The Engineering Beauty of the Trebuchet

Santa Fe, New Mexico: Desert Academy. – 19 p.The word trebuchet sounds like something you would find on a menu in a fancy French restaurant. But this medieval weapon of mass destruction was certainly not edible. Trebuchets were used to break through castle walls from about 850-1350 C.E. Dead livestock or giant rocks were the usual ammunition, but sometimes prisoners of war or especially annoying people were added to the flying debris. Other launching devices similar to the trebuchet include the catapult and the ballista. The catapult rolled into battle before the trebuchet was even invented, with reports that the Greeks and Romans used it around 350 C.E. The catapult had an arm with a large cup attached to the far end, where missiles were loaded and flung over the castle walls. However, the most successful catapults had slings attached to their throwing arms, which allowed the catapult to throw even farther.