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The Art of Throwing Rocks
By Matthew | April 7, 2008
Perhaps one of the more famous aspects of life in Medieval Europe was war. The Middle Ages was unable to pass even a decade without one bloody conflict or another raging throughout Europe. In fact, war permeated every aspect of medieval society so deeply that it affected everything from poetry and writing to the advance of technology and machinery. All was done in preparation for assault or defense from invasion.
In the 7th and 8th centuries it was the Muslim conquests of the Persian Empire, Visigoth Spain and the remainder of the western reaches of the Roman Empire. Later, it would be the Frankish conquest of Gaul and subsequent rise of Medieval France, the Burgundians ascension to power in Medieval Germany, and the Angles versus Saxons in Britain. The Merovingian and the Carolingian dynasties arose in what are now Austria, Germany and Northern France. Toward the High Middle Ages, the Vikings began raids on Britain, extending their arm of power all the way into France. Finally, what is probably the most memorable of the historical events, the Crusades, began in 1095 and ended with the lackluster 9th Crusade in 1292 lead by the infamous Edward I (the “Longshanks”). More wars would follow, such as the Hundred Years War between France and England (which really lasted 116 years), but the focus of this article is not on the wars, but on the tools employed to win them.
The catapult has been around since just after 400 BC, and was originally invented by the Greeks. It is one of a few of a small family of long-distance, non-portable projectile launching weapons that precede gunpowder, and, subsequently, the cannon. This family includes ballistas, onagers, mangonels and trebuchets.
The Catapult
The early catapult was not as it is most often depicted. It was actually a rather complicated mechanism, consisting of a composite bow, a launching ramp and two torsion springs. It was described by the Greek inventor Archimedes as a large bow mounted on a stock (much like a gigantic crossbow). It is believed that the ballista or spear-launcher was the actual predecessor of the catapult, and not until later did the device take on the more commonly recognized shape of the mobile cart, torsion spring, lever arm, fulcrum and basket in which the projectile was contained.
Figure 1: An early catapult. Credit University of South Florida.
The Onager
Later versions of the catapult were sometimes mounted on four-wheeled carts, and contained a an axle, a spoke and a sling, and employed a single torsion spring mounted horizontally instead of vertically. These devices were referred to as Onagers, most likely getting their namesake the kicking action of an onager, or wild donkey, and were generally employed on the battlefield for closer range combat as the Onager had a much shorter range than it’s larger brethren.
The onager’s framework is made out of two beams from oak, which curve into humps. In the middle they have quite large holes in them, in which strong sinew ropes are stretched and twisted. A long arm is then inserted between the bundle of rope, at its end it has a pin and a pouch. It strikes on a huge buffer with a sack stuffed with fine chaff and secured by tight binding. When it comes to combat, a round stone (often clay balls with Greek fire in them, which explode on impact and burst into flames) is put in the pouch and the arm is winched down. Then, the master artilleryman strikes the pin with a hammer, and with a big blow, the stone is launched towards its target.” -Ammianus Marcellinus
Figure 2: A medieval Onager. Credit Société de l’Oriflamme.
The Mangonel
The classic catapult as it is depicted in most modern fantasy, toys and drawings is more uncommonly referred to as a Mangonel. It was a heavy launch catapult employed primarily to defeat a castle’s walls. While mobile versions existed, the Mangonel was more likely assembled on the battlefield just within range of the walls of its intended target. The Mangonel featured a low, flat trajectory and an extremely high velocity, designed specifically for smashing through thick stone walls from short range. Mangonels were the thought to be some of the first catapults to employ flaming projectiles (such as oil pots). Mangonels were also utilized to launch corpses of fallen dead and animals over the walls of castles. The first recorded instance of biological warfare was penned by Gabrielle de Mussi during the Siege of Caffa (now Feodosija, Ukraine) in 1343 whereby the Mongols most likely used Mangonels to launch dead infected with plague over the walls of the city.
Figure 3: A Mangonel. Credit B. Ayers.
The Trebuchet
The final great advance of hurled weaponry before the advent of the cannon came with the trebuchet, which provided the greatest mechanical advantage and was able to launch projectiles further than any of its predecessors. The trebuchet was called by several other names such as “bricole” and “trebucket” and was often prefixed with traction-, counterweight- and counterpoise depending on the type of trebuchet. The design of the trebuchet was straightforward enough. A large counterweight was attached to the end of a long lever arm, and placed atop a fulcrum so the counterweight end was closer than the end of the lever arm. A long sling descended from the firing end of the lever arm, and rested in a trough under the entire apparatus. When the counterweight dropped, it forced the lever arm forward at great speed, dragging the sling behind it. When it reached the top of its arc, the sling would continue in a large arc, adding even more force to the entire equation. The result was the ability to propel projectiles with great accuracy and speed an extremely long distance.
Figure 4: A Trebuchet. Credit Société de l’Oriflamme.
With the discovery and application of gunpowder, the face of warfare changed forever. But the Greek Catapult’s design was so effective and powerful on the battlefield that it withstood the test of time for nearly 2,000 years. Few other weapons of the ancient world have been capable of as much destruction or engineering prowess as the catapult and its progeny. There are castles still standing such as the Romanesque Loarre Castle in Aragon, Spain whose massively thick walls were specifically engineered to withstand the assault of the catapults. Innovations such as fiery vessels of burning oil, disease infected carcasses and unbreakable iron balls made these projectile weapons some of the most feared weapons available in ancient and medieval times.
Topics: Medieval Weaponry |
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