Siegecraft: Laying Siege to & Defending a Castle

[Major Weatherly]

    

Defending a Castle (Castles)

Castle defenders were usually outnumbered. However, castles were designed to give the defenders every possible advantage that allowed them to last as long as possible in the event of a siege.

Castles frequently had enormous amounts of food in the granaries. This was proportional to the castle's population. In the event of an invasion, the gates were locked and frequently a siege took place. We will talk about the immediate defenses castles possessed against assaults. We also have more information about Castle Attackers.

The main defense a castle possessed was its numerous walls. These walls could be very thick and tall - depending on those who built the castle. From the alleys, archers could easily shoot arrows against the invaders below. Therefore, archers and later on fire weapons were the most effective form of castle defense - and the real advantage castles offered. The height benefit as well as the battlements allowed archers to fire up to 12 arrows per minute and easily take cover while the enemy fired. Additionally, many castles had other counter-offensive mechanisms such as catapults and ballistae.

Moats

Moats were an important addition to castles. They successfully stopped most siege towers, ladders and tunnels from reaching the walls - not to mention the drawbridge which completely stopped invaders.

Even if the attackers managed to destroy the castle's walls with siege engines, the moat resulted to be a severe advantage as swimming under heavy fire was out of the question. More importantly was the moat's protection against diggers. As it can be noted in the Castle Attackers article, a common way to destroy walls or enter an enemy castle altogether was with tunnels. Moats proved very effective to completely stop such tactics and therefore, a castle with moat was almost impossible to assault. Some castles had two or more gates that had a drawbridge which was lifted only during wartime and during the night.

Counter-Attack

Bigger castles often had many defensive advantages. When the attackers dug a tunnel, the defenders could easily spot it with water and then pour more water on it until it collapsed. If done properly, the defenders could also dig a counter-tunnel and fight underground as they had the advantage of their side being closer to the surface.

Many castles had siege engines capable of destroying the enemy's siege weaponry. If a castle had catapults and ballistae, few enemies dared to attack it directly as battering rams and siege towers were an easy target.
http://www.medievality.com/defending-castle.html

[Major Weatherly]

The ballista (Latin, from Greek βαλλίστρα - ballistra[1] and that from - βάλλω ballō, "throw"),[2] plural ballistae, was an ancient missile weapon which launched a large projectile at a distant target.

Developed from earlier Greek weapons, it relied upon different mechanics, using two levers with torsion springs instead of a prod, the springs consisting of several loops of twisted skeins. Early versions ejected heavy darts or spherical stone projectiles of various sizes for siege warfare. It developed into a smaller sniper weapon, the Scorpio,[3] and possibly the polybolos.

[Major Weatherly]

Drawing of the ballista made from the photo of a real size model. The man is shown for proportion view. A ballista like this one could thrown the missiles of ½ talent, i.e. about 13 kg

[Major Weatherly]

A mangonel (derived from Greco-Latin word manganon, meaning "engine of war")[1][2] was a type of catapult or siege engine used in the medieval period to throw projectiles at a castle's walls. The exact meaning of the term is debatable, and several possibilities have been suggested. Mangonel may also be indirectly referring to the mangon, a French hard stone found in the south of France. It may have been a name for counterweight artillery (trebuchets), possibly either a men-assisted fixed-counterweight type, or one with a particular type of frame.[3][4] The Arabic term manajaniq comes from the same word, and applies to various kinds of trebuchet. It is also possible that it referred to more than one kind of engine, in different times or places, or was a general term.

In modern parlance, catapult is often used as the name of a medieval form of onager, though there is little evidence for this historically. In this sense, 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. It was more suited to field battles.

[Major Weatherly]

[Major Weatherly]

mangonel

[Major Weatherly]

A trebuchet[nb 1] (French trébuchet) is a siege engine that was employed in the Middle Ages. 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 an actual counterweight. The counterweight trebuchet appeared in both Christian and Muslim lands around the Mediterranean in the twelfth century. It could fling projectiles of up to three hundred and fifty pounds (140 kg) at high speeds into enemy fortifications.

The trebuchet did not become obsolete until the 15th century, well after the introduction of gunpowder, which appeared in Europe in second half of 13th century.

