The Trebuchet was used as a Medieval siege attack weapon. Thought to have been invented in China sometime before BC and  capable of hurling a 200 pound object, usually a stone, from 300 yards or more. Many other objects could be placed in the sling and hurled into the castle interior.  The heavy stones would be used to cause a breach in the defending castle walls. Through the breach would pour the invading army. Before this happened, it could take months, if not years,  to weaken a castle. Keeping in mind, the castle would have been constructed to withstand severe bombardment from just such a weapon as the trebuchet. Thick walls would take many hits in the same location to weaken to the point of crumbling. 

The army mounting the siege would first look for the weakest points. If an old gate had been walled up, any joint that was not part of the original building may provide an easier target. At first, as the missiles began to hit the castle, nothing much would seem to happen. The probability of anything dramatic happening was small. The wall would be chipped away, bit by bit, until finally, a breach was made.

A castle had to be well provisioned, with an internal source of water. Cattle would have been penned inside, stores of food to last months would be at hand. A well equipped and defended castle could last for months, perhaps years, or as long as the food and water were available. The castle defenders might chance a sally forth to obtain fresh food supplies, or if they saw the will of the attacking force was weakening.

Equally so, the attacking army would do all they could to keep the defenders in a state of unrest. At first the siege weapons would be used to batter away at the walls.  As the days and weeks wore on with no visible result, they would attempt to bring as much discomfort as possible to the defenders. Into the trebuchet sling would go various objects, sharp wooden stakes, dead bodies, human, animal,  in the hope of causing disease to spread amongst the inhabitants of the castle. Fire would have been used, burning casks of tar and Greek oil.

If the defenders were deemed to be weakened, then a strong attack would be mounted, attempting to scale the castle walls using siege ladders and towers. Medieval sieges often degenerated into a waiting game. Either the attackers grew tired, or the defenders ran critically short of water and food, weakened to such an extent that they could no longer defend the castle. The attacking army could have problems providing food and shelter for their men over an extended siege. Not to mention the men would expect to be paid or might desert when the chance arose, to return to their home and families.

The word "Trebuchet"  has its origins in the old French word "Trebucher" meaning to throw over. Another name, "Ingenium" was from the Latin word "ingenium"   meaning ingenious. This was the word used in England to describe the Trebuchet.

The Trebuchet is a counterweight  siege engine. Simply, a Lever with a sling on one end to hold the missile, and a huge weight at the other to provide the force. the sling end was forced down to a locking mechanism, while the weighted end  was elevated into the air. When the mechanism was released, the sling rotated upwards as the weight descended. Thus the stone was flung in a huge arc towards the target. Often, a number of engines would be employed at the same time. Possibly depending on the resources of the attacking force, they might want to target any weak areas and at the same time batter away at  gates and such other likely targets.

Sometimes the defenders, knowing a wall or gate was about to fall, would then construct an inner defensive wall. This would at least stall entry into the castle proper.

There will be a link to Siege engine diagrams and pictures of working models coming soon to this page.

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