Siege+Equipment+and+Defense

=This page is under construction DanielS-GMS= = = =//**__SIEGE EQUIPMENT AND DEFENSE__**//= = = =SIEGES= = In the Dark Ages, widely known as the medieval times, people struggled to survive. Battles frequent and people were killed every day. Siege's a military operation which an enemy surrounded a town or building to make an armed force surrender. Both of the sides have to and must be wary of what the other might do. Sieges could last for weeks, months, and sometimes years! = == =//**Defenders Streaming out to Fight**//= =SIEGE WEAPONS= =One siege weapon during this time had been flinging dead cows and people over the walls. . The purpose of the dead had been to discourage the defenders and to spread disease and infections. People that had died from the plague were brought in to be flung over the walls in hopes that the defenders would catch the deadly __ [|plague] __.= (Siege Weapons) == =//**Dead Cows were flung over the walls**//= =SIEGE ENGINES= =Siege engines were wooden structures meant to withstand an enemies attacks while simultaneously advancing. They were designed to breach enemy walls. There were many different types of siege engines including battering rams, catapults, and siege towers. Each had a different purpose in attacking the castle.= ="Siege Engines"= == =//**Battering Ram**//= =CASTLE RAMPARTS= =Castles had several defenses to sieges such as merlons and crenals. Merlons are shields that protect attackers on the battlements from missiles coming from the enemy. Crenals are spaces in between the battlements usually made of stone that allows attackers to shoot or drop rocks on the attackers. These can be seen on most castles surviving today.= ="Ramparts"= == =//**Ramparts of a Castle**//= =MURDER HOLES= ==Murder holes were a defense mechanism that was used during sieges. On the floor of archways and bridges, a cluster of holes were visible. The defenders could pour various substances down to the soldiers invading. These substances included, liquid fire, boiling oil, human waste, week old urine, and acids. The attackers could not defend themselves as the murder holes were directly above them. Trying to shoot through the holes would prove fatal due to the fact that they would have to either stand under one hole or another.==

**"MURDER HOLES"**
=THE MOAT= =One of the most common siege defense was the moat. The moat a common defense that surrounded the castle usually filled with water and other filtthy liquids. The moat prevented attackers from getting to the castle walls. Usually the only way into the castle the drawbridge which could be retracted into the castle itself. Moats deep and more advanced moats had wooden spikes driven so that anything that fell in would be impaled. There also rumors that people managed to populate the moats with __ [|crocodiles] __ and __ [|alligators] __!= ="Moats"= = = = = =Works Cited= =[] "Siege Engines" 2005-2012, Kellaway= =[|http://www.jcastle.info/resources/view/20-Moats]"Moats" 1999-2016, Jcastle.info, 堀 = =[] "Ramparts" 2014-2016, Medieval Chronicles, Castle Ramparts = [] "Murder Holes" 2014-2016, Medieval Chronicles

[] "Siege Weapons" 2005-2012, Kellaway