View allAll Photos Tagged siegeengine
I built something! Actually I built a few things, but they are all more or less in their finalizing state soooo a moment till theyre released.
So I was wondering for a while if you can make a siege engine the old fashioned way: no springs or bows - but with twisted ropes providing all the force. The answer is yes - and it works! I will show it on camera in soon.
I tried an Onager first, which is your archetypical catapult, but eh, it was boring. Maybe will get back to it. What I ended up with is a ballista, a Roman one to be more specified. Once it started working I gave it a nice wooden trim, borrowed few Roman soldiers from my friends and voilà - there you have it: a Roman Ballista. Enjoy!
#jeraclego #jerac #lego #legoart #customlego #moc #myowncreation #legomodel #toy #legotoy #toyphotography #legobuild #legography #legobuilder #legoworks #legoromanempire #romanempire #roman #siegeengine #legosiege #ancientera
It works! :D
A little bit differently than described on BB. I cheated a bit and used a windlass crossbow mechanism instead of a ballista one, as the rope wouldn't unwind fast enough and would slow the projectile.
It GENERALLY works, even through that creaking is scary, and usually does not blow up.
About 13km (8 miles) north of Cardiff is this imposing moated fortress built partly on the site of a Roman fort.. The massive water defenses of the castle form the second-largest castle area in Britain
I built something! Actually I built a few things, but they are all more or less in their finalizing state soooo a moment till theyre released.
So I was wondering for a while if you can make a siege engine the old fashioned way: no springs or bows - but with twisted ropes providing all the force. The answer is yes - and it works! I will show it on camera in soon.
I tried an Onager first, which is your archetypical catapult, but eh, it was boring. Maybe will get back to it. What I ended up with is a ballista, a Roman one to be more specified. Once it started working I gave it a nice wooden trim, borrowed few Roman soldiers from my friends and voila - there you have it: a Roman Ballista.
Btw, do you remember Besiege game? If not, be sure to check it out, what a fantastic game! You build your own siege engines, not too dissimilar from building from LEGO and let them rampage over huts, enemy soldiers... and birds, if the mission wants requires it. So on white background this ballista kinda made me think about Besiege and there it is!
B4600, Caerphilly, County Borough of Caerphilly, Wales, UK, filming a Dr. who episode in the great hall
Canon Powershot G12 handheld cha cha.
This is a working reproduction of a Roman Army siege engine called a Ballista which loosed large arrow like bolts. Leather covers are protecting torsion ropes from the rain. It was on display at Caerleon amphitheatre in Wales.
To view sit 2-3 feet from your monitor. The left eye looks at the right image. The right eye looks at the left image. Don't strain or go bug-eyed. Relax. A central image giving stereo depth will appear.
I once watched a giant one of these at Warwick Castle in action and it was frightening to imagine the devastation one of these things can inflict. They told us how they used to fire not only massive stones at the ramparts but also rotting carcasses into the living areas of the Castle, with the hopes of contaminating their water supply. They even used to fire bees nests at charging knights in armour with the hope of them taking it of as the angry bees got under their defensive attire, leaving them defenceless against the archers.
Notice the siege machines on display!
Palace Castle of the Fernández de Heredia, XIV Century (Levantine Gothic)
The biggest castle you can imagine.
The Castle of Mora de Rubielos is a representative monument of Mediterranean Gothic located in the highest part of the town on a rocky promontory.
The Castle is a massive masonry construction with an irregular quadrangular floor plan with four towers, a porticoed parade ground and a cloister gallery. It occupies an area of 4,300 m2 (67 x 65 m.). The intra-wall access ramp is arranged in a zig-zag pattern and has loopholes along its route, revealing its defensive function. Flanked by the door, a slight slope with steps leads us to:
Porticoed parade ground; cloister when it was a convent. It has a total floor area of 1,400 m2 (38 x 37 m.). With an almost irregular square floor plan and whose pointed arches have different dimensions. In some capitals there is decoration of animals or monsters, but they are very deteriorated.
stables Stables. Basement which is accessed through a slanted arch, next to the angle formed by the walls. The descent is made by a gentle stepped slope, which at one time was made of land. This leads to a wide space that once supported the cattle mangers to the right and left.
