Castle Siege
Their are various ways of besieging a castle. The most common one is to starve the people inside the castle by cutting of their supplies but what did an army do to get inside a castle.
Trebuchet- A trebuchet is a siege engine, a type of catapult that was used to destroy walls. It is a lot more accurate than a catapult. It has a sling that would be loaded with huge rocks, the catapult also had a counterweight, and when you release the trigger the trebuchet would use the energy of the counterweight to throw the massive rocks at the castle walls.
Siege Tower- It was a massive wooden tower on four wheels. The wood was usually covered by wet animal skins as to prevent flaming arrows from setting the tower alight. A siege tower was as high as a castle wall or higher, because that would allow the crossbowmen inside to fire arrows into the castle. Once it rolled near to the wall it would drop a gangplank and the swordsmen and the pike men inside would rush onto the castle walls thereby gaining access to the castle.
Escalade- it was probably the simplest way of assaulting a castle, but it was also very dangerous. All that the attackers had to do, was make ladders and set them by the walls, and then to scale the ladders and rush into the castle. However defenders had a lot of options. They could fire arrows at them, push the ladders of the walls or pour boiling water and other liquids on the attackers.
Battering Ram- A battering ram is probably one of the oldest forms of siege in the world. There are two kinds of tbattering rams, one is just a large heavy log carried by several men and brought crashing against the castle walls. The other type of battering ram was slung from a support frame with wheels, by ropes or chains so that it could have a lot more power and so that it could be a lot bigger.
Their are various ways of besieging a castle. The most common one is to starve the people inside the castle by cutting of their supplies but what did an army do to get inside a castle.
Trebuchet- A trebuchet is a siege engine, a type of catapult that was used to destroy walls. It is a lot more accurate than a catapult. It has a sling that would be loaded with huge rocks, the catapult also had a counterweight, and when you release the trigger the trebuchet would use the energy of the counterweight to throw the massive rocks at the castle walls.
Siege Tower- It was a massive wooden tower on four wheels. The wood was usually covered by wet animal skins as to prevent flaming arrows from setting the tower alight. A siege tower was as high as a castle wall or higher, because that would allow the crossbowmen inside to fire arrows into the castle. Once it rolled near to the wall it would drop a gangplank and the swordsmen and the pike men inside would rush onto the castle walls thereby gaining access to the castle.
Escalade- it was probably the simplest way of assaulting a castle, but it was also very dangerous. All that the attackers had to do, was make ladders and set them by the walls, and then to scale the ladders and rush into the castle. However defenders had a lot of options. They could fire arrows at them, push the ladders of the walls or pour boiling water and other liquids on the attackers.
Battering Ram- A battering ram is probably one of the oldest forms of siege in the world. There are two kinds of tbattering rams, one is just a large heavy log carried by several men and brought crashing against the castle walls. The other type of battering ram was slung from a support frame with wheels, by ropes or chains so that it could have a lot more power and so that it could be a lot bigger.
