MEDIEVAL SIEGE
War in medieval times was about the control of land. Knights and other soldiers
who lived in castles controlled the land around their homes. Armies who wanted to take
over that land would attack. In their attack, they would launch a siege. Armies
developed strategies to fight in these siege wars. They designed and made weapons.
On a basketball court or on a football field there is an offense and a defense. The
offense is trying to score, and the defense is trying to stop the offense so that they won’t
score. In a war there are also an offense and defense, the attacker and the defender. In
medieval wars, the offense was trying to take over someone’s land, a siege, but the
defense was trying to stop them and make them go away. Let’s look at some of the
strategies and weapons the soldiers used in their offensive and defensive efforts.
THE OFFENSE
Direct Assault
The most dangerous way for soldiers to
attack a castle was by direct assault. The soldiers
would try to get in the castle by using ladders to
scale the walls of the castle, ramming down doors,
or by sneaking in through tunnels that went under
the castle walls and into the yard on the inside.
Sometimes they would surprise their enemies by
attacking in more than one spot around the castle
at the same time. Men with bows and arrows
would provide cover fire for them while they tried
to break a wall or climb over it.
Defenders of the castle would sit high up
on the castle wall or in narrow windows called
loopholes. To defend against the attackers they
would shoot at them with arrows, push their
ladders off the wall, drop large rocks on them,
drop firepots filled with burning tar, and pour
scalding liquid or hot sand (which could get under the armor and burn the skin) onto the
people below.
Sometimes attacking armies would blockade a castle instead of a violent direct
assault. Blocking the delivery of supplies to the castle was much safer than fighting, but
it had its problems, too. The attacking armies didn’t like to wait out the winter in the
cold northern climates unless they had housing. Castle dwellers stockpiled food and
supplies and drilled water wells within the castle walls. They also had ally troops who
would come and help them defend against the enemy.
Siege Tower
A siege tower was a large, wooden tower
used to help attackers scale the castle wall.
Soldiers hid inside the tower while other soldiers
pushed it to the castle. A drawbridge would lower
from the top of the tower onto the top of the castle
wall. The soldiers hiding inside would run out
and attack. Some towers were almost 100 feet
high. One tower used in the siege of Kenilworth
Castle held 200 soldiers and 11 catapults, huge
weapons that were about the size of a modern
automobile!
These towers were difficult to build and
could be burned by fire arrows and firepots.
Sometimes the knights of a castle would surprise
attack their enemy and destroy a siege tower
during its construction. The Siege Tower on the
left was 17 meters high. It was on wheels so it
could be brought to the castle. Notice the draw
bridge on the top left. The draw bridge was used
for the attackers to walk across the castle walls
into the enemy camp.
Trebuchet
The trebuchet was a mighty and
fearsome weapon of medieval times.
Trebuchets were used to launch missiles at
castles. The missiles were sometimes large
rocks meant to destroy the castle walls. The
best trebuchets could launch a 400 pound
rock at a castle wall. Other missiles were
dead animals, launched with the goal of
spreading disease among the castle dwellers.
Sometimes attackers shot the severed heads
of enemy soldiers or of messengers who
delivered messages they did not like.
If a trebuchet was set up too close to
a castle, defenders of the castle would shot
arrows at the shooter and try to launch their
own missiles from catapults inside the castle
to try to destroy the trebuchet. Therefore, this weapon had to be strong enough to shoot
its missiles long distances.
During peacetime, they were used by men to launch flowers at ladies during
tournaments.
How To Build A Trebuchet:
http://www.stormthecastle.com/trebuchet/how-tobuild-a-trebuchet.htm
Catapult: The term 'catapult' is often used as a generic label for all throwing machines.
Crossbows were large carriage or post-mounted
crossbows were often portable enough to be brought on to
some battlefields, and were also commonly used in
position defense.
This crew-operated crossbow has a range over 300 meters, and is
capable of penetrating 3 men and 1 horse.