Stonecutter marks. They can still be seen engraved on some voussoirs that build the transverse arches closest to the entrance (and in other rooms of the castle) and are the signature of the stonemasons who worked on their carving.
Large dining room or for various uses, depending on whether the castle went through days of peace or days of strife, which were common in the Middle Ages.
Anteroom, which could be with a bit of imagination, armory, scriptorium and wardrobe.
Today it houses part of the Ethnographic Museum, they are pieces obtained exclusively in the same town.
Bedroom. Main bedroom of the Fernández de Heredia castle. This room is housed in the hollow of the position tower. This one, offering very thick walls, as can be seen by the depth of the window and also an armored ceiling with twice the number of beams that it would normally require.
the dungeon Great security prison The Great Staircase, Tower-Gate Outside the Walls, Helicoidal Staircase, Sacristy in the Conventual Stage, Great Room of 284 m2, First and Second floor basements. Burial Crypt, Crypt.and Chapel.
Declared a National Monument in 1931 (the town will be declared a Historic-Artistic Site in 1978), its restoration began in 1972 with the removal of rubble, cleaning and consolidation of arches and slabs.
Caerphilly Castle is an imposing medieval fortress mirrored in the waters of its placid lakes. It was built amid alarms and excursions by the lords of Glamorgan following their annexation of upland Senghenydd in 1267 and was completed by 1290
Not a font, but a machine of war.
A trebuchet[1] or trebucket[2] is a siege engine that was employed in the Middle Ages either to smash masonry walls or to throw projectiles over them. It is sometimes called a "counterweight trebuchet" or "counterpoise trebuchet" in order to distinguish it from an earlier weapon that has come to be called the "traction trebuchet", the original version with pulling men instead of a counterweight.
The counterweight trebuchet appeared in both Christian and Muslim lands around the Mediterranean in the twelfth century. It could fling up to three-hundred and fifty pound (140 kg) projectiles at high speeds into enemy fortifications. On occasion, disease-infected corpses were flung into cities in an attempt to infect or terrorize the people under siege—a medieval form of biological warfare. Traction trebuchets appeared in China in about the 4th century BC and in Europe in the 6th century AD, and did not become obsolete until the 16th century, well after the introduction of gunpowder. Trebuchets were far more accurate than other medieval catapults.
A trebuchet works by using the mechanical advantage principle of leverage to propel a stone or other projectile much farther and more accurately than a catapult, which swings off the ground. The sling and the arm swing up to the vertical position, where, usually assisted by a hook, one end of the sling releases, propelling the projectile towards the target with great force. [3]
Many advancements have been made upon the trebuchet. Scientists are still in argument over whether the ancients used wheels to absorb some of the excess kinetic energy and put it back into the projectile. It is known that troughs, often rotated in either direction for aiming, were used for the projectile to slide along, thus increasing accuracy.
The mangonel had poorer accuracy than a trebuchet (which was introduced later, shortly before the discovery and widespread usage of gunpowder). The mangonel threw projectiles on a lower trajectory and at a higher velocity than the trebuchet with the intention of destroying walls, rather than hurling projectiles over them.
The trebuchet is often confused with the earlier and less powerful torsion engines. The main difference is that a torsion engine (examples of which include the onager and ballista) uses a twisted rope or twine to provide power, whereas a trebuchet uses a counterweight, usually much closer to the fulcrum than the payload for mechanical advantage, though this is not necessary. A trebuchet also has a sling holding the projectile, and a means for releasing it at the right moment for maximum range. Both trebuchets and torsion engines are classified under the generic term "catapult," which includes any non-handheld mechanical device designed to hurl an object.
The trebuchet derives from the ancient sling. A variation of the sling contained a short piece of wood to extend the arm and provide greater leverage. This evolved into the traction trebuchet by the Chinese, in which a number of people pull on ropes attached to the short arm of a lever that has a sling on the long arm. This type of trebuchet is smaller and has a shorter range, but is a more portable machine and has a faster rate of fire than larger, counterweight-powered types. The smallest traction trebuchets could be powered by the weight and pulling strength of one person using a single rope, but most were designed and sized for between 15 and 45 men, generally two per rope. These teams would sometimes be local citizens helping in the siege or in the defense of their town. Traction trebuchets had a range of 100 to 200 feet when casting weights up to 250 pounds. It is believed that the first traction trebuchets were used by the Mohists in China as early as in the 5th century BC, descriptions of which can be found in the Mojing (compiled in the 4th century BC).
