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Leonardo's crossbow designs are a series of shooting weapon schematics designed by
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
that are in the ''
Codex Atlanticus The Codex Atlanticus (Atlantic Codex) is a 12-volume, bound set of drawings and writings (in Italian) by Leonardo da Vinci, the largest single set. Its name indicates the large paper used to preserve original Leonardo notebook pages, which was u ...
.'' One version, a self-spanning infantry weapon called the ''Rapid Fire Crossbow'' (''Balestra Veloce'' in Italian), is found on sheets 143r, 153r, and 155r. The other is the ''Giant Crossbow'' (''Balestra Gigante'' in Italian) design intended to be a mounted siege weapon found on sheet 149a in the Codex. The creation of the large design is linked to
Ludovico Sforza Ludovico Maria Sforza (; 27 July 1452 – 27 May 1508), also known as Ludovico il Moro (; 'the Moor'), and called the "arbiter of Italy" by historian Francesco Guicciardini,
, an Italian prince in the Renaissance era. Given the constant warfare in the Italian peninsula at the time, he wanted to expand and advance both his military and the territory he governed in the
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
region. To do so, he wanted to update the contemporary treatise on military engineering by Roberto Valturio. Leonardo responded by writing Sforza a letter that included a number of innovative machine designs with one of them being the ''Giant Crossbow.'' Leonardo also highlighted in the letter his expertise in engineering; most likely having known that Sforza wanted to hire military engineers at the time. While there is no exact date for the illustrations of Leonardo's crossbows, they are generally believed to be drafted between 1483 and the early 1490s. Many scholars generally agree that Leonardo completed the drawings in the manuscript in Milan, but there is debate as to why he originally went there. Some believe he came to Milan in search of work as a painter and then he got news of Sforza's military desires upon arriving. Others suggest that the initial reason he came directly to Milan was to work for Sforza.


Design

The crossbow as a weapon had been around long before Leonardo's designs. However, his designs made the weapon more advanced and why Leonardo's crossbows stands out. If a crossbow is designed with a narrower shaft and a tapered bolt, which adjusts the nocking of arrows, it greatly improves the airflow of the bow and the drag on arrows. This allows the crossbow to operate much more efficiently and have a more precise aim. These ideas were present in Leonardo's designs and were developed independently of any other influences. The mathematics that Leonardo utilized to construct his crossbow designs were far advanced despite having some now known inaccuracies with today's current knowledge of geometrics and design. Nonetheless, Leonardo was "the first modern engineer to attempt to apply the geometrical mathematics of the laws of motion to the design of machines." The other mathematical marvel that is noted in Leonardo's designs of the crossbows is the proportional techniques that he utilized in every aspect of the designs. Mechanically, the ''Rapid Fire Crossbow's'' tiller was split into two stacked wooden pieces held together at the front by a hinge and held in place at the back by a spring-loaded latch. Sandwiched inside the tiller, a pair of interconnected folding levers attach the lower half of the tiller to a sliding plank sitting on the top half of the tiller between the two metal prods, similar in mechanical concept to the Gastraphetes, that contained the rolling nut and spring-loaded sear at the back of the plank. Meanwhile, the bottom half of the tiller contained the trigger. Upon pressing a switch on the side of the tiller to release the latch, the user can then fold the bottom half of the tiller down. At the same time, the interconnected levers then push the sliding plank forward until the drawstring is caught by the rolling nut, which is held secure by the sear's spring tension. Upon pushing the bottom half of the tiller back into place, the latch locks the upper and lower halves of the tiller back together. After a bolt is loaded on the crossbow and aimed, the trigger is then pulled to compress the sear's spring and enable the rolling nut to release the drawstring to propel the bolt. Such a design removed the need for external spanning tools that an arbalist had to carry and simplified the arming process of the crossbow. With regards to the ''Giant Crossbow,'' the original idea of Leonardo, as described in the drawings of the ''Codex Atlanticus'' (1488–1489), was to build a large
crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an Elasticity (physics), elastic launching device consisting of a Bow and arrow, bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar f ...
in order to increase the range and power of its ammunition. The ''Giant Crossbow'' was used to fire rocks and bombs; it was mostly intended to be an intimidation-based weapon for deterring foes from attacking. The ''Giant Crossbow'' was made up of thin wood, on 6 wheels, 27 yards across, and made up of 39 separate parts. While some believe that Leonardo designed the ''Giant Crossbow'' for his own amusement, the context around this design suggests the ''Giant Crossbow'' truly was intended to be a dangerous weapon that would greatly appeal to his employer, Ludovico Sforza. Inspiration for such a weapon most likely stemmed from the fact that Leonardo grew up in Italy during the 15th century. This meant he was a witness to the constant warfare between the many city-states in his area. Thus, Leonardo put extensive time and effort into designs that could both protect his fellow citizens and greatly harm the enemy. The ''Giant Crossbow'' supports this theory in that the intended enormous size of the weapon was meant to invoke fear and panic in its enemies to keep them away, but it would still have the capability to cause great damage and injury had it been actually constructed and used.


Working replicas

After a prototype of the ''Rapid Fire Crossbow'' built in 2013, the first working model was released on 24 June 2015 during a demonstration at the
Castello Sforzesco The Sforza Castle ( ; ) is a medieval fortification located in Milan, northern Italy. It was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, on the remnants of a 14th-century fortification. Later renovated and enlarged, in the 1 ...
in
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
. The working replica of the infantry weapon was the culmination of a study conducted by Edoardo Zanon of the Leonardo3 study center in respect of the processing and assembly techniques available at the time of Leonardo. The model allows precision shooting and is equipped with a fast internal spanning mechanism, non-existent even in most modern handheld crossbows. The working model built is on display at the Leonardo3 – The World of Leonardo museum at the Piazza della Scala in Milan, Italy. As for the ''Giant Crossbow,'' it was never constructed by its designer; either as scaled model or as a fully fledged siege weapon. However, a working model was built to a scale of 1:1. It was shown in the
ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...
documentary '' Leonardo's Dream Machines'', which was aired for the first time in February 2003 by
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
.
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''Leonardo's Dream Machines''
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See also

*
List of works by Leonardo da Vinci The Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was the founding figure of the High Renaissance, and exhibited enormous influence on subsequent artists. Only around eight major works—'' The Adoration of the Magi'', '' Saint Jerome in the ...
*
Codex Atlanticus The Codex Atlanticus (Atlantic Codex) is a 12-volume, bound set of drawings and writings (in Italian) by Leonardo da Vinci, the largest single set. Its name indicates the large paper used to preserve original Leonardo notebook pages, which was u ...
* Cheiroballistra * Lever action firearms * Polybolos *
Repeating crossbow The repeating crossbow (), also known as the repeater crossbow, and the Zhuge crossbow (, also romanized Chu-ko-nu) due to its association with the Three Kingdoms-era strategist Zhuge Liang (181–234 AD), is a crossbow invented during the W ...
* Science and inventions of Leonardo da Vinci


References


External links


Balestra gigante

Giant Crossbow
{{Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci projects Crossbows