Medieval Military Technology

The most powerful weapons in the Middle Ages were catapults, the latest and technically most advanced type of which were counterweight-operated trebuchets. This article deals with their mechanics and describes some experimental reconstructions of such siege engines. In Estonia the interest in trebuchets is augmented by the fact that such engines were used here repeatedly at the beginning of the 13th century, during the German-Danish conquest, and thereafter. The author built an experimental reconstruction of a trebuchet and carried out experiments on the Otepää hillfort, which resulted in some new knowledge about this type of siege engines enabling us to better interpret the information available in historical sources. Keskajal olid võimsaimateks relvadeks heitemasinad, mille kõige hilisemateks ja tehniliselt täiuslikumateks tüüpideks olid vastukaalu jõul töötavad heitemasinad ehk blided. Käesolevas artiklis on käsitletud selliste masinate mehaanikat ja esitletud olulisemaid ajalooliste heitemasinate rekonstruktsioone ja katseid nendega. Eestis on huvi heitemasinate vastu põhjustanud eelkõige asjaolu, et neid kasutati siin 13. sajandi algul toimunud Saksa-Taani vallutusest peale. Artikli autor on ehitanud blide rekonstruktsiooni, millega Otepää linnamäel tehtud katsed annavad keskaegsete heitemasinate kohta uusi teadmisi ja võimaldavad tõlgendada kirjalikes allikates nende kohta esitatud andmeid.

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Il celeberrimo monumento funebre del bellicoso vescovo di Arezzo Guido Tarlati 1 , considerato la più grande opera del gotico funerario italiano, fu eseguito, com'è noto, tra il 1327 e il 1330 per opera di Agostino di Giovanni e Angelo da Siena, con la sottoscrizione degli artisti che porta la data 1330, su commissione dei fratelli del vescovo, Pier Saccone e Delfo. Originariamente nella cappella del Santissimo Sacramento in fondo alla navata destra, fu gravemente danneggiato nel 1341 durante la sommossa guelfa anti Tarlati; i danni furono restaurati a stucco da Angiolo Bini nel 1783 e nel 1788 fu spostato dal sito originario, per volontà del vescovo Marcacci, per essere collocato nella navata sinistra della Cattedrale aretina, dove si trova tutt'oggi.

The trebuchet was a very powerful weapon that was used in the Middle Ages. The medieval trebuchet was similar to a catapult, or stave sling, which was used for hurling heavy stones to smash castle or city walls. In ancient times, the trebuchet was used to destroy castle walls from afar because there would have been archers employed to defend the castle. The word

Traction trebuchets were medieval rotating-beam siege engines; they were powered by a human team pulling ropes and hurled stone projectiles from a sling. I have reconstructed and tested a full-sized traction trebuchet in order to find out exactly how they worked and how they differed from other kinds of mechanical siege artillery.