Discourses on Fortifications

unless there were armed vessels in the fortress, with which at least a large part of these damages could be addressed.

Fortresses located entirely within lakes, and far from land, are stronger than those that are entirely or partially on solid ground. However, besides the fact that they generally suffer from pestilential air, they almost besiege themselves. This is because the enemy, especially when powerful, will be able to build forts where the fortress has its exit onto land, and with few men, he will keep it under siege. And wishing to do so, he can continue his journey, and succeeding well, or at least in part, in his design, he can even make new frontiers, whereby the fortress in the lake will be forced to fall into his hands. Thus, the more the fortress seems stronger due to its site, the more it may be the cause of harm to itself. This is not only because of the expense that will go into making and maintaining it, but because the forces of those who were placed inside for the defense of the place and for the struggle against the enemy will remain entirely lost. And if someone were to say that it has been observed that fortresses are not usually left behind, even if they were located within lakes, one could answer that this does not ensure that the enemy, if he wishes, cannot change his style. So, if it is praiseworthy to make use of water in many things, one must, on the contrary, have great consideration so that designs that appear to be proposed with reason are not thereby obstructed.

It would now remain to reason about rivers. But because, by people of judgment, wide ones will always be counted among lakes in matters of fortifications, of which we have already spoken, and narrow ones among ditches with water, of which we will treat in their place, since enough has been said in general about sites, we will come to a more particular discourse on the diversity and methods of fortifying.

On various methods of fortifying used in times past, and on their defects.
Chapter Two.

A decorative initial "L" appears here. The motive that moved the first people who surrounded cities and castles with walls was without doubt the desire to secure themselves from enemies, and also so that a few could be secured from many. Since twenty men upon a wall can defend themselves against a much greater number, which, in a place that was not walled, would result in the exact opposite. Then there were found (by those on the outside) ladders of various kinds and other instruments to enter them, and crossbows, bows, and slings were used to offend those who, with stones and fires among the battlements built at the top of the wall and covered by small wooden mantlets, prevented them. And there remaining no other place from where they could offend the enemy except through certain holes made in the wall, it was easy for the said enemy to shelter themselves with shields while they approached the wall, because once he had arrived close, he could not be troubled by those holes or loopholes. They began then in some places of the enclosure to make the walls higher, and to make them project outward, forming right angles. And this manner of construction, which (as is seen in the first plan that follows) contained four right angles, was called a tower. And one was built at a hand-shot distance from the other, from which, both by the face and by the flank, the enemies were struck. These were made small and of thin wall, when the battering rams and other instruments to ruin them had not yet been found. But with the ultimate arrival of artillery of more force and greater impetus than those, it was also necessary to make better walls, and towers thicker (to have space to keep the pieces inside) and more distant from one another, because the range of these was greater than that of crossbows and bows. It seemed later to those who came after that the angles in the towers caused weakness, and so, from being square, they changed them into round ones and named them torrioni large round towers/bastions. Later with time and experience, they also noticed that neither the square nor the round ones were good, as their faces were not cleared by the flanks, as is clearly seen in the following plan of two, where the face of the tower, C, is not cleared by the flank of the tower, A, nor on the contrary. But there remains an undefended space, D, where, if the enemy were to arrive, he could not be offended by the shots from the flank. The same happens with the torrioni large round towers, with the entire space, F, remaining undefended on their fronts. And as these structures of towers and torrioni were not very large, nor filled with earth, nor could one accommodate retreats therein, nor did the pieces of artillery have their proper range as is reasonable, they were very useless. And for little that they were battered, one could no longer stay inside. Wherefore, ultimately, these defects have been provided for, and their faces have even been made in such a way that they are well cleared, as is seen in the fourth plan, where the face of the tower, H, is cleared from the flank of the tower, G.