Battle, a town in Sussex, so named from the battle of Hastings having been fought there. An abbey built by William the Norman has disappeared, but important remains of a later building exist on the same site; and there is an old church of great interest. Pop. (1921), 2891.
Battle (or Battel), Wager of, an obsolete method, according to English law, of deciding civil or criminal cases by personal combat between the parties or their champions in presence of the court. A woman, a priest, a peer, or a person physically incapable of fighting could refuse such a trial. It was not abolished till 1819 (by the Statute of 59 George III, c. 46), but had long previously been in abeyance. See Ordeal.
Battle-axe, a weapon much used in war in the early part of the Middle Ages among knights. It is a weapon which affords hardly any guard, and the heavier the blow given with it the more the fighter is exposed; but its use was to some extent necessitated by the resistance of iron armour to all but heavy blows. In England and Scotland the battle-axe was much employed, the Lochaber-axe remaining a formidable implement of destruction in the hands of the Highlanders to a recent period.
Battle Creek, a town of the United States, in Michigan, at the junction of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek, with a college, and manufactures of agricultural implements, &c. Pop. 25,267.
Battleford, a trading town of Canada, province of Saskatchewan, at the junction of the Battle and Saskatchewan (North Fork). Pop. 1335.
Bat´tlement, a notched or indented parapet of a fortification, formed by a series of raised parts called cops or merlons, separated by openings called crenelles or embrasures, the soldier sheltering himself behind the merlon, while he fires through the embrasure. Battlements were originally military, but were afterwards used freely in ecclesiastical and civil buildings by way of ornament, on parapets, cornices, tabernacle work, &c.
Battle-piece, a painting representing a battle. Some of the greatest pieces of this kind are the Battle of Constantine, of which the cartoons were drawn by Raphael, and which was executed by Giulio Romano; Lebrun's Battles of Alexander; and the Battles of the Amazons, by Rubens.
Battue (ba-tü´), a method of killing game by having persons to beat a wood, copse, or other cover, and so drive the animals (pheasants, hares, &c.) towards the spot where sportsmen are stationed to shoot them.
Battus, legendary founder of the Greek colony of Cyrene, in Libya, about 650 B.C. There were eight rulers of the family founded by him, bearing alternately the names Battus and Arcesilaus.
Batu Khan, Mongol ruler of the Western conquests of his grandfather, Genghis Khan, from 1224 to 1255. He overran Russia, Poland, Hungary, and Dalmatia, holding Russia for ten years.