Annals of a Fortress

Annals of a Fortress is by E. Viollet-le-Duc and was translated by Benjamin Bucknall, architect. The translator's note says the Fortress whose transmutations during successive ages are described in the following pages is an ideal one, its supposed situation being on the Cousin, an affluent of the Saône. The chapter headed The Oppidum says that two centuries later the land of Ohet had assumed a new aspect and its name was changed, and that it was then called the Valley of Avon.

The chapter headed The Oppidum places the talus of an Oppidum at the summit of the promontory, commanding the valley and the two streams. The text says Brother Jerome with his three companions in the previous exploit, armed with long knives and gliding along the wall, reached the hole of the mine. The text asks in what state the works of the besieged are by this time, and says the flanks of the bastions are as much damaged as their faces, the demi-lunes are untenable, and the ditches partly filled up.