Trebuchet facts for kids

A trebuchet

A Trebuchet was a device used in wars and sieges in the Middle Ages. It could be used to throw stones at ramparts, trying to break them down. It could also be used to throw things over the walls of a city like animal corpses. Trebuchets were more accurate than other medieval catapults.

How it works

The trebuchet works in a simple way. The basket of the trebuchet is filled with heavy rocks. This acts as a counterweight for the other end, which is usually filled with one large rock. Several men arm the trebuchet by raising the counterweight up and the firing arm down. At this point the arm is released, the heavy basket swings down and the arm swings up, launching the rock far and fast. The sling adds an additional 10-15 feet of arm length and gives the projectile a whip like speed then releases. The sling gives the projectile most of its speed.

Images for kids

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  Counterweight trebuchets at Château de Castelnaud

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  The onager was a torsion powered weapon used in Europe from the fourth until the sixth century AD

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  Side view of counterweight trebuchet, with a detail of the counterweight release mechanism

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  Wheeled whirlwind traction trebuchet from the Wujing Zongyao.

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  13th-century depiction of a traction trebuchet

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  A couillard

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  A functioning trebuchet at Warwick Castle (England) based on drawings from the 13th Century

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  Five whirlwind trebuchets from the Wujing Zongyao

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  Crouching tiger trebuchet from the Wujing Zongyao

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  Sìjiǎo "Four Footed" traction trebuchet from the Wujing Zongyao

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  Traction trebuchet on a Song Dynasty warship from the Wujing Zongyao

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  12th-century depiction of a traction trebuchet (also called a perrier) next to a staff slinger

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  Early 12th-century Sicilian-Byzantine depiction of a traction trebuchet

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  13th-century depiction of crusaders hurling Muslim heads with counterweight trebuchets

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  14th-century depiction of a counterweight trebuchet

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  Counterweight trebuchet, 1430

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  15th-century depiction of a counterweight trebuchet

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  Early 17th-century depiction of a Chinese counterweight trebuchet packed for transport

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  Early 18th-century depiction of a Chinese ship armed with three counterweight trebuchets

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  19th century French drawing of a medieval counterweight trebuchet

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  Trebuchet at Middelaldercentret, Denmark

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  Trebuchet erected by rioters in Hrushevskoho Street, Kiev, 2014

See also

In Spanish: Fundíbulo para niños