Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Trebuchet & Warwick Castle

I can't have listened to my history lesson teacher very much when I was at school because it was only when I got involved in medieval-castle.com that I learned what a trebuchet is.

I have to admit it's one of the more fascinating siege engines (no, not search engines!) and having read about the many battles in medieval times it's clear that when it was first introduced it must have had an incredible and terrifying impact upon those within castle walls which it was used to attack. I say attack but in fact, used properly and efficiently, a large trebuchet could actually demolish castle walls!

The world's largest trebuchet is at Warwick Castle and attracts many visitors every year from all over the world who come to watch the spectacle of their 18 metre high trebuchet being demonstrated (currently twice daily I understand). Warwick Castle has a lot more medieval associations in fact, being one of the original jousting sites which had royal approval with jousts still staged for the enjoyment of castle visitors (like the trebuchet demonstration) twice daily. We cover the history and tradition of jousting in more detail our medieval tournaments page.

If you like trebuchets you might like to build your own desktop trebuchet (great fun!) from a trebuchet kit which you can buy at our medieval online store which we operate in association with Amazon. (Note: all items are currently available for purchase in US Dollars).

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