Battering Ram
Siege armies used battering rams to break down the
gatehouse doors or to smash through a castle wall. Soldiers
were protected in a covered shed, in which a large tree
trunk was suspended on chains. The end of the trunk was
shaped and capped with iron. Soldiers wheeled the weapon
toward the castle and swung the hanging trunk back and
forth, with the end of the trunk moving in and out of the
shed’s opening, battering its target. The battering ram was
nicknamed the “tortoise.” Castle defenders tried to burn
the ram with flaming arrows or prevent the tree trunk from
swinging.
Tunnels: Men called sappers dug tunnels to sneak under castle walls and gain entrance
and launch a sneak attack or, more often, to destabilize the wall and cause it to fall. The
tunnel walls were supported with wood, which could be burned to collapse the tunnel and
the wall above. Castle dwellers would set out bowls of water and watch for ripples that
might indicate digging. Sometimes they built counter-tunnels. Fierce battles ensued
underground whenever a counter-tunnel met an enemy offense tunnel.
Setting Fires : Other tactics included setting fires against castle walls in an effort to
decompose the cement that held together the individual stones so they could be readily
knocked over.
Biological Warfare: Another tactic was the catapulting of diseased animals or human
corpses over the walls in order to promote disease which would force the defenders to
surrender, a primitive form of biological warfare.
DEFENSE
Walls
The first castles had wooden walls. Wood was cheap and quick to build, but the
castles were vulnerable to fire. Stone was used to construct walls next. The stone walls
became thicker and thicker over the years. During the mid-13th century, rings of walls,
with the low outer walls acting as barriers against siege towers and battering rams
surrounded castles.
Corner towers allowed defenders to keep an eye on enemy movements. Windows
were rare. Instead, slits called loopholes were built and archers could shoot from them.
Sometimes castle builders constructed walls so that they were thicker and harder to ram
at the bottom. Those besieged in the castle often negotiated time frames for surrender
with the enemy. This would save lives on both sides and keep the costs of war down.
Archers
The offense and the defense had archers, but the men shooting arrows from the
castle were at a better advantage than the archers on the ground were. Castle archers
were shooting from a higher position, which gave them better sight and range, and the
castle walls protected them.
Gatehouse
The castle’s entrance, the gatehouse, was the castle’s most vulnerable point.
Later, military engineers reinforced it with certain defenses. A drawbridge could be
pulled back, lifted, or pivoted like a see saw. Portcullises, iron covered wooden grills,
moved up and down in front of the gatehouse door, providing extra protection. Sliding
wooden beams behind them could reinforce the doors further.
If attackers broke down the door and entered the passageway, they ran the risk of
begin trapped. Defenders could drop a portcullis behind them, or they could drop
scalding liquid or hot sand through “murder holes” located in the roofs above gate
passages. Finally, loopholes in the walls of the gate passage gave archers, who were only
feet from their targets, a deadly advantage.
Moat
Moats surrounded castles and provided protection from siege towers and battering
rams. Remember that these two weapons had to be wheeled to the castle wall to be
effective. The moat also made it more challenging to dig tunnels underneath the castle
wall. To get across the moat, attacking soldiers sometimes filled the moat with rocks and
soil or built portable wooden bridges.
THE PENALTY RACK
The rack is a torture device that consists of an oblong
rectangular, usually wooden frame, slightly raised from the
ground, with a roller at one, or both, ends, having at one
end a fixed bar to which the legs were fastened, and at the
other a movable bar to which the hands were tied. The
victim's feet are fastened to one roller, and the wrists are
chained to the other.
As the interrogation progresses, bymeans of pulleys and
levers, this roller could be rotated thus straining the ropes
until the sufferer's joints were dislocated and eventually
separated.
Because of its mechanically precise, graded operation, it
was particularly suited for hard interrogation, as to extract a
confession.
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/trebuchet/race.html
www.medievality.com
www.wikipedia.com
http://its.guilford.k12.nc.us/act/grade6/gr6_files/Siege/Medieval_Siege.doc