Actually I can, thank you for enquiring.

trebuchet - launched projectiles at walls, also over them battering ram - rammed open the enemy gates mangonel - launched projectiles at walls siege tower - placed near a wall so men could assault the battlements without destroying the walls by running onto them

No

not off the top of my head...maybe you could google on it.

The Ballistae, Mangonel, Catapult and Seige Tower. (sorry about my flippancy previously - I was in a 'humour; when I came across your question and had a flashback to an embarrassing conversation with a pedantic History Professor during my Undergrad years - I do apologise) Anyway - to complicate things, there was little ot no 'standardisation' among the medieval Ordinance movers and shakers so the following is my 'Best Educated Guess' kind of opinion as to the overall scheme of things involved, OK : ) The Ballista was the big bloody vertically swinging arm that hurled enourmous payloads a long distance. It worked by transferring th energy conatained in a huge weight attatched to the end opposite the net, basket or platform which contained the 'warhead' as it were. It is this kind of seige weapon that has enamoured Hollywood in ever 'Storm the Castle' movie ever made. The Mangonel was similar to the Ballista in that it projected its load along by via a swinging arm. However, it was much smaller, lighter and infinitely transprtable than the Ballista. Its mechanical effort was produced in a different way also - instead of a heavy weight 'penduluming' its energy to the projectile, it used the contraction of twisted leather strips, hair or a combination of rope/leather/hair/anything long and elastic - think of a mousetrap with a bar set up to stop the neck-breaker (what on earth is the term for that part of a mousetrap one suddenly wonders) half way in it's arc to impart the dynamic energy to the projectile. The catapult was - very simply (thank god for that you mutter, if you are still with me) an oversized Crossbow. Think the SUV of crossbows and you will get the idea. Used to put the fear of god into massed ranks of men, splinter wooden obstacle and basically take out individual opponents - such as parapet guards - as nastily as possible for the 'shock and awe' value. Not used a whole lot because slow to load and almost impossible to aim and a very limited effort to mortality effect The Seige Tower - I think you know what that was so I won't insult your intelligence by going into details about how it looked. But I can tell you it was a blasted hard thing to build and utilise effectively. It was more or less a death trap for those placed within it as it was very prone to collapse, torching or destruction unless built extremely well and used very cannily. It's main raison d'etre was to give the advantage to Archers of having the 'high ground' which increased the range and impact-force of their arrows over linear distance when the target was beneath them. It also helped in the placing of ramps to access the top of the Castle walls - again a theme beloved of Hollywood - IF you could move it that close without the 'wheelmen' being slaughtered/losing it in a moat or deep rut/overturning it/getting a flaming brand tossed at you from the battlements etc etc etc. Having moved your tower that close to a desperatly defensive force you then had to persuade your men to be the first over the ramparts.... Anyway - hope this helps, if you need any further assitance I will be happy to try and give it, and agian I apologise for my ill-thought our original answer.

I like cheese

8-24-2007 Yes.