So, is this because Trebuchet are not particularly lethal, or because they were not used much?
clort 2 days ago [-]
Trebuchet were used primarily to hammer the walls of the castle to break them down. Not really possible to aim at a person; the soldiers clambering over the broken walls will do that.
gyomu 2 days ago [-]
People didn't really bother recording cause of death for every casualty on medieval battlefields
mapt 2 days ago [-]
This is the only man known to have died in a medieval siege of a medium-sized boulder falling on him.
Trebuchets were used for a variety of purposes in siege warfare, from (uniquely) breaching walls with large boulders to (less uniquely) setting things on fire to (probably) suppressing massed formations of archers with smaller shot. But smaller shot would not leave a characteristic trebuchet injury, it would leave a generic blunt-force trauma injury.
mr_toad 2 days ago [-]
In some cases they’d hurl dead cattle, people’s heads, and flaming projectiles over the walls to damage morale and potentially damage infrastructure.
mapt 23 hours ago [-]
I would not want to hurl dead cattle ("Valuable beef primal cuts") across the walls onto a starving populace.
WalterBright 1 days ago [-]
> they’d hurl dead cattle
I learned that from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
jamiek88 1 days ago [-]
And to spread disease.
agos 2 days ago [-]
the key word is "known"
mr_toad 2 days ago [-]
More like ‘named’. There are accounts of trebuchets causing hundreds of deaths, but individual casualties in medieval battles are rarely identified.
allturtles 2 days ago [-]
This person is not named, unless you consider Skeleton 150 a name. 'known' is the appropriate word here.
sco1 2 days ago [-]
They typically weren't trying to hit people with them.
dullcrisp 2 days ago [-]
Trebuchets crushed their victims so hard that they were erased from history.
chermi 2 days ago [-]
Clearly you guys have never played medieval ii total war!
"Only known trebuchet casualty" - also known as "the guy who had the worst luck in 14th century Scotland." Imagine surviving the siege, then taking a 90kg rock to the back at 300km/h. At least it was quick
happyopossum 2 days ago [-]
> surviving the siege
It's pretty clear he didn't pull that off...
Georgelemental 2 days ago [-]
Also pretty clear that there are plenty of unknown casualties from that period, and that GP is an AI spambot
Trebuchets were used for a variety of purposes in siege warfare, from (uniquely) breaching walls with large boulders to (less uniquely) setting things on fire to (probably) suppressing massed formations of archers with smaller shot. But smaller shot would not leave a characteristic trebuchet injury, it would leave a generic blunt-force trauma injury.
I learned that from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
There have been some serious injuries, too:
https://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/2006/10/child_tv...
It's pretty clear he didn't pull that off...