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{{Short description|Fortified outpost or gateway}}
{{About|the type of building}}
[[File:Barbakan Krakow z ulicy Basztowej 2.jpg|thumb|The [[Krakow Barbican|Barbican]] in [[Kraków]]]]
A '''barbican''' (from {{langx|fro|barbacane}}) is a fortified outpost or [[fortified gateway]], such as at an outer [[fortifications|defense]] perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes.

==Europe==
[[File:Nürnberg, Stadtbefestigung, Weißer Turm-20160810-001.jpg|thumb|The barbican of the White Tower in [[Nuremberg]] (reconstruction)]]
Medieval Europeans typically built barbicans outside, or at the edge of, a main line of defenses, and connected them to  [[defensive wall]]s with a walled road called ''the neck''.<ref>
{{oed | neck}} "II.5.c. † ''Fortification''. The narrow part of a bastion or embrasure. ''Obsolete''."
</ref>
Barbicans would thus control the entrance to a city or castle at the "[[choke point]]".<ref>{{cite web |title=Castle Barbican |url=http://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-castles/medieval-castle-parts/medieval-castle-barbican/ |website=medievalchronicles.com |publisher=medievalchronicles |access-date=12 July 2019}}</ref> In the 15th century, as [[siege]] tactics and [[artillery]] developed, barbicans began to lose their significance,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.castlesandmanorhouses.com/architecture_04_gates.htm |title=Castle Architecture - Gateways & Barbicans |website=www.castlesandmanorhouses.com |access-date=12 July 2019}}</ref> but new barbicans were built well into the 16th century. Fortified or mock-fortified [[gatehouse]]s remained a feature of ambitious French and English residences well into the 17th century. Portuguese medieval fortification nomenclature uses the term "barbican" ("{{lang | pt | barbacã}}") for any wall outside of and lower than the main defensive wall that forms a second barrier.  The barrier may be complete, extensive or only protect particularly weak areas.  The more restrictive term ''gate barbican'' refers to structures protecting gates.<ref>
{{cite web |last1 =Noé |first1 =Paula |title =Guia de Inventário — Fortificações Medievais e Modernas |url =http://www.monumentos.gov.pt/site/DATA_SYS/MEDIA/EstudosDocumentos/Guia%20fortificações%20-%202ª%20edição%20-%20final.pdf |website =www.monumentos.pt |publisher =Instituto da Habitação e Reabilitação Urbana |access-date =2 March 2021 |language =pt}}</ref>

==Arab world==
The origin of the English word barbican is thought to be found in either Persian or Arabic (see [[wikt:barbican|here]] or [https://www.etymonline.com/word/barbican here]).

[[Paul Deschamps]] (1888–1974) interpreted the Arabic word 'bashura[h]' as used in 13th-century chronicles to mean barbican, a defensive structure placed ahead of a gate but this has been debunked, 'bashura' denoting rather an entire section of the outer fortifications, which may include a barbican but also a bastion, gate, tower or all of these.<ref>{{cite book |last= Fulton |first= Michael S. |title= Artillery in and around the Latin East (1097-1291) |pages= 232–233 |series= PhD thesis, Cardiff University |year= 2016 |url= http://orca.cf.ac.uk/87056/1/2016fultonmsphd.pdf |access-date= 4 May 2021}}</ref><ref name=Raphael>{{cite book |last= Raphael |first= Kate |title= Muslim Fortresses in the Levant: Between Crusaders and Mongols |page= 185 |publisher= Routledge |series= Culture and Civilization in the Middle East |year= 2010 |isbn= 9781136925252 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VhPJBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT185 |access-date= 4 May 2021}}</ref>

==South Asia==
Barbicans were also used in South Asian fortifications where some of their purposes were to protect the main gate from being rammed by [[war elephants]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Nossov |first=Konstantin |others=illustrator Brian Delf |title=Indian Castles, 1206–1526: The Rise and the Fall of the Delhi Sultanate |year=2006 |publisher=Osprey |location=Oxford |page=20, passim |isbn=978-1-84908-050-7}}</ref>

==East Asia==
Fortifications in [[East Asia]] also feature similar high structures. In particular, gates in [[Chinese city wall]]s were often defended by an additional "archery tower" in front of the main [[gatehouse]], with the two towers connected by walls extending out from the main fortification. Literally called "[[Chinese city wall#Barbican|jar walls]]", they are often referred to as "barbicans" in English.<ref>{{cite news|last=Quan |first=Yuan|title=New realities 'rebuild' Beijing's lost city gates|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-04/05/content_28793831.htm|work=[[China Daily]]|access-date=12 July 2019}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Gatehouse]]
* [[Kraków Barbican]]
* [[Warsaw Barbican]]
* [[Saint Laurence Gate]], Drogheda
* [[Wall of Vilnius]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite web|url=https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/barbican-estate/Pages/barbican-history-architecture.aspx|title=Barbican Estate history|website=City of London|access-date=12 July 2019|archive-date=8 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408034904/https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/barbican-estate/Pages/barbican-history-architecture.aspx|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.castlesandmanorhouses.com/architecture_04_gates.htm|title=Castle Architecture - Gates|website=Castles and Man or Houses|access-date=12 July 2019}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
* {{Commons-inline}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Barbican|volume=3|short=x}}
* [https://locationtextures.com/photo-packs/barbican Barbican] at Location Textures
* [https://www.dreamstime.com/krakow-poland-september-tourists-near-barbican-polish-barbakan-krakowski-fortified-outpost-historic-gateway-leading-image102219738 Barbican, A Fortified Outpost Of Old Town Of Krakow, Poland] on DreamSite
* [http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-castles/parts-of-medieval-castles.htm Parts of Medieval Castles]
* [https://www.absolutetours.com/blog/krakow-barbican-the-last-remains-of-the-citys-medieval-defences/ Krakow Barbican – The Last Remains of the City’s Medieval Defences] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414085141/https://www.absolutetours.com/blog/krakow-barbican-the-last-remains-of-the-citys-medieval-defences/ |date=2019-04-14 }} on Absolute Tours
* [https://www.britannica.com/technology/barbican-architecture Barbican] on [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]
* [http://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-castles/medieval-castle-parts/medieval-castle-barbican/ Castle Barbican] on Medieval Chronicles
* [http://www.ancientfortresses.org/barbican.htm Barbican] on Ancient Fortresses

{{Fortifications}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Barbicans]]