The traction trebuchet next appeared in Byzantium. The Strategikon of Emperor Maurice, composed in the late 6th century, calls for "ballistae revolving in both directions," (Βαλλίστρας έκατηρωθεν στρεφόμενας), probably traction trebuchets (Dennis 1998, p. 99). The Miracles of St. Demetrius, composed by John I, archbishop of Thessalonike, clearly describe traction trebuchets in the Avaro-Slav artillery: "Hanging from the back sides of these pieces of timber were slings and from the front strong ropes, by which, pulling down and releasing the sling, they propel the stones up high and with a loud noise." (John I 597 1:154, ed. Lemerle 1979)
There is some doubt as to the exact period in which traction trebuchets, or knowledge of them, reached Scandinavia. The Vikings may have known of them at a very early stage, as the monk Abbo de St. Germain reports on the siege of Paris in his epic De bello Parisiaco dated about 890 that engines of war were used. Another source mentions that Nordic people or "the Norsemen" used engines of war at the siege of Angers as early as 873.
The first clearly written record of a counterweight trebuchet comes from an Islamic scholar, Mardi bin Ali al-Tarsusi, who wrote a military manual for Saladin circa 1187. He describes a hybrid trebuchet that he said had the same hurling power as a traction machine pulled by fifty men due to "the constant force [of gravity], whereas men differ in their pulling force." (Showing his mechanical proficiency, Tarsusi designed his trebuchet so that as it was fired it cocked a supplementary crossbow, probably to protect the engineers from attack.) [5].
He allegedly wrote "Trebuchets are machines invented by unbelieving devils." (Al-Tarsusi, Bodleian MS 264). This suggests that by the time of Saladin, Muslims were acquainted with counterweight engines, but did not believe that Muslims had invented them. Al-Tarsusi does not specifically say that the "unbelieving devils" were Christian Europeans, though Saladin was fighting Crusaders for much of his reign, and the manuscript predates the Chinese and Mongol weapons (Needham p. 218). They took about twelve days to build depending on how big the structure was going to be.
In his book, Medieval Siege, Jim Bradbury [6] extensively quotes from Mardi ibn Ali concerning mangonels of various types, including Arab, Perisan and Turkish, describing what could be trebuchets, but not quoted as above. In On the Social Origins of Medieval Institutions [7], more detailed quotes by Mardi ibn Ali may be found on the various types of trebuchets, including the "Christian" type used by the Crusaders.
P.E. Chevedden states that his recent research shows that trebuchets reached the eastern Mediterranean by the late 500s, were known in Arabia and were used with great effect by Islamic armies. The technological sophistication for which Islam later became known was already manifest. He says that in particular, Islamic technical literature has been neglected. The most important surviving technical treatise on these machines is Kitab Aniq fi al-Manajaniq ( كتاب أنيق في المنجنيق, An Elegant Book on Trebuchets), written in 1462 by Yusuf ibn Urunbugha al-Zaradkash. One of the most profusely illustrated Arabic manuscripts ever produced, it provides detailed construction and operating information.
Chevedden further states: Engineers thickened walls to withstand the new artillery and redesigned fortifications to employ trebuchets against attackers. Architects working under al-Adil (1196–1218), Saladin’s brother and successor, introduced a defensive system that used gravity-powered trebuchets mounted on the platforms of towers to prevent enemy artillery from coming within effective range. These towers, designed primarily as artillery emplacements, took on enormous proportions to accommodate the larger trebuchets, and castles were transformed from walled enclosures with a few small towers into clusters of large towers joined by short stretches of curtain walls. The towers on the citadels of Damascus, Cairo and Bosra are massive structures, as large as 30 meters square.
