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Petraria
Petrary (from the Greek love, Greek "petra", "stone") is a generic term for medieval stone-throwing siege engines such as mangonels and trebuchets, used to hurl large rocks against the walls of the besieged city, in an attempt to break down the wall and create an entry point. Catapult, trebuchet, mangonel are all types of petrary, but ballista style armaments, which shot bolts or arrows, would not fit into this category. Petraries are sometimes considered smaller versions of mangonels. In 1159, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor made a distinction between petraries, which were small artillery, and mangonels, which were large artillery. The opposite is also true and sometimes the petrary is considered the more powerful weapon, whereas mangonels were the smaller artillery, as was the case in 1185, when the French set up light "Turkish mangonels" and heavy petraries, and 1195 when Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut laid siege to Huy. References Bibliography * Medieval siege engines {{ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trebuchet
A trebuchet (french: trébuchet) is a type of catapult that uses a long arm to throw a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles of greater weights and further distances than that of a traditional catapult. There are two main types of trebuchet. The first is the traction trebuchet, or mangonel, which uses manpower to swing the arm. It first appeared in China in the 4th century BC. Carried westward by the Avars, the technology was adopted by the Byzantines in the late 6th century AD and by their neighbors in the following centuries. The later, and often larger and more powerful, counterweight trebuchet, also known as the counterpoise trebuchet, uses a counterweight to swing the arm. It appeared in both Christian and Muslim lands around the Mediterranean in the 12th century, and was carried back to China by the Mongols in the 13th century. Etymology and terminology It is uncer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
