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At the end of the 13th century, what was the effective range of an archer, and what was the effective range of a trebuchet. The historical reports differ.
"Hew, how close you're gonna have to bring your trebuchet to the walls to do serious damage do you think?"
"Probably 200 yards. We will need to be within that to smash it up."
At 200 yards, is Hew's trebuchet out of range of archers defending the castle? To find out, a dummy representing the trebuchet's chief operator is placed at that distance.
"I am sure, with... an arrow would land amongst us if we were at that range. You can easily shoot 200 yards with that massive bow of yours, can't you?"
"Yeah, about 300 yards."
"Yes, if above 200 yards, I think it would be putting you a bit worried, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, it would. I am the first to accept that from this sort of range, the trebuchet will be doing serious damage to castle walls. But I think this does suggest that it's no easy business, and the garrison that knows its business can probably keep a trebuchet at the very limit of its range. And in fact we had some going over the top, I think it's mighty hopeful from the archer's point of view."
"I wonder what happens if you slap one into him from here."
"Good, come on then."
"Yes, alright he's already swallowed it, hasn't he?"
"Gone right through, right through the dummy, kept only in by the fletchings."
"Bit of a bellyacher, er."
Edward's castle building campaign in Wales had taught him how to design well-defended fortresses. Turning his attention to conquering Scotland, did Edward also have the ability to successfully attack them? As the king marched northwards to take the castles that guarded Scotland, he brought with him some of the biggest siege engines or trebuchets ever built.
"The siege of Caerlaverock, conducted by Edward I in 1300. We've got remarkably a really good account to this --- a contemporary poem. It describes the way in which the knights rode up to the castle, all in their great armour, trying to perform great deeds of valor. In fact, they were driven back by the garrison hurling stones and such like at them. And it wasn't the knights, it wasn't these people with the great acts of bravery, it was the engineers, men of really quite low social status in comparison, with the great siege engines. It was they who compelled the garrisons to surrender. And the poem describes the way in which the great boulders came down from the sky into the courtyard, crushing down, causing all sorts of damage mayhem inside. The minute the casualty started, the garrison simply surrendered. So it wasn't the knights, it wasn't a great act of chivalry to capture this castle. It was the work of the experts, the engineers."
"It's difficult to tell, I mean, that one's obviously got...."
Joining Hew Kennedy in his quest to build a trebuchet is mechanical engineer Wayne Neel, a professor from Virginia Military Institute.
"...difficult in section. This one actually is one to two, this is one to three"
Wayne will design the trebuchet. He is basing it on the picture he found in a 13th century Spanish manuscript. The illustration gives no idea of the true scale of the trebuchet, because the artist has made the machine smaller than the soldiers standing next to it.
"If the drawing isn't practical from all points of view, you begin to wonder about all the other points of view, it may be that the things they have got in the right proportion, they did by accident. Even an artist like Leonardo would draw a plan for something that is totally impractical. But it indicates how it could be made. That's all. It indicates how it could be made."
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dummy: n. 假人
fortress: n. 堡垒
mayhem: n. 伤害
chivalry: n. 骑士精神
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