- Warwolf
.
When disassembled, the weapon would fill 30 wagons. It took five master carpenters and forty-nine other labourers at least three months to complete.
A contemporary account of the siege states, "During this business the king had carpenters construct a fearful engine called the "lup-de-guerre" (sic., War wolf), and this when it threw, brought down the whole wall."
Even before construction could be completed, the sight of the giant engine so intimidated the Scots that they tried to surrender. Edward, declaring, "You don't deserve any grace, but must surrender to my will," decided to carry on with the siege and witness for himself the power of the masterful weapon. The Warwolf accurately hurled missiles weighing as much as three hundred pounds and levelled a large section of the curtain wall.
External links
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/trebuchet/ Secrets of Lost Empires: Medieval Siege (building of and history of trebuchets)] , from the NOVA website
* [http://www.algobeautytreb.com/trebmath35.pdf An article on Trebuchet Mechanics] (in PDF format)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.