Palisade: Encyclopedia - Palisade

Palisade

A palisade is a Medieval wooden fence or wall of variable height, used as a defensive structure.

Typical construction was to use small and medium trunks of trees aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks would be driven into the ground, and may or may not be reinforced with additional construction. Height of the palisade ranged from a few feet like a fence, to ten feet or more. As a defensive structure, palisades were often used in conjunction with earthworks.

Palisades were an excellent option for small forts or other quickly-built fortifications. Since they were wood, they could be quickly and easily built with material (wood) that was readily available. They proved to be effective protection for short-term conflicts, and deterrents to small forces. However, due to their nature, they were very susceptible to fire and siege weapons. Stone walls were generally preferred to wooden palisades.

Often, a palisade would be constructed around castles as a temporary wall until a permanent stone wall could be created.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Palisade", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki