Armour and Trebuchets

Armour and Trebuchets

Armour was essential in the Middle Ages, in the times of war, battle or defending against foreign invaders you had to make sure your military was well protected, there are many types of armor and the most expensive would ensure safety from most blunt weaponry. Armour is a protective covering that is used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object, individual by direct contact from weapons or projectiles, for example swords and bows that are used usually during combat. The poor often did not purchase armour if well-guarded by guardsmen inside the cities, however it is suggested if they lived outside of the cities where harm could come their way, though it came with a hefty price.

Armour was crafted by plate-smiths and helmers, often from one piece of tempered sheet metal, the best armourer would ensure the best results from of course your provided budget. Combination armour was used by heavy cavalry – it was based around chain-mail, supplemented by plate armour on the limbs and a simpler version of the cuirass or plackart, or just a gambeson (quilted breastcoat). Some cuirasses and breastplates were equipped with a hook to support the knight’s spear or lance in combat. If the armour lacked a hook, the spear or lance was lodged in the bouche, a notch in the shield, which covered the left arm controlling the reins and the lower part of the helmet. A very common helmet type was the bascinet, with its distinctly shaped 'klappvisor', giving rise to the name 'hounskull'. In addition, pictorial sources frequently show iron hats, often with one or two viewports. The shoulders were protected either by chain-mail sleeves or pauldrons.

The Spangenhelm was used extensively in the centuries before the 11th but it was still very much in use. It was composed of several strips of iron or some other metal that were riveted into a helmet shape and then the spaces in between the strips were filled with sheets of metal or other material. Often the plates were composed of layers of metals like copper or bronze. Another type of helmet in use during the 11th century was the conical helmet. It was composed of a single sheet of iron that was hammered and shaped into a half cone that sat on the head. It sometimes had a piece of iron that extended down to cover the bridge of the nose.

Platemail wasn't in use yet and the most common type of armor for the chest and the torso was something called a mail Hauberk. This was a garment that covered the torso and usually reached down to about the knees. It was made of a series of rings that were stitched or riveted together and armor made from this technique is called "Chain Mail". Hauberks were also, although less commonly, made of a series of overlapping metal scales that were sewn or stitched together and it is speculated that this configuration was riveted to some type of undergarment.

There are many different types of armour types that cover all of the limbs of the body, from the head to the chest, arms to the hands, and legs to the feet. An essential part of the armour was the shield which also had many variants.

The Trebuchet is a siege weapon used to break up enemy formations or to smash gates and battlement walls. Although it resembles a catapult, or a stave sting its mechanism is different. The main contraption is a leverage mechanism with a counterweight on one side and a projectile sling on the other. The counterweight sets the entire arm in motion and the projectile (most often a dressed stone) flies up to several hundred metres along its ballistic trajectory. Apart from stones, the payload could be burning bales of straw, dead bodies, barrels of faeces, dead animals, quicklime, pots of Greek fire or fire in general, burning sand (which became trapped inside armour), casks of burning tar and so on. The disadvantage of the weapon was how demanding and time-consuming it was to load.

The Trebuchet was a highly accurate siege engine requiring expert building and design skills. The trebuchet was a scaled-up stave sling used to reduce fortresses and is a counterweight siege engine. The Medieval Trebuchet consisted of a lever and a sling, a very large force was applied to the shorter end of the arm, the load is on the other longer end of the arm with the fulcrum in the middle, the siege engine's arm could measure up to 60 feet in length and heavy lead weights or a pivoting ballast box (filled with earth, sand or stones) were fixed to the short end of the trebuchet arm. A heavy stone, or other missile, was placed in a leather pouch that was attached by two ropes to the other, long, end. When the arm was released, the force created by the falling weight propelled the long end upward and caused the missile to be flung in the air towards the target. The Trebuchet was capable of hurling stones weighing 200 pounds with a range of up to about 300 yards, after maximum range was achieved, the trebuchet was moved toward or away from the target.