Medieval Warfare

Mediaeval war horses were what are now known as Shire horses- massive breeds of horse renowned for their strength, size and power. They had to be like this to have the strength and stamina to carry the weight of a cavalryman or knight in full battle-armour and his weapons (as well as their own armour and military colours) into battle at full charge, and to withstand the effort of long, tiring bouts of combat in the field. When heavy mounted combat of this sort was succeeded in the 17th Century, Shire horses became used mainly as draught animals and as heavy working horses- to find out more about them, just Google 'Shire horses' and refer to one of the sites indicated.

Medieval warfare was not normally causes by one country insulating another. King, Dukes, Counts, and Lords would fight against Kings, Dukes, Counts, and Lords to again what the other possessed, such as money, land, power, and in some cases a person of interest. If the attackers won the battle they would gain all listed above. If the attacker lost they would be under the control of the victor and the victor would gain all above. If this King could conquer this King there was no point for them not to, all they could do was obtain more power. This was more common for Kings and Lords than Dukes and Counts.

Savannah Knight

People were poor and common people would use simple weapons when their Lord called them to war. Many would take their Axes, large hammers and long knives .

Bows (as in Bows and Arrows) come in many different kinds.

Bows are one of the earliest projectile weapon systems. Seen in many cultures around the world.

The English, or Welsh, Long Bow as as tall as the man who shot it and whose arrows could pierce oak doors. They were deadly 300 meters away. (Some records indicate an arrow flight up to 838 Yards)*

Other kinds: The Cross Bow (using a draw-back and a lock, that held a high-tension string.) Advantage - high powered and it could be cocked and held without tiring the arm and released at a moment's notice. Deadly, but inaccurate at any long distance.

Bows (Chinese Bows, Japanese, African, Eskimo, Native American, etc.) are sometimes made of one piece of wood, or composited from many different materials, but all create tension on the string then release it hurling the arrow (or bolt) away from the shooter.

Some would add in various catapulting devices that hurl huge bolts with a mechanical device, a winch, to draw back the cord into this category.

In service, G.Robin Smith

*P 130-135, A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times, by George Cameron Stone.

The longbow could reach far out and also penetrate armour of those days and kill horses. Cavalry was feared by common soldiers and the longbow was their protection .

the moment the medieval era began, really.

shields have existed for milennia before the medieval age, from Ancient Egypt, to Bronze age Celts, to Roman regions, to Dark Age Saxons, Vikings, through the medieval era, the renaissance buckler and jacobite targe, and on to a modern police officer's riot shield.

It could be argued, however, that the medieval European shield is a product of the Normans, who invaded and took England in 1066AD. Their use of horses in battle prompted the development of the "kite" shield, where the bottom part of the shield was extended into a teardrop shape to help protect the rider's legs.

Everyone who was old enough to handle one. Every man and woman had to know how to defend themselves. Farm tools were used as weapons when needed in war.

to siege heavily fortified castles by launching massive boulders at them to break down the walls(the only way at that time... or the massive ram ;D)

it was probably used against infantry too but it wouldn've been as effective.

Gravity and air resistance are key forces acting on most catapults. Depending on the type of catapult, there will also be either tension or torsion. Both are forms of elasticity. Catapults with torsion acting on them are usually ballistas while catapults with tension acting on them are simply called catapults.

ti takes about 40 -50 years to build acatapult

40-50 years... no.. Catapults where not generally moved from place to place, but built as needed. If a army is laying siege to a castle they would use timbers from the surrounding area.. a lot of the timber was pulled from houses, because it was already cut. They had the ability to get a catapult up and running in a few days.. If they decided to throw more men at the project it was possible to build one over night.. The iron parts where generally hauled with the army.

In 399 B.C

A gibbet was used to hang criminals and others who offended authority. The bodies or parts of them were left to rot as an example to other possible offenders. Often bodies would be cut up and parts hung at each gate of a city.

between 2 and 3kilogrammes, depending on how complex the shape of head was (The more metal or larger the head, the heavier.)

So about 5 pounds.

Although most deadly is somewhat ambiguous I'll take it as the weapon that has caused the most deaths and not necessarily the weapon which caused 'instant death'.