During the Crusades, Philip II of France named two of the trebuchets he used in the Siege of Acre in 1191 "God's Stone-Thrower" and "Bad Neighbor." [8] During a siege of Stirling Castle in 1304, Edward Longshanks ordered his engineers to make a giant trebuchet for the English army, named "Warwolf". Range and size of the weapons varied. In 1421 the future Charles VII of France commissioned a trebuchet (coyllar) that could shoot a stone of 800 kg, while in 1188 at Ashyun, rocks up to 1,500 kg were used. Average weight of the projectiles was probably around 50-100 kg, with a range of ca. 300 meters. Rate of fire could be noteworthy: at the siege of Lisbon (1147), two engines were capable of launching a stone every 15 seconds. Also human corpses could be used in special occasion: in 1422 Prince Korybut, for example, in the siege of Karlštejn Castle shot men and manure within the enemy walls, apparently managing to spread infection among the defenders.
Counterweight trebuchets do not appear with certainty in Chinese historical records until about 1268, when the Mongols laid siege to Fancheng and Xiangyang, although Joseph Needham has propounded the view that Qiang Shen, a Chinese commander of the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, 1115-1234, may have invented an early counterweight engine independently in 1232 (Needham, Volume 4, p. 30). At the Siege of Fancheng and Xiangyang, the Mongol army, unable to capture the cities despite besieging the Song defenders for years, brought in two Persian engineers who built hinged counterweight trebuchets and soon reduced the cities to rubble, forcing the surrender of the garrison. These engines were called by the Chinese historians the Huihui Pao (回回砲)("huihui" means Muslim) or Xiangyang Pao (襄陽砲), because they were first encountered in that battle.
The largest trebuchets needed exceptional quantities of timber: at the Siege of Damietta, in 1249, Louis IX of France was able to build a stockade for the whole Crusade camp with the wood from 24 captured Egyptian trebuchets.
With the introduction of gunpowder, the trebuchet lost its place as the siege engine of choice to the cannon. Trebuchets were used both at the siege of Burgos (1475-1476) and siege of Rhodes (1480). The last recorded military use was by Hernán Cortés, at the 1521 siege of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán. Accounts of the attack note that its use was motivated by the limited supply of gunpowder. The attempt was reportedly unsuccessful: the first projectile landed on the trebuchet itself, destroying it.
In 1779 British forces defending Gibraltar, finding that their cannons were unable to fire far enough for some purposes, constructed a trebuchet. It is unknown how successful this was: the Spanish attackers were eventually defeated, but this was largely due to a sortie.
Notice the siege machines on display!
Palace Castle of the Fernández de Heredia, XIV Century (Levantine Gothic)
The biggest castle you can imagine.
The Castle of Mora de Rubielos is a representative monument of Mediterranean Gothic located in the highest part of the town on a rocky promontory.
The Castle is a massive masonry construction with an irregular quadrangular floor plan with four towers, a porticoed parade ground and a cloister gallery. It occupies an area of 4,300 m2 (67 x 65 m.). The intra-wall access ramp is arranged in a zig-zag pattern and has loopholes along its route, revealing its defensive function. Flanked by the door, a slight slope with steps leads us to:
Porticoed parade ground; cloister when it was a convent. It has a total floor area of 1,400 m2 (38 x 37 m.). With an almost irregular square floor plan and whose pointed arches have different dimensions. In some capitals there is decoration of animals or monsters, but they are very deteriorated.
stables Stables. Basement which is accessed through a slanted arch, next to the angle formed by the walls. The descent is made by a gentle stepped slope, which at one time was made of land. This leads to a wide space that once supported the cattle mangers to the right and left.
Stonecutter marks. They can still be seen engraved on some voussoirs that build the transverse arches closest to the entrance (and in other rooms of the castle) and are the signature of the stonemasons who worked on their carving.
Large dining room or for various uses, depending on whether the castle went through days of peace or days of strife, which were common in the Middle Ages
Anteroom, which could be with a bit of imagination, armory, scriptorium and wardrobe.
Today it houses part of the Ethnographic Museum, they are pieces obtained exclusively in the same town.
Bedroom. Main bedroom of the Fernández de Heredia castle. This room is housed in the hollow of the position tower. This one, offering very thick walls, as can be seen by the depth of the window and also an armored ceiling with twice the number of beams that it would normally require.
the dungeon Great security prison The Great Staircase, Tower-Gate Outside the Walls, Helicoidal Staircase, Sacristy in the Conventual Stage, Great Room of 284 m2, First and Second floor basements. Burial Crypt, Crypt.and Chapel.
