porte coleice

Portcullis comes from Old French porte coleice (or porte coulisse), meaning 'sliding gate' — from porte (door, gate) and coleice (sliding, flowing), ultimately from Latin colāre (to filter, to flow). The name is absurdly neutral for what the object did. A portcullis was a heavy lattice of wood and iron, lowered from above by releasing a counterweight or windlass. It dropped into grooves cut into the stone of the gatehouse passage, sealing the entrance.

The genius of the portcullis was its pairing with the drawbridge. An attacker who crossed the drawbridge before it could be raised was funneled into the gatehouse passage — a narrow corridor between the outer and inner portcullises. Both could drop simultaneously, trapping the attackers in a confined space. Arrow slits and murder holes in the walls and ceiling above allowed defenders to fire downward. The passage between the portcullises was called the 'killing ground.' The word porte coleice did not mention this.

The portcullis became a symbol of English royal authority. The Beaufort portcullis — adopted by Henry VII as a badge after the Tudor victory at Bosworth Field in 1485 — appears on the Palace of Westminster, on the British penny, and on the emblem of HM Revenue and Customs. A defensive killing mechanism became a symbol of parliamentary democracy. The transition took five centuries.

No castles are built with portcullises today, but the word survives in heraldry, in crossword puzzles, and in the imaginations of anyone who has visited a castle. The grooves where the portcullis slid are still visible in castle gatehouses across Britain and France. The tracks are empty. The gate is gone. The word remains, still meaning 'sliding door,' still not mentioning the killing.