An escalade, or attack over the battlements, was ordered.
The important instances of dialect literature there belong to the past, such as the Genevan ballads commemorating the victory of the escalade in 1602.
It could be made high enough to frustrate improvised escalade and, unlike a wooden palisade, could be fitted with a parapet and crenellated firing positions along the top to give cover to defending archers and crossbowmen.
Given walls high enough to defeat casual escalade, the prime threats to stone fortresses were the battering ram and attempts to pry chunks out of the wall or undermine it.
Fortifications in antiquity were designed primarily to defeat attempts at escalade, though cover was provided for archers and javelin throwers along the ramparts and for enfilade fire from flanking towers.
Fortress walls, still essential for protection against escalade, were dropped into the ground behind a ditch and protected from battery by gradually sloping earthen ramparts beyond.
Before gunpowder artillery, a well-maintained stone castle, secured against escalade by high curtain walls and flanking towers, provided almost unbreachable security against attack.
The most basic means of taking a fortress were to storm the gate or go over the wall by simple escalade using ladders, but these methods rarely succeeded except by surprise or treachery.
To their surprise and relief, they discovered not only that the sloping earthen rampart could be defended against escalade but that it was far more resistant to cannon shot than the vertical stone wall that it supplanted.
About twenty feet from the ground was a sign saying, "Escalade Interdite".
Recently, Carolla began a show by saying to David Alan Grier, "I want to talk about a lot of things, one of them is your Escalade".
