The assault upon a stone castle or walled town was conducted by direct attempts upon the walls themselves, for which movable machines were necessary, and by throwing stones or inflammable materials into the besieged enclosure from stationary machines. The chief engine used directly against the walls was the battering-ram, an enormous pole, furnished with an iron head. Hung by chains within a wooden framework placed on wheels, it was brought up to the wall, and driven against it again and again. The men who worked the ram were protected by a pent-house with a rounded or gabled top, called the “tortoise” (testudo), which covered the machine and its framework. The roof of the “tortoise” was made very solidly, to resist missiles thrown from the ramparts, and the whole was covered with raw hides or some other incombustible material, as a precaution against fire thrown by the defenders ([69]).[78]
Battering-ram protected by pent-house and mantlets
While the ram delivered its blows upon the face of the wall, sappers and miners, sheltered by a smaller pent-house, known as the “mouse,” “cat,” or “sow,” made their attack upon the foundations with the bore (terebra), a heavy pole with a sharp iron head, which slowly broke up the stonework and hollowed out a cavity at the foundation of the walls ([70]). This work was assisted by sappers, who, advancing to the wall beneath the shelter of inclined frames of timber or wicker-work, known as mantlets, which they wheeled in front of them, hacked away the stone-work with picks. When a sufficient hollow had been made, the miners underpinned the wall with logs, set fire to them, and retired. This device was constantly used throughout the middle ages to effect a breach, and was successful at Château-Gaillard in 1204,[79] and on other occasions; but it obviously must have taken much time, and must often have failed of its purpose.
Before, however, the movable engines could be brought to play upon the stonework, it was necessary to fill up the ditch in front of the walls. This work was done by soldiers, who, under the protection of mantlets, flung into the ditch all the loose material on which they could lay hands. When the Danes used their battering-rams against the northern tête-du-pont at Paris, the first thing which they attempted to do was to fill the ditch, using even the dead bodies of their captives when other material failed.[80] At Jerusalem in 1099, before Raymond of Toulouse could bring up his “timber castle”[81] to the walls, a deep natural hollow had to be filled. The work took three days and nights: every man who put three stones into the hollow was promised a penny.[82] Philip Augustus in February 1203-4 began his operations upon Château-Gaillard by filling the ditch between the outer ward and his lines, while his catapults played upon the masonry from a distance and protected the workers between them and the wall.[83]
Bore protected by mantlets
While the battering-ram, the bore, and the mine threatened the stability of the walls, parties of the besiegers attempted to force an entry into the stronghold. The simple method of bringing up fuel to the main gateway, and burning down the door, was frustrated, in process of time, by greater attention to the defences of the gateway, and the reinforcement of its doors by herses or portcullises.[84] Scaling-ladders were moved up against the walls: the daring spirits who climbed these drew up with them other ladders, by which they could descend into the enclosure. Another method of scaling walls was by the movable “[belfry],” a tower of several stories, in each of which a number of men could be sheltered. The floor of the uppermost stage of the tower was approximately on a level with the top of the ramparts, and a drawbridge thrown out from it, when it was wheeled close to the wall, formed a passage for the besiegers. The occupants of the lower stages could mount by stairs to the top floor, and thus a considerable body of men could come to close quarters with the defenders ([72]).[85] These movable towers could be quickly constructed, where wood of sufficient scantling was procurable. Philip’s belfries at Château-Gaillard were composed of tree-trunks, untouched by the plane: all that the carpenters had done to smooth them was to cut off the branches with an axe.[86] In early instances of the employment of such towers, they seem to have been chiefly used for bringing the small artillery of the besiegers close to the walls. At Marrah in 1098, the Crusader Raymond of Toulouse had a very lofty wooden “belfry,” of a height equal to that of the towers on the town wall, made upon four wheels. Huge stones were hurled and arrows shot from it upon the defenders of the walls, and grappling-irons were thrust out to catch unwary persons with their hooks. The walls were eventually climbed by scaling ladders of the ordinary kind: if there was a drawbridge in connection with the machine, it does not seem to have been used.[87] Antioch, earlier in the same year, was entered by scaling ladders.[88] The belfry used by Henry I. at Pontaudemer in 1123 was a movable tower, but was not used for purposes of scaling. It was actually 24 feet higher than the rampart: bow-men and arbalasters directed their arrows and bolts from it upon the defenders, while others threw stones down from it.[89] Not even at Château-Gaillard is there much reason to suppose that Philip used his belfries to scale the walls. The miners and catapults did the chief work, by opening breaches in the masonry of the outer and inner wards: the middle ward alone was gained by an escalade, and this was effected by a small body of men, who climbed through unguarded openings in the substructure of the chapel, and so were able to unbar the gates of the ward to the main body of the army.
