Trebuchets

A trebuchet (French trébuchet) is a type of siege engine which uses a swinging arm to throw a missile at the enemy.

The traction trebuchet first appeared in China during the 4th century BCE as a siege weapon. It spread westward, probably by the Avars, and was adopted by the Byzantines in the mid 6th century CE. The later counterweight trebuchet, also known as the counterpoise trebuchet, used a counterweight to swing the arm. It appeared in both Christian and Muslim lands around the Mediterranean in the 12th century, and made its way back to China via Mongol conquests in the 13th century.

When used without further specification, the counterweight trebuchet is normally meant.

The four distinguishing characteristics of a counterweight trebuchet are:

The couillard is a smaller version with a single stem or platform instead of the usual double "A" frames. The counterweight is split into two halves to avoid hitting the center stem.

The trebuchet is thought to have originated in ancient China. Torsion-based siege weapons such as catapults are not attested to in China.

The first recorded use of traction trebuchets appeared in ancient China and were probably used by the Mohists as early as 4th century BC, descriptions of which can be found in the Mojing (compiled in the 4th century BC). The trebuchet was carried westward by the Avars and appeared next in the eastern Mediterranean by the late 6th century AD. The Byzantines adopted the traction trebuchet possibly as early as 587. In China the traction trebuchet continued to be used until the counterweight trebuchet was introduced during the Mongol conquest of the Song dynasty. In 617 Li Mi (Sui dynasty) constructed 300 trebuchets for his assault on Luoyang, in 621 Li Shimin did the same at Luoyang, and onward into the Song dynasty when in 1161, trebuchets operated by Song dynasty soldiers fired bombs of lime and sulphur against the ships of the Jin dynasty navy during the Battle of Caishi.

The hand-trebuchet (Greek: cheiromangana) was a staff sling mounted on a pole using a lever mechanism to propel projectiles. Basically a one-man traction trebuchet, it was used by emperor Nikephoros II Phokas around 965 to disrupt enemy formations in the open field. It was also mentioned in the Taktika of general Nikephoros Ouranos (c. 1000), and listed in De obsidione toleranda (author anonymous) as a form of artillery.

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