Declared a National Monument in 1931 (the town will be declared a Historic-Artistic Site in 1978), its restoration began in 1972 with the removal of rubble, cleaning and consolidation of arches and slabs
Photos taken of various works of art at an exhibit while filming on-site for Battle Castle: Malbork with host Dan Snow in Poland. The show profiles the siege of 1410 when Polish and Lithuanian forces attacked the brick stronghold. The offensive, which was led by King Jagiello and Grand Duke Vytautas, occurred after the Battle of Tannenberg. The castle, historically known as Marienburg, was built by the Teutonic Order, crusader knights who occupied this area of the Baltic in medieval times.
Battle Castle is an action documentary series starring Dan Snow that is now airing on History Television and is scheduled to premiere on Discovery Knowledge in the UK in Spring 2012 and on various BBC-affiliated channels in the near future.
This show brings to life mighty medieval fortifications and the epic sieges they resist: clashes that defy the limits of military technology, turn empires to dust, and transform mortals into legends.
Website: www.battlecastle.tv
Twitter: www.twitter.com/battlecastle
Youtube: www.youtube.com/battlecastle
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/battlecastle
Facebook: www.facebook.com/battlecastle
Castles conjure thoughts of romantic tales, but make no mistake, they are built for war.
Dover: Prince Louis’ key to England. Malaga: the Granadans final stronghold. And Crac des Chevaliers: Crown Jewel of Crusader castles. Through dynamic location footage and immersive visual effects, Battle Castle reveals a bloody history of this epic medieval arms race.
As siege weapons and technology become more ruthless, the men who design and built these castles reply … or perish. Follow host Dan Snow as he explores the military engineering behind these medieval megastructures and the legendary battles that became testaments to their might.
Each episode will climax in the ultimate test of the castle’s military engineering – a siege that will change the course of history. Which castles will be conquered and which will prevail? You’ll have to watch to find out.
But the journey doesn’t end there –in fact, it’s just beginning. Battle Castle extends into a multi-platform quest, taking us deep into the secret world of medieval warfare and strategy. Become the ultimate ‘Castle Master’. Stay tuned for more on the Battle Castle experience.
A Springald, or espringal, was a medieval torsion artillery device for throwing bolts. It is depicted in a diagram in an 11th-century Byzantine manuscript, but in Western Europe is more evident in the late 12th century and early 13th century. It was constructed on the same principles as an Ancient Greek or Roman ballista, but with inward swinging arms and threw bolts instead of stones. It was also known as a 'skein-bow', and was a torsion device using twisted skeins of silk or sinew to power two bow-arms
Les Baux-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
This trebuchet is a modern reconstruction based on medieval drawings. The trebuchet was part of a range of formidable machines used to attack the walls of fortified sites during sieges. It is a sort of giant catapult, capable of launching projectiles using a lever with a counterweight at the end.
How clearly we see the madness of war when siege engines attack hedgehogs in their own IKEA furnished living room.
A Springald, or espringal, was a medieval torsion artillery device for throwing bolts. It is depicted in a diagram in an 11th-century Byzantine manuscript, but in Western Europe is more evident in the late 12th century and early 13th century. It was constructed on the same principles as an Ancient Greek or Roman ballista, but with inward swinging arms and threw bolts instead of stones. It was also known as a 'skein-bow', and was a torsion device using twisted skeins of silk or sinew to power two bow-arms
A few more Middle Age Siege Weapons to complete the series. These are all on display at Les Baux castle and constitute an interesting and rather unique collection. At the back, in this photo is the Trebuchet that I described previously. In front is a similar device called the Couilard which functions like the Trebuchet but is smaller, lighter, and more mobile. It uses smaller projectiles (up to 80 kg) and has a shorter range (180 m). But it could be reloaded much faster than the Trebuchet, up to 10 times per hour. When gunpowder cannons were introduced to the battlefields of Europe in the 14th century, initially they were no match for the Couillard because they could only fire two shots per hour. Of course, gun technology improved considerably afterwards – as we all know – but still the Couillard continued to be a practical weapon well into the 15th century and even into the 16th.
The nearby sign translates as follows:
BOMBARD BALLS
END OF THE 14TH CENTURY - EARLY 15TH CENTURY - STONE
These hard limestone balls were found at the Palais des Papes during excavation in the district of Balance d'Avignon.
