PrimaryNational Strategy

‘Castle Attack: the trebuchet’ An interactive, on-screen explanation text forming one

element of the Robin Hood texts.

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Nottingham Castle looks very peaceful and quiet now – but what would it be like under attack from an opposing army?

under

attack

What was a trebuchet and how did it work?

Bring up the trebuchet,

lads!

Trebuchet

In medieval times, armies realised that they needed to be able to break through the large stone walls of castles. This meant that they needed to fire something larger and even more deadly than arrows. The trebuchet was the most terrifying of the siege engines as it was able to throw heavy weights a long distance.

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Key information

• Large trebuchets were best for destroying walls or gateways.

• They did not work against moving targets like soldiers or horses.

• The soldiers used wood to build trebuchets where they were to be used because they would have been too heavy and cumbersome to move.

• When using the trebuchet the soldiers aimed heavy rocks to weaken the defences by hitting them in the same place. This then left a hole where the soldiers could invade the castle.

• At times, the soldiers used the trebuchet to fire animal manure, or even dead bodies, into a castle. This was intended to spread disease and to lower the morale of the defending troops.

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Building a trebuchet

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Building a trebuchet

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First the carpenters would build a very tall frame that was strong and stable enough to hold the moving mechanism. The trebuchet would be built where it was going to fired to from, as the completed engine would be far too heavy to move.

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Building a trebuchet

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Next, when they had made sure that the frame was secure enough, the carpenters would construct a long beam made of wood that would launch the missile at the target.

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Building a trebuchet

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The wooden beam was fixed to the trebuchet frame by a piece of wood that acted as a pivot. The pivot was attached to both sides of the frame and would allow the beam to turn at high speed.

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Building a trebuchet

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After that a sling would be attached to the long end of the lever to hold the huge rocks that would be put in it ready to throw at the castle. At the same time, the heavy counterweight often weighing many tonnes was attached to the short end of the beam to balance the load.

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Building a trebuchet

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In order to prepare the trebuchet for firing, the soldiers would work together to pull back the rope to raise the counterweight as high as possible. This would take a great effort, but would allow them to release the weight so it dropped downwards swinging the arm at great speed releasing the rock from the sling to fly at the target.

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trebuchet frame counterweight

sling to hold missile

long wooden beam

pivot arm

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sling to hold missile

The sling, made ofrope, was a net

attached to the end ofthe beam and held the missile that was about

to be fired.

long wooden beam

The long wooden beamwas attached to the

frame by the pivot arm. The sling and the

counterweight were attached to either end.

trebuchet frame

The frame was the firstpart of the trebuchet to

be built. It would be builton the spot where it wasto be fired. The frame was made out of wood

and had to be verystrong as it had to hold

the weight of the machine and the force

of it moving.

pivot

The pivot ranthrough the beam

and sat in cradles on both sides of the

frame. It rotated to allow the beam to

move.

counterweight

The counterweight

is the weight at the

other of the beam

from the sling and

balances the load of

the missile in the sling.

counter-weight

Acknowledgements

• Slide 6: Illustrated diagram of Trebuchet. © Copyright NGfL Cymru.

Used with kind permission. • Photographs taken from Nottingham castle. © Copyright Nottingham

Castle. Used with kind permission.