FORTIFICATION FORTRESS. 



237 



describes it in a few words : The ancients, he says, 

 found that a wall ought not to be constructed in a 

 straight line, because a breach could easily be made 

 by the battering-ram ; but the towers which they 

 built at short distances from each other, formed a 

 broken line, with salient and re-entering parts. If 

 the enemy attempted to employ his scaling ladders, 

 he exposed himself to missiles on all sides, even 

 from his rear. With the introduction of artillery in 

 sieges, the art of fortification underwent a great 

 change. Bastions took the place of towers. The 

 time of the invention of bastions is not precisely as- 

 certained. It is certain, however, that they were in 

 use in 1500. Some ascribe this important invention 

 to Ziska, the celebrated leader of the Hussites. He 

 fortified mount Tabor with bastions. Folard is of 

 opinion that Achmet-Pacha constructed bastions at 

 Otranto, which he took in 1480. According to 

 others, the Veronese San-Micheli was the inventor of 

 them. In Germany, Daniel Speckel, an engineer of 

 Strasburg, (who died in 1589), wrote a work on forti- 

 fications, in which he calls himself the first German 

 who had written on triangular bastions. The Italians 

 and French have earned the art to great perfection. 

 Fortifications are divided into regular and irregular, 

 durable and temporary. In regular fortifications, 

 the bastions are all equal, and form regular figures, 

 mostly equiangular and equilateral polygons. In 

 irregular fortifications, only the corresponding sides 

 and angles are equal. These are most common, as 

 the inequalities in the ground seldom admit of re- 

 gular fortification. The regular fortifications are, 

 however, much to be preferred, as they offer equal 

 resistance on all sides, and expose no weak points, of 

 which the enemy can take advantage. The construc- 

 tion of irregular fortifications is often rendered diffi- 

 cult by the character of the ground and the diversity 

 of the works. In spite of the greatest exertions to 

 make every point equally strong, the most skilful 

 engineer often fails. The first fortresses of Europe 

 prove this. Durable fortifications are employed in 

 places which are destined to oppose a permanent 

 barrier to hostile attacks ; temporary fortifications 

 are such as are designed merely to throw momentary 

 obstacles in the way of the enemy, as field-works, 

 &c. Fortifications are further divided into natural 

 and artificial, ancient and modern, offensive and 

 defensive. The first are those in which nature has 

 already created insurmountable obstacles in the way 

 of the enemy, or such as require little assistance 

 from art. Artificial fortifications, on the other hand, 

 are those in which the most important parts are 

 constructed by art, though, even in these, the assist- 

 ance of nature cannot be dispensed with. A place 

 is rarely found which is sufficiently strong without 

 much assistance from art. The principal distinction 

 between ancient and modem fortifications is that 

 already mentioned, that simple walls, with towers, 

 are the essential parts of the former, and bastions of 

 the latter. Offensive fortifications are constructed 

 with a view to attack the enemy, while the defen- 

 sive are only calculated to repel him. This distinc- 

 tion gives a different character to the two sorts of 

 fortification. The science of fortification forms one 

 of the most interesting and difficult of the military 

 sciences. In modern times, it has undergone im- 

 jiortant changes, as, indeed, is the case with the 

 whole art of war. To these the great Carnot con- 

 tributed not less than to the change of field tactics. 

 One of the most remarkable fortifications existing, is 

 tile fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, on the Rhine, oppo- 

 site Coblentz. The most approved principles and 

 discoveries of the most distinguished engineers are 

 here put in application. Since the origin of the 

 modern art of fortification engineers have adopted 



different systems ; the whole art, however, depends 

 on the skilful resolution of the four following pro- 

 blems : 1. to dispose the different works in sucli a 

 manner, that they may be exposed as little as possi- 

 ble to the fire of the enemy, and may be capable of 

 repelling an assault ; 2. to form a plan which may 

 cosily be applicable to all positions, whether their 

 situation is regular or not; 3. to accomplish as much 

 as possible, at the smallest possible expense ; 4. to 

 construct the works so as not to require too many 

 men for their defence. The systems of fortification, 

 which have acquired the greatest reputation in 

 Europe, are those of count Pagan, baron de Coehorn, 

 von Scheiter, and marshal Vauban. See Fortress. 



FORTIGUERRA, NICCOLI ; born at Pistoia, 1674 ; 

 a prelate at the court of pope Clement XI. ; one 

 of the best Italian poets in the first half of the 

 eighteenth century, uniting the peculiarities of 

 Ariosto, Berni, and Tassoni. In his epic poem 

 Ricciardetto, so called from one of the Paladins of 

 Charlemagne, he wished to show that it was easy to 

 imitate Ariosto. He wrote the first canto of this 

 poem in one night, and, at the request of his friends, 

 continued the work. It extended to thirty cantos. 

 He would not permit it to be printed before his 

 death (February 17, 1735.) It appeared (1738, in 

 2 vols. 8vo.) under the name of Carteromaco, which 

 had been assumed by the author during his life. 

 The invention appears almost entirely his own. He 

 treats history so arbitrarily that he makes his hero 

 ascend the imperial throne after the death of Charle- 

 magne. ' Symmetrical unity is not a characteristic of 

 this work. Its principal excellence consists in the 

 description of situations. He breaks off the thread 

 of his narration according to his humour, and resumes 

 it again as capriciously as Ariosto. But his descrip- 

 tions are more comic than those of Ariosto, and 

 more satirical than those of Berni and Tassoni. 

 His satire on the corruptions of the clergy is very 

 keen, and was probably the reason that lie was so 

 unwilling to have the poem published. His short 

 poems and sonnets are to be found in different col- 

 lections of Italian poets. 



FORTRESS ; a place which nature and art have 

 rendered fit to resist attack for a protracted period, 

 and even against a superior force. Its object is to 

 delay the enemy by compelling them to institute a 

 siege. The works of a fortress are divided into the 

 main-works, the out-works and particular defences. 

 The main-works are situated immediately round tho 

 place, and consist of accurately contrived re-entering 

 and salient angles, connected by straight lines. By 

 this arrangement, all the parts of the fortress are 

 made to afford each other mutual defence, and are 

 enabled to bring a cross-fire to bear from various 

 directions upon the ground in front, which is essen- 

 tial to the defence. The plan of these works must 

 be determined by the localities ; and they can 

 therefore seldom be strictly regular. The work 

 which immediately circles the place is the wall or 

 rampart. Occasionally a second, less elevated, low 

 rampart, or fausse braie, runs parallel with this, or 

 is appended to it. The projecting parts of the 

 principal wall are called bulwarks, or bastions, (see 

 Bulwark, Bastion), (hence what are willed bastioned 

 fortresses, such as Marchi, Pagan, Freitag, Vauban, 

 Coehorn, Carmontaigne, and others, were accustomed 

 to construct) ; or, if the salient and re-entering angles 

 are connected without the intervention of straight 

 lines, tenailles (hence the denomination of fortifica- 

 tions en tenaille, such as Dillich, Landsberg, and 

 Montalembert propose, but which have as yet been 

 only partially erected). Next to the rampart, and 

 following its outline, comes the large, broad, and deep 

 main ditch, which, wherever circumstances will ad- 