They were deeply buried in the soil of the old courtyards where they had come to lodge after crossing all the floors of the houses.
Launched at the Palace from "trebuchet" or "mangonel" type siege engines, these stone projectiles were probably used at the time of the first siege of the palace in 1398-99 or at a later date (1410- 1411), known as the "Catalan War".
Palais des Papes
Avignon, France.
May 4, 2014.
Running from the beginning of August until the end of October 2015 during the height of Gloucester's festival season, a series of sculptures will be appearing on the streets and green spaces of the city. The Where's Scrumpty trail will see five-foot tall sculptures based on a local legend* but with a twist: the character has taken the nickname 'Scrumpty' to celebrate the inclusion of Gloucester as a host city for this year's Rugby World Cup.
Local schools and organisations were invited to design miniature Scrumpties, with the overall winner having the honour of their design being replicated on a full-size version to be included in the sculpture trail. These are the runner-up entries, which were on display at Gloucester Cathedral before the Gloucester Carnival parade.
*Who is Scrumpty?
Based on a local Gloucester legend, during the English Civil War Siege of Gloucester in 1643, King Charles I's army was camped at Llanthony Priory just outside the medieval city walls. A brand new siege engine was to be used to knock down the ancient city walls of Gloucester. This siege engine was nicknamed 'Humpty Dumpty' apparently after a well-known and rather rotund Member of Parliament named Humphrey.
On its first use, Humpty Dumpty collapsed, causing it to break apart, hence the famous nursery rhyme line, "All the King's horses and all the King's men, couldn't put Humpty together again".
For the year 2015, the city of Gloucester has adopted the character of Humpty Dumpty, but as it's a big year for sport he's put on his rugby jersey and boots and taken the name 'Scrumpty' to help celebrate with the country's most passionate rugby fans.
Running from the beginning of August until the end of October 2015 during the height of Gloucester's festival season, a series of sculptures will be appearing on the streets and green spaces of the city. The Where's Scrumpty trail will see five-foot tall sculptures based on a local legend* but with a twist: the character has taken the nickname 'Scrumpty' to celebrate the inclusion of Gloucester as a host city for this year's Rugby World Cup.
Local schools and organisations were invited to design miniature Scrumpties, with the overall winner having the honour of their design being replicated on a full-size version to be included in the sculpture trail. These are the runner-up entries, which were on display at Gloucester Cathedral before the Gloucester Carnival parade.
*Who is Scrumpty?
Based on a local Gloucester legend, during the English Civil War Siege of Gloucester in 1643, King Charles I's army was camped at Llanthony Priory just outside the medieval city walls. A brand new siege engine was to be used to knock down the ancient city walls of Gloucester. This siege engine was nicknamed 'Humpty Dumpty' apparently after a well-known and rather rotund Member of Parliament named Humphrey.
On its first use, Humpty Dumpty collapsed, causing it to break apart, hence the famous nursery rhyme line, "All the King's horses and all the King's men, couldn't put Humpty together again".
For the year 2015, the city of Gloucester has adopted the character of Humpty Dumpty, but as it's a big year for sport he's put on his rugby jersey and boots and taken the name 'Scrumpty' to help celebrate with the country's most passionate rugby fans.
Running from the beginning of August until the end of October 2015 during the height of Gloucester's festival season, a series of sculptures will be appearing on the streets and green spaces of the city. The Where's Scrumpty trail will see five-foot tall sculptures based on a local legend* but with a twist: the character has taken the nickname 'Scrumpty' to celebrate the inclusion of Gloucester as a host city for this year's Rugby World Cup.
Local schools and organisations were invited to design miniature Scrumpties, with the overall winner having the honour of their design being replicated on a full-size version to be included in the sculpture trail. These are the runner-up entries, which were on display at Gloucester Cathedral before the Gloucester Carnival parade.
*Who is Scrumpty?
Based on a local Gloucester legend, during the English Civil War Siege of Gloucester in 1643, King Charles I's army was camped at Llanthony Priory just outside the medieval city walls. A brand new siege engine was to be used to knock down the ancient city walls of Gloucester. This siege engine was nicknamed 'Humpty Dumpty' apparently after a well-known and rather rotund Member of Parliament named Humphrey.
On its first use, Humpty Dumpty collapsed, causing it to break apart, hence the famous nursery rhyme line, "All the King's horses and all the King's men, couldn't put Humpty together again".
