The Trebuchet: The Dark Ages

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The trebuchet is an old medieval war machine, believed to first be created in around 300bc in China. In roughly 500AD the trebuchet made its arrival in Europe, this was also considered the Dark Ages. The trebuchet was used to throw massive rocks into the walls of castles, or into large crowds of enemies. The effect was devastating often reducing the castle wall or city wall to pebbles, exposing it for attack and the burning torches of the enemies who would burn it to the ground. The Medieval engineers of this time were way beyond the rest of the world. The amount of knowledge that went into building a trebuchet in 500AD is an unbelievable accomplishment. Trebuchets were more effective, and more accurate compared to their cousins the stave sling …show more content…
The machines were built for one spot; they were way too massive to move. The men who operated these were call “gynours”, that was the name of their position in battle. The weights of some of the rocks and other throwing objects weighed to upwards of 300 pounds. With 300 pounds on one end, and the massive counter weight on the other, it hurdled the rock flying through the air. Rate of fire was not one of the trebuchets best characteristics. Castle designs thought about the trebuchets range, roughly being 300 yards, so the soldiers using long bows up on the castles could hit the “gynours”. Making it very dangerous and only delaying the reloading process further. Wheels were an addition that came further down the road. It allowed for some movement in the where the machine would be placed. As well as the forward momentum of the counterweight allowing for a farther throwing distance. The throwing arms all differed in range, from 20ft-60ft. The longer the arm, the more leverage it would have. Counterweights of rocks weighing up to 15000lbs which would put tremendous amounts of momentum and stress onto the body of the
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