Fig. 60.
From the bastion, B, to the river, and from the bastion, D, to the pool, Errard built two fronts, K and L, à crémaillères,[19] to command the slopes of the plateau on the right and left, and to hinder an assailant from occupying a position on the east and west flanks of the cité.
For the time, these works appeared strong, and the axiom in fortifications, "What offers itself as a defence ought to be defended," was already pretty generally adhered to. [Fig. 60] gives the northern work which was destined to sweep the plateau, and to render difficult the approach to the cité on this its very accessible side. This work consisted of a ravelin, A, whose height above the level of the plateau was not more than six feet; next of a first tenaille, B, with orillons, eighteen feet above the plateau, and a second tenaille, C, three feet above the level of the tenaille, B. Two bastions, D and F, enveloped the two great towers, G and H, which were terraced. The platforms of the latter rose three feet above the platforms of the bastions. The gate, I, of the fourteenth century, had been preserved and repaired, and the curtains, K, terraced to receive cannon.
Fig. 61.
The road passed over the right face of the ravelin, and thence at right angles to the centre of the tenailles. A wide fosse, E, protected the exterior works, and a second fosse, L, the curtain of the second tenaille.
[Fig. 61] gives a sketch in perspective of the bastion, F.[20] No use, however, was made of these defences till about thirty years after their construction.