[Major Weatherly]

Trebuchet

Répliques de pièces d'artillerie médiévale au Château de Castelnaud. Du premier plan à l'arrière plan : trébuchet, mangonneau et pierrière.
Lviatour.jpg    
This illustration was made by Luc Viatour

[Major Weatherly]

[Major Weatherly]

[Major Weatherly]

Medieval Mangonel

[Major Weatherly]

A mangonel (derived from Greco-Latin word manganon, meaning "engine of war")[1][2] was a type of catapult or siege engine used in the medieval period to throw projectiles at a castle's walls. The exact meaning of the term is debatable, and several possibilities have been suggested. Mangonel may also be indirectly referring to the mangon, a French hard stone found in the south of France. It may have been a name for counterweight artillery (trebuchets), possibly either a men-assisted fixed-counterweight type, or one with a particular type of frame.[3][4] The Arabic term manajaniq comes from the same word, and applies to various kinds of trebuchet. It is also possible that it referred to more than one kind of engine, in different times or places, or was a general term.

In modern parlance, catapult is often used as the name of a medieval form of onager, though there is little evidence for this historically. In this sense, 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. It was more suited to field battles.

[Major Weatherly]

Side view of a mangonel

[Major Weatherly]

Siege Weapons and Warfare

The Medieval era of the English Middle Ages saw the advent of the Crusades to the Holy Land and the construction of hundreds of castles at home. A totally new form of warfare and weapons were introduced to England with the castles and following the experiences fighting the Saracens and their fortresses during the Crusades - Siege Warfare. Siege warfare tactics and weapons varied according to the role of Defender or Attacker.

Medieval Siege Weapons Design
Siege weapons were made to order! They were far too cumbersome to move from one place to another. In a siege situation the commander would assess the situation and the siege weapons design requirements to break a siege. Engineers would instruct soldiers as to the design and construction of siege weapons and siege engines.  The most famous Medieval Siege Weapons were the:

    Ballista

    Mangonel

    Battering rams

    Trebuchets

    Catapult

    Siege Tower

The design of the trebuchet was an awesome piece of engineering - the machine was massive.

Description of Siege Weapons
Medieval Siege Weapons used during the Middle Ages were the Ballista, Mangonel, Battering Ram, Siege Tower and the awesome Trebuchet. A brief description of each of the major siege weapons and engines are as follows:

    The Battering Ram
    The Battering Ram and the Bore were used to literally 'batter' down, pound, punch and shake and drill into castle gates, doors and walls

    The Ballista - The Ballista was similar to a Giant Crossbow and worked by using tension

    The Mangonel - Missiles were launched from a bowl-shaped bucket at the end of the one giant arm of the Mangonel

    The Trebuchet - The massive Trebuchet consisted of a lever and a sling and was capable of hurling stones weighing 200 pounds with a range of up to about 300 yards

    The Siege Tower - A siege weapon designed to protect attackers and their ladders whilst storming a weak area of the castle wall. The tower was usually rectangular with four wheels and a height equal to that of the wall, or sometimes even higher

Construction of Siege Weapons
Medieval Siege warfare and building siege weapons was an extremely expensive business! All sieges had to be carefully planned and the exact type and number of siege weapons had to be established. Medieval Lords, knights and their Siege Engineers identified the weakest parts of the Castle or town that they needed to attack and planned the design of the siege engines accordingly. A workforce including carpenters and blacksmiths had to be transported to the site. The surrounding area was checked out for materials and supplies. Armed men and soldiers were expected to help prepare for the siege by helping to build the siege weapons and engines. Many elements needed to be taken into consideration when designing siege weapons. Click the following links for further details.

Siege Weapon Design

Siege Weapons
Each section of this Middle Ages website addresses all topics and provides interesting facts and information about these great monuments to bygone times. The Sitemap provides full details of all of the information and facts provided about the fascinating subject of Middle Ages!
 
Siege Weapons

    Middle Ages era, period, life, age and times

    Middle Ages siege weapons - the Ballista, Mangonel, Battering Ram, Siege Tower and the Trebuchet

    Description of Siege Weapons

    Medieval Siege Weapons Design

    Construction of Siege Weapons

    History interesting facts and information about Medieval Siege Weapons

http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/siege-weapons.htm

[Major Weatherly]

http://www.medievality.com/defending-castle.html