Figure 2. A drawing of Chateau Gaillard built in 1197[Montross 161]
|
Figure 2. A drawing of Chateau Gaillard built in 1197[Montross 161] |
As the knights returned from the Crusades, they brought back the defensive, castle-building technology that prevented their success. This prompted a shift from offense to defense: "Within the next half century [from 1197] concentric fortification spread until it overshadowed the warfare of the period." [Montross 161]
One of the advances that was brought back from the Holy Land was the idea
of concentric walls.[Montross 161] Montross provides a good illustration of not
only concentric walls, but more generally castles in the time of
trebuchet.
Richard's stronghold, built in 1197, also introduced outer wards and foreworks beyond the main wall. Occupying a well chosen strategic position on a steep height defending Rouen from every direction, the castle consisted of three distinct enceintes or wards in addition to the keep. The outer defenses included a bridgehead covering the Seine.[Montross 161]Nowhere did defense technology advance more than in castles. Even as new fortifications were being built, the old ones (some of which dated back to Roman times) were being reused and refurbished to bring them up-to-date with contemporary military technology.
As powerful as trebuchet were, they could be blocked, and not just by massive stone walls. During the siege of Toulouse in 1218, "Simon de Montfort employed [a 'castle and a cat' (castel e gata)] which the Song of the Albigensian Crusade describes as a redoubtable monster, sheltering 400 knights and 150 archers and fearing neither trébuchets, stone-throwers (petrariae) nor rocks because of the iron and steel used to bind its different parts together."[Contamine c102] Even though the castle and cat were able to withstand the trebuchet, the fact that it was mentioned implies strongly that it was a problem for most siege engines, that trebuchet within a besieged town could make a serious dent in the attacking engines.
For all the advances in defense against the trebuchet, it should not be forgotten that sometimes the best defense against a trebuchet is another trebuchet. Artillery has been incorporated into castles for almost as long as there has been artillery: "Beginning in the fourth century B.C., the walls of many a Hellenistic town included specially constructed rooms for engines. So, 1500 years later, did those of some medieval castles."[Van Creveld 33] As described in the trebuchet page, trebuchet were often used against each other.