Though it had it's hay day in the hundread years war I would say the English long bow. It was still in use and circulation during the Reign of Elizabeth I and has probably caused the most deaths in shear numbers of any English weapon ever (plz don't quote me on that English artillery was a mo**@rF^cker).

As a counter argument one might say the cannon (yes no 's' apparently that's the proper plural) carried aboard the ships which famously defeated the spanish armada during England's war with Spain.

They were typically made from a wooden stock, which was afixted to one of three different bows. the earliest bows for crossbows were called self-bows and were simply wooden bows attached to the stock. After that, the saracens developed making a crossbow with a composite bow made from a combination of horn and wood. Finally, the bows were made out of steel.

The Crossbow bolt has more effect against armour at close range, but it is much slower to reload and has less range. As a mass of weapons the longbow is much more effective. Thus one crossbow is probably the better weapon, but if you had say 100 of each then the longbow is better because they could fire more shots at greater range. Certainly that's what Crecy in 1346 would suggest. The most skilled of the English Longbowmen could fire 8-10 shots a minute: the most skilled of crossbowmen could manage only 1 round every minute: most required a minute and a half to fire each round.

Although both has their strengths, as pointed out above, the reason the Crossbow became popular over the logbow is mainly because the crossbow was so much easier to use: it took years and years to become proficient in the longbow (English people started their training as young boys) while the crossbow could be mastered quickly: it was a matter of point and shoot. It was the considerable experience/practice vs little experience/practice requirements that eventually saw a more widespread use of the crossbow.

People who lived in castles during the medieval times used them for attacking other castles and forcing them to surrender.

Garrison is derived from the Middle English word 'garret' or 'garite' meaning a watchtower.

One of the oldest references to the mobile siege tower in ancient China was ironically a written dialogue primarily discussing naval warfare.

hey whats up Ashley

The first catapults appeared in Greek times (400 BC-300 BC), early adopters being Dionysius of Syracuse and Onomarchus of Phocis. Alexander the Great introduced the idea of using them to provide cover on the battlefield in addition to using them during sieges. Catapults were more fully developed in Roman and Medieval times, with the trebuchet being introduced a relatively short time before the advent of gunpowder, which made the catapult obsolete. Cannons replaced catapults as the standard siege weapon in Europe in the 14th century. During medieval times, catapults and related siege machines were the first weapons used for biological warfare. The carcasses of diseased animals and those who had perished from the Black Death or other diseases were loaded up and then thrown over the castle's walls to infect those barricaded inside. There have even been recorded instances of beehives catapulted over castle walls. During the trench warfare of the First World War, smaller catapults were used to throw hand grenades across no man's land into enemy trenches before being replaced by mortars.

The largest siege tower ever erected was the Helepolis was an ancient siege engine invented by Polyidus of Thessaly and improved by Demetrius I of Macedon and Epimachus of Athens for the unsuccessful siege of Rhodes, based on an earlier, less massive design used against Salamis (305--304 BC).

The Helepolis was essentially a large tapered tower, with each side about 130 feet (41.1 m) high, and 65 feet (20.6 m) wide that was manually pushed into battle. It rested on eight wheels, each 15 feet (4.6 m) high and also had casters, to allow lateral movement as well as direct. The three exposed sides were rendered fireproof with iron plates, and stories divided the interior, connected by two broad flights of stairs, one for ascent and one for descent. The machine weighed 160 tons, and required 3,400 men working in relays to move it, 200 turning a large capstan driving the wheels via a belt, and the rest pushing from behind. The casters permitted lateral movement, so the entire apparatus could be steered towards the desired attack point, while always keeping the siege engines inside aimed at the walls, and the protective body of the machine directly between the city walls and the men pushing behind it.

The Helepolis bore a fearsome complement of heavy armaments, with two 180-pound (82 kg) catapults, and one 60-pounder (27 kg) (classified by the weight of the projectiles they threw) on the first floor, three 60-pounders (27 kg) on the second, and two 30-pounders (14 kg) on each of the next five floors. Apertures, shielded by mechanically adjustable shutters, lined with skins stuffed with wool and seaweed to render them fireproof, pierced the forward wall of the tower for firing the missile weapons. On each of the top two floors, soldiers could use two light dart throwers to easily clear the walls of defenders.