Artillery in the Era of the Crusades
Siege Warfare and the Development of Trebuchet Technology
Series: - History of Warfare, Volume: 122
Artillery in the Era of the Crusades provides a detailed examination of the use of mechanical artillery in the Levant through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Rather than focus on a selection of sensational anecdotes, Michael S. Fulton explores the full scope of the available literary and archaeological evidence, reinterpreting the development of trebuchet technology and the ways in which it was used during this period. Among the arguments put forward, Fulton challenges the popular perception that the invention of the counterweight trebuchet was responsible for the dramatic transformation in the design of fortifications around the start of the thirteenth century.
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Michael S. Fulton, Ph.D. (2016), Cardiff University, is a Visiting Scholar with the Department of History at the University of British Columbia. He has published a number of articles, including “A Ridge too Far,” Crusades 16 (2017) and “Development of Prefabricated Artillery during the Crusades,” JMMH 13 (2015).
Contents
Foreword
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Names
Weights and Measures
Regional Maps
Introduction
1 Background
Classical Artillery
Terminological Issues
Early Traction Trebuchets in the Near and Middle East
Early Traction Trebuchets in Europe
Appearance of the Counterweight Trebuchet
2 Mechanics
Traction
Counterweight
The Mathematics
3 First Crusade
Nicaea: 1097
Antioch: 1097-98
Ma’arrat al-Nu’man and ‘Arqa: 1098
Jerusalem: 1099
4 Twelfth Century
The Opening Decades
Tyre: 1124
Offensives of Zanki and John Comnenus
The Second Crusade and the Ebb of Frankish Dominance
Egypt: A New Frontier
The Rise of Saladin
Transjordan
5 Third Crusade
The Hattin Campaign
Indications of Range in Western Syria and Transjordan
Saladin’s Conquest of Northern Palestine
The First Great Siege of Acre
Later Sieges of the Crusade
6 Ayyubid Period
The Fifth Crusade and New Latin Terminology
The Sixth Crusade and War on Cyprus
Continued Infighting and New Arabic Terminology
Louis IX and the Seventh Crusade
The Mongols and the War of St Sabas
7 Mamluk Period
Baybars’ Early Artillery
Indications of Significant Power: 1271
The Sultanate of Qalawun
The Second Great Siege of Acre: 1291
Plates
8 Influence of Offensive Artillery
Theories Regarding the Influence of Artillery
Siege Length
Development, Manpower and Resources
Concentricity
Wall Thickness
Entrances
Dressing
Tower Shape
9 Influence of Defensive Artillery
Ground-mounted Artillery
Tower-mounted Artillery
Possible Ayyubid Artillery Towers
Possible Frankish Artillery Towers
Possible Mamluk Artillery Towers
Other Interpretations
Conclusion
Development
Employment
Appendix 1: Mentions of Artillery
Appendix 2: Images and Technical Treatises
Appendix 3: Mathematical Scenarios
Appendix 4: Reconstructed Engines
Bibliography
Index
Foreword
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Names
Weights and Measures
Regional Maps
Introduction
1 Background
Classical Artillery
Terminological Issues
Early Traction Trebuchets in the Near and Middle East
Early Traction Trebuchets in Europe
Appearance of the Counterweight Trebuchet
2 Mechanics
Traction
Counterweight
The Mathematics
3 First Crusade
Nicaea: 1097
Antioch: 1097-98
Ma’arrat al-Nu’man and ‘Arqa: 1098
Jerusalem: 1099
4 Twelfth Century
The Opening Decades
Tyre: 1124
Offensives of Zanki and John Comnenus
The Second Crusade and the Ebb of Frankish Dominance
Egypt: A New Frontier
The Rise of Saladin
Transjordan
5 Third Crusade
The Hattin Campaign
Indications of Range in Western Syria and Transjordan
Saladin’s Conquest of Northern Palestine
The First Great Siege of Acre
Later Sieges of the Crusade
6 Ayyubid Period
The Fifth Crusade and New Latin Terminology
The Sixth Crusade and War on Cyprus
Continued Infighting and New Arabic Terminology
Louis IX and the Seventh Crusade
The Mongols and the War of St Sabas
7 Mamluk Period
Baybars’ Early Artillery
Indications of Significant Power: 1271
The Sultanate of Qalawun
The Second Great Siege of Acre: 1291
Plates
8 Influence of Offensive Artillery
Theories Regarding the Influence of Artillery
Siege Length
Development, Manpower and Resources
Concentricity
Wall Thickness
Entrances
Dressing
Tower Shape
9 Influence of Defensive Artillery
Ground-mounted Artillery
Tower-mounted Artillery
Possible Ayyubid Artillery Towers
Possible Frankish Artillery Towers
Possible Mamluk Artillery Towers
Other Interpretations
Conclusion
Development
Employment
Appendix 1: Mentions of Artillery
Appendix 2: Images and Technical Treatises
Appendix 3: Mathematical Scenarios
Appendix 4: Reconstructed Engines
Bibliography
Index
Specialists, students and all interested in medieval siege warfare and the military history of the Near East during the period of the crusades (1097-1291).