~ Medieval Weapons ~

-  Siege Weapons  -

Trebuchet

It was the length of the suitably weighted arm and the ratio between the long and short arms of the lever combined with the sling and the sling's length which gave the trebuchet its great power, which was far greater than the power of the catapult. The trebuchet relied upon the gravitation of a heavy weight, while the catapult made use of twisted cordage. The catapult is often, quite incorrectly, identified as a trebuchet. The trebuchet was highly accurate, as opposed to the catapult which was not used for its accuracy but rather to put fear into the besieged people. Although the rate of fire was slow mainly because it would take time to load the sling, the trebuchet was able to launch projectiles weighing approximately 300lbs, which was five or six times as much as the largest catapult would have been able to.

Trebuchets - continued