Siege Engines

Dedicated to furthering the development, construction, and operation of period-style siege weapons in the Kingdom of Atlantia, and also to supporting the Atlantian Army when it takes the field against Atlantia's enemies.

This document is designed to provide a basic structure for the safe and effective administra tion of siege engine activities within the SCA. These regulation s are designed to provide a common structure for siege activities while giving the individual Kingdoms as much freedom as possible to develop their own structure for the support of these activities .

A database of drawings and graphics of mechanical devices from Renaissance and late medieval sources.

The ballista engine of Legion XXIV, and a Greek "palintone" torsion-powered siege catapult stone-throwing ballista.

The companion Web site to the NOVA program "Medieval Siege." In the film, which is a part of the NOVA series Secrets of Lost Empires, a team of timber framers and other specialists design, build, and fire a pair of trebuchets, a devastating engine of war popular in the Middle Ages. The website includes a slide show documenting NOVA's successful attempt to build and shoot a giant trebuchet.

The home of Team Tormentum, which builds modern siege engines, competes in charity Punkin Chunkin competitions, and makes guest appearances for classrooms and television shows.

Here you'll find a lot of pictures and a few words about these amazing pieces of "leverage artillery" - strange machines referred to variously as trebuchets, traction trebuchets, perriers, petrarias, war wolves, coulliards, bricoles or even "the witch from whose head the ropes hang like hair." Some of the page is devoted to providing background information into how trebuchets were used "in anger" in times past -- while other parts of the page celebrate the joy of using them today as a wonderful sporting toy.

Photo of a working, life-size trebuchet at Caerphilly Castle.