfeng 2y ago
They lost me at dropping hot oil. There is no evidence of anyone dropping oil, it would have been expensive and hardly better than boiling water.
- atombender 2y ago
  We have historical evidence of using hot oil, especially pitch (which is "oil" in the sense of petroleum, not plant oil), e.g. see [1], which provides academic sources. If we go beyond Medieval Europe, using hot oil was observed by Josephus in AD 67 [2]. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/26l4ae/was_boiling_oil_ever_regularly_used_in_siege/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/26l4ae/was_b... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_thermal_weapons#Hot_oil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_thermal_weapons#Hot_oil
  - joshfarrant 2y ago
    Imagine being under siege and dropping pitch on someone. Give it 8-or-so years and they'll be in real trouble
    - atombender 2y ago
      Hot pitch is very fluid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4UDAa0i0tw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4UDAa0i0tw.
aleksiy123 2y ago
For anyone interested in this sort of thing this 5 part blog series from ACOUP on fortifications is really interesting. The 3rd part specifically goes into castles. https://acoup.blog/2021/10/29/collections-fortification-part-i-the-besiegers-playbook/ https://acoup.blog/2021/10/29/collections-fortification-part...
core_dumped 2y ago
I learned what this word meant in the FRC 2016 competition :^)

"Portcullis" seems somehow much more deadly than "sliding door"

n3storm 2y ago
not if you know spanish

> For example, soldiers could drop hot oil from holes in the ceiling, while archers and crossbowmen could shoot missiles from arrowslits on the sides. The Santa Barbara County Courthouse, despite having been constructed in 1926, incorporates such holes and slits. I don't think opposing counsel has ever had boiling oil dumped upon them, but at least the architects (and tradies?) had a bit of fun putting these in.

Mountain_Skies 2y ago

The only reason why I already knew the name of this type of gate was because Fezzik was ordered to prevent it from closing in 'The Princess Bride'. Porte cochere are very common in my neighborhood as there's a zoning requirement for all garages to be behind the primary residence, but so far, I've yet to see anyone equip one with a portcullis.

denton-scratch 2y ago

> They were an essential defence mechanism, as they allowed the castle to be organized when facing an ambush. How do you "ambush" a castle? Perhaps TFA meant "siege"?

michaelt 2y ago
One of the key features of a portcullis is because it drops into the closed position under gravity, it's very fast to close. Opening it is slow and involves a winch. That's in contrast to another iconic medieval castle feature, the drawbridge, which drops into the open position, and closing it involves a winch. And in contrast to simple doors, which are reasonably fast to both open and close, with no winches required, and which are widely used to this day. Presumably the article's authors then asked themselves under what circumstances a castle would need something very fast to close - faster than a door or drawbridge - and concluded it was for surprise attacks.
- chasingthewind 2y ago
  I seem to recall that some drawbridges could be counter weighted and have supports that could be removed quickly that would then free the counterweight and close the bridge immediately.
triceratops 2y ago
Macbeth can tell you how.
zardo 2y ago
You sneak up at night, maybe with a few key people paid off ahead of time.

sfeng 2y ago

They lost me at dropping hot oil. There is no evidence of anyone dropping oil, it would have been expensive and hardly better than boiling water.

atombender 2y ago
We have historical evidence of using hot oil, especially pitch (which is "oil" in the sense of petroleum, not plant oil), e.g. see [1], which provides academic sources. If we go beyond Medieval Europe, using hot oil was observed by Josephus in AD 67 [2]. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/26l4ae/was_boiling_oil_ever_regularly_used_in_siege/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/26l4ae/was_b... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_thermal_weapons#Hot_oil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_thermal_weapons#Hot_oil
- joshfarrant 2y ago
  Imagine being under siege and dropping pitch on someone. Give it 8-or-so years and they'll be in real trouble
  - atombender 2y ago
    Hot pitch is very fluid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4UDAa0i0tw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4UDAa0i0tw.

aleksiy123 2y ago

For anyone interested in this sort of thing this 5 part blog series from ACOUP on fortifications is really interesting. The 3rd part specifically goes into castles. https://acoup.blog/2021/10/29/collections-fortification-part-i-the-besiegers-playbook/ https://acoup.blog/2021/10/29/collections-fortification-part...

core_dumped 2y ago

I learned what this word meant in the FRC 2016 competition :^)