For the year 2015, the city of Gloucester has adopted the character of Humpty Dumpty, but as it's a big year for sport he's put on his rugby jersey and boots and taken the name 'Scrumpty' to help celebrate with the country's most passionate rugby fans.
The battering ram is not only one of the oldest siege weapons that we know of, it is also amongst those that have been in use the longest. There is documentation that the Assyrians were using the device back in the 9th century BC and modern versions continue to be used for various applications by the military and police forces (e.g. SWAT teams). The idea is to use a suspended beam to crack open a wall, a door or a gate. There were many different models produced over the years: capped vs uncapped; suspended vs rolling; rope vs chains; etc. It was also important to have some kind of a shield to protect the rammers from arrows or other projectiles being shot or thrown from above and that this shelter be as fireproof as possible. The triangular housing in this picture served such a purpose. Note on the drawing that the wooden surface is covered with animal skins. Wet animal skins did make the whole contraption somewhat fire resistant.
The catapult is old now, but the Ballista/Scorpion hasn't been shot before. It's pretty easy to figure out from this shot, I hope. My inspiration is below in the comments. I'll probably build more of these; perhaps scaled down for ship-board artillery pieces. More catapults will go on the wall, maybe alongside slightly scaled-up ballistae.
Here is another Middle Age war machine; this one is called the Trebuchet. It was the largest of these so-called siege engines. Very powerful and very accurate, it could throw rocks weighing up to 140 kg over a distance of 200 metres and was used mostly to demolish castle walls and fortifications. It was one of the most dreaded weapons of middle age warfare, nicknamed The Warwolf (Loup de Guerre). At 16 m high and weighing 10 tons, the one shown here is supposed to be the largest in France and the second largest in Europe. It works a bit like a slingshot. If you want to see it in action, you can watch this short demonstration video on YouTube, shot in September 2008 during some festivities that took place at Baux-de-Provence: youtu.be/EFHlVtpRPRE
One of Henry III's most powerful and ambitious barons, Gilbert de Clare, lord of Glamorgan, built this castle. His purpose was to secure the area and prevent lowland south Wales from falling into the hands of the Welsh leader Llywelyn the Last, who controlled most of mid and north Wales.
Canadian Geese in the foreground
Photos taken of various works of art at an exhibit while filming on-site for Battle Castle: Malbork with host Dan Snow in Poland. The show profiles the siege of 1410 when Polish and Lithuanian forces attacked the brick stronghold. The offensive, which was led by King Jagiello and Grand Duke Vytautas, occurred after the Battle of Tannenberg. The castle, historically known as Marienburg, was built by the Teutonic Order, crusader knights who occupied this area of the Baltic in medieval times.
Battle Castle is an action documentary series starring Dan Snow that is now airing on History Television and is scheduled to premiere on Discovery Knowledge in the UK in Spring 2012 and on various BBC-affiliated channels in the near future.
This show brings to life mighty medieval fortifications and the epic sieges they resist: clashes that defy the limits of military technology, turn empires to dust, and transform mortals into legends.
Website: www.battlecastle.tv
Twitter: www.twitter.com/battlecastle
Youtube: www.youtube.com/battlecastle
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/battlecastle
Facebook: www.facebook.com/battlecastle
Castles conjure thoughts of romantic tales, but make no mistake, they are built for war.
Dover: Prince Louis’ key to England. Malaga: the Granadans final stronghold. And Crac des Chevaliers: Crown Jewel of Crusader castles. Through dynamic location footage and immersive visual effects, Battle Castle reveals a bloody history of this epic medieval arms race.
As siege weapons and technology become more ruthless, the men who design and built these castles reply … or perish. Follow host Dan Snow as he explores the military engineering behind these medieval megastructures and the legendary battles that became testaments to their might.
Each episode will climax in the ultimate test of the castle’s military engineering – a siege that will change the course of history. Which castles will be conquered and which will prevail? You’ll have to watch to find out.
But the journey doesn’t end there –in fact, it’s just beginning. Battle Castle extends into a multi-platform quest, taking us deep into the secret world of medieval warfare and strategy. Become the ultimate ‘Castle Master’. Stay tuned for more on the Battle Castle experience.