Trebuchet Siege Artillery - Battle Castle with Dan Snow

I would just like to respond to a few of the comments made on this video. I am a member of the siege crew shown here - I'm in the green jacket. 1) The water shot is not fake.  The Treb is positioned on the outer keep of Caerphilly Castle and was built to aim into the inner moat. We used to display the engines 5 times a day over bank holiday weekends and our own show days. It was loosed (shot) approximately 40-50 times a year. There is no fire or gunpowder involved which is why we use the term loosed or shot, never fired. The moat was the safest place for the projectile to land which is why CADW had the engine build and aimed in that direction. We had no say as they were built over 30 years ago. 2) We used 10kg balls. Landing the projectile on land rather than water would have produced a small dent in the ground. They are solid shots and non explosive so there would not have been anything to really see even if we had shot it into the ground. 3) As to hitting a wall it would take multiple shots to show the damage. These trebs were designed to hit the same location every time once they were erected. Castle walls were designed to withstand such attacks. Stonemasons were used to both build the castle walls but also to make the treb projectiles to ensure the same weight in each shot. Having shots all the same weight helped to ensure the accuracy of these weapons. 14th Century castles in England & Europe were made in a double skin method, with an inner and outer skin wall, the void in between was filled with rubble. The rubble severed to dissipate the shock wave of the attacking shots, this prevented the walls from blowing apart as seen in Hollywood. 4) The only animals that may/may not have been hurt by the projectile were a few fish. The local birds (swans, geese and ducks) knew where the projectiles would land as it's been happening for a long time and therefore they never ventured near the landing zone. 5) No the kettle helems we wear would not save you from the 2 ton bucket. No amount of armour would. As the operator of the trigger it was always my job to ensure the trigger was on and hold it in position until all engineers had cleared the treb and were out of the danger zone (approx 20ft). I always took this role seriously as I was responsible for my own safety as well as that of at least 6 others. If the trigger was ever to be left unattended and slip all crew could be either crush to death by the bucket or thrown into the lake. In the video there is a shot of a man holding the end of a rope at the back of the machine. He is holding the end of the sling which the other operators use to take the weight of the bucket while the wrench crew wind the arm down. If he didn't hold that rope and something did go wrong the end of that could easily have been caught around someones leg and amputated it as the arm swings round. 6) Trebs were never on wheels although they were the original flat pack item! If they had been on wheels they would have become unstable during use. The forces that drop the buckets and swing the arm would have caused the treb to rock, roll and possible trip over. Trebs on wheels is another Hollywood fantasy. 7) As an experienced team of 8 we were often able to lock, load and loose the treb in 3 minutes on a slow day. We were asked by CADW to slow down the demos to give people the chance to see everything that goes on. The crowds would only be permitted to stand the other side of the old mill, in one shot you might catch a glimpse of a dark wooden bridge, the public had to stay that side during the display but were able to walk around the machines and ask questions between displays. I hope this has helped to dispel some of the comments and myths about trebuchets.

FINALLY, a video that actually showed the launching of a 90kg stone projectile across a distance of 300 meters.

in the medieval times these were operated by cave trolls

"It sucks to own a trebuchet" - no one - (ever in history)

Dan: “How about you go over there and catch the projectile” Trebuchet guy: “Absolutely”

WHY IS MY 95 kilogram stone projectile 300 METERS AWAY? deus vult!

Imagine just walking around a siege camp, seeing crews about firing these things day and night at the walls of a castle or fortified town. An impressive sight to behold.

maybe instead of focusing eight cameras on the counterweight, at least ONE could film the projectile being fired? just an idea... otherwise good vid

Roses are red, soda is sold in litres. A trebuchet uses a counterweight to fling a 90kg stone projectile over 300m.

Early artillery was just a bigger version of whatever they had, bow meets ballista, sling meets trebuchet, if it works it works

Roses are red Water comes in litres A trebuchet can launch a 90 kilo stone 300 metres

Absolutly

counterweight gives me goosebumps

Trebuchet, from the Occitanian word Trebuca (south-west of France). Means literally "which causes terror". Many besieged places and towns surrounded just in seeing this powerful weapon, able to break a wall in a single (lucky) shoot.

It's amazing how much work went into firing that thing. I can't imagine back in WW2 how those guys on the Bismarck and the HMS Hood did it.

I now realized i'm watching this perfectly 8 years after this video was posted.

Trebuchets like these were most useful against the upper levels of defensive structures where they could damage parapets, machicolations and towers to protect the besieging army from archers. Only the largest trebuchets really stood a chance of damaging the wall itself, and even then a full breach was unlikely. It would take a couple of centuries more and the introduction of the bombard before walls could be reliably breached by artillery. Prior to this either scaling the wall with ladders or towers, or undermining it with sappers was the most effective means of assaulting a castle. But in most sieges the castle would have to be forced to surrender or gates could be opened by enemy agents inside the walls.

Incredible !

I remember building this on AOE2 and not using them correctly, but they looked really cool lol.

It could not even kill single infantryman with shield. Just one arm broken. But in total war game, it is nuclear weapon