The Warwolf, also known as the ''Loup-de-Guerre'' or ''Ludgar'', is believed to have been the largest trebuchet ever made. It was created in Scotland by order of

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...

, during the siege of Stirling Castle in 1304, as part of the

Wars of Scottish Independence The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and 14th centuries. The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of Scotla ...

. A contemporary chronicle refers to it as ''une engine orrible''.

Warwolf at Stirling

When disassembled, the weapon would fill 30 wagons in parts. It reportedly took five master carpenters and forty-nine other labourers at least three months to complete. The ''

Flores Historiarum The ''Flores Historiarum'' (Flowers of History) is the name of two different (though related) Latin chronicles by medieval English historians that were created in the 13th century, associated originally with the Abbey of St Albans. Wendover's ...

'' claims that the Warwolf sent a single stone through two of the castle's walls in the course of the siege, "like an arrow flying through cloth". Other sources, however, report that the weapon was only finished after the Scots had surrendered. Edward decided to use it anyway, refusing to let anyone enter or leave the castle until it had been tested.

In the original records

Some of the original parchment rolls of the accounts of King Edward survive. Two references to the Warwolf in Latin read: Another payment refers to a watchman; Reginald the Janitor was paid wages for guarding the Warwolf's beams for forty nights in June and July 1304.

References

External links

{{commonscat, Warwolf
War Wolf at Stirling Castle

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) () is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the merger of government agency Historic Sc ...

Secrets of Lost Empires: Medieval Siege (building of and history of trebuchets)
from the NOVA website Siege engines Stirling Castle