A trebuchet in motion is anything but ponderous...

...Or so Dan "Wulfgar" Johnson (shown at right demonstrating how to "lock and load" his swing-bucket trebuchet, "Trollhammer") quickly proved one Spring day at the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival (AKA The Castle at Muskogee), recently! Standing well off to one side of the poised and ready seige engine, he pulled the trigger pin holding the long throwing arm locked in place, with a sharp, deft tug on the lanyard. Instantly, Trollhammer's heavy counterweight fell earthward, drawing the throwing arm both smoothly and swiftly upright -- and incidentally bringing the attached slingpouch with its' eight-pound "shot" along after it (Photo, At Top). Regretably, the jousting field at Muskogee was far too short to truly demonstrate the full capabilities of this particular type of seige engine, even for a small trebuchet like Trollhammer. In order to keep the shot "in the field," for example, Wulfgar and his crew had to rely heavily on a high, arcing trajectory, sacrificing the trebuchet's legendary accuracy for the ability to "shoot short". Using a flat trajectory, however, Wulfgar estimated he could easily throw an eight-pound shot at least a quarter of a mile or more with his engine! (Photo, Below: crewmembers of the "fixed-weight" trebuchet, Mjolnir, prepare to fire during demonstrations at Muskogee in 2004).

As might be expected, the Chinese invented the first trebuchet sometime around 1000AD, Wulfgar said. The Chinese relied on their greatest natural resource -- massed levies of soldiers and/or peasants -- to provide the motivating energy for those early engines. Ropes were simply attached to one end of the trebuchet's throwing arm, the soldiers or peasants took hold of the ropes and, at a given signal, they all pulled mightily together. But even a disciplined, well-trained levy of soldiers cannot be reasonably expected to respond on command instantly, simultaneously and with exactly the same amount of effort hour after hour during a long, drawn-out siege. For that reason alone, these early "traction" machines were not terribly accurate in the field. Replacing human muscle with gravity -- substituting a simple counterweight for ropes and massed levies -- was the most significant European contribution to trebuchet design. That innovation, which apparently first appeared in Scandinavia but quickly spread to the entire Continent, not only solved the problem of accuracy but also laid the foundation for the fearsome reputation of these particular siege engines to come. Unlike manpower, gravity never gets cold, tired or hungry. It's always available, always willing to work around the clock, never demands wages and certainly never calls "time out!" for a privy break. Most importantly from a siege engineer's point of view, however, is the fact that gravity invariably acts upon any given object (such as boulders, shot or other missiles) with precisely the same amount of force, time after time after time. By using standard-weight projectiles and a fixed weight of ballast in the counterweight bucket, the engine operators could hit the same mark both predictably and repeatedly with almost uncanny accuracy. A most-fearsome combination, indeed! (Photo, Below: Wulfgar and his assistant set up Trollhammer for another shot at the "French" castle, seen downfield past Wulfgar's shoulder).

Like Wulfgar's Trollhammer and Dr. Calvin L. Cole's Mjolnir, historical trebuchets often bore names as fierce as their reputations. Longshanks of "Braveheart" fame had one named "Warwolf," Wulfgar pointed out, while the French had "la Belle-Mère" (the mother-in-law) and "Mauvais Voisin" (bad neighbor). Because of their ability to hurl massive boulders weighing 300 pounds or more and strike the same point shot-after-shot up to a quarter-mile away, just the appearance of these engines at a siege could cause considerable fear and panic among the defenders. On more than one occasion, so history records, walled cities and heavily-garrisoned fortresses simply surrendered rather than face a prolonged bombardment from these machines. But not all trebuchets lived up to their reputations, however. At the siege of Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City), for example, one such engine designed to crush that city's walls and overawe the Mexica (the so-called Aztecs) into surrender, failed both miserably and spectacularly. It seems the designer of that particular trebuchet had seen them previously in action during Old World sieges, but never actually built one before. Without the necessary prior knowledge and experience, the would-be siege engineer overlooked several of the more-subtle design specifications during construction. So when that engine was finally fired, the first shot went straight up into the air several hundred feet -- and came straight back down, destroying the trebuchet and sending debris and shattered timbers flying in all directions. Some of which, according to Wulfgar, struck and killed the designer instantly. Obviously, that fellow was a prime candidate for the Darwin Award that year!

Whether traction or counterweight, "fixed bucket" or "swing bucket," all trebuchets are basically nothing more than a long pole with a sling attached at one end (Illustration at left courtesy of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stepen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX). Everything else, Wulfgar explained, is simply the framework holding the machine together. As such, the trebuchet is essentially a further refinement of the slingstaff, which made its' first appearance some 7000 years ago. Wulfgar himself had the opportunity to experiment with just such a slingstaff several years ago at Muskogee. Reportedly, he was easily able to throw a small shot half the length of the Muskogee Jousting Field -- and with just a little more effort, he felt, he could've hit the fence at the far end of the Lists! Needless to say, Wulfgar was both surprised and pleased with the distance achieved. Translating his experience to trebuchets, the more weight in the bucket (and all else being equal), the more distance possible with each throw.

Standard Disclaimer: This webpage is strictly an *Unofficial* look at the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival held in Muskogee, OK. The author of these pages is in no way, shape, manner or form connected with the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival (3400 Fern Mountain Road, Muskogee OK 74401 :: 918-687-3625 :: 800-439-0658), the Castle at Muskogee and/or any of the sponsors associated with this event. All opinions expressed are strictly this author's own. Unless noted otherwise, all photographs are copyright ©2000-2006 by George Laking.