Editing Trebuchet (section)

=== Traction trebuchet ===
[[File:Byzantine Trebuchet Skylintzes.jpg|thumb|Sicilian-Byzantine depiction of a traction trebuchet, 12th-13th century{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=420}}]]
[[File:Jindřich VI. obléhá Neapol (1191).jpg|thumb|[[Siege of Naples (1191)]], c. 1196{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=419}}]]
[[File:Perriere from french book of 1250.jpg|thumb|13th-century depiction of a traction trebuchet]]
[[File:Sculpture.pierriere.cathedrale.Saint.Nazaire.Carcassonne.png|thumb|Traction trebuchet depicted at the tomb of [[Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester]], c. 1220{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=420}}]]
{{see also|Chinese siege weapons|Torsion mangonel myth}} 
The traction trebuchet, also referred to as a [[mangonel]] in some sources, originated in ancient China.<ref>{{harvnb|Bradbury|1992|p=265}} "The earliest version of the trebuchet, which worked on the principle of a pivoted beam, that is, the man-powered traction trebuchet, was operated by a crew pulling on ropes, which were attached to the short end of the beam, in other words by using manpower rather than a counterweight. Such machines date back as far as ancient China."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Chevedden|1995|p=2}} "The trebuchet, invented in China between the fifth and third centuries B.C.E., reached the Mediterranean by the sixth century C.E."</ref><ref name=PAUL>{{harvnb|Chevedden|2000|pp=71, 74}}. "The traction trebuchet, invented by the Chinese sometime before the fourth century B.C."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Graff|2016|p=86}} "With regard to stone-throwers, however, China and the Mediterranean world had followed quite different paths of development. Hellenistic and Roman stone-throwers were torsion machines that derived their propulsive power from twisted fibers or sinews, whereas in China, as we have seen, traction-based stone-throwers (or trebuchets) had been employed since ancient times and torsion-based devices are not attested. There has been much debate about whether even the simplest of the torsion machines, the one-armed “onager,” remained in use into the early Byzantine period. But the dominant trend was toward convergence, with the Byzantines adopting the traction trebuchet as their new stone-thrower (and possibly as early as 587)."</ref>

The first recorded use of traction trebuchets was in ancient China. They were probably used by the [[Mohist]]s as early as 4th century BC; descriptions can be found in the ''[[Mozi (book)|Mozi]]'' (compiled in the 4th century BC).<ref name=PAUL/><ref>{{harvnb|Liang|2006}} "We do however know that the forerunner of the giant catapults of the Medieval era, simple traction catapults based on the lever principle, were already in use during the Warring States period in China in the 5th - 3rd century B.C. Their description appeared in the writings of Mozi, in a Mohist text under a section on Siege Warfare."</ref> According to the ''Mozi'', the traction trebuchet was {{convert|17|ft|abbr=on}} high with {{convert|4|ft|abbr=on}} buried below ground, the fulcrum attached was constructed from the wheels of a cart, the throwing arm was {{convert|30–35|ft|abbr=on}} long with three quarters above the pivot and a quarter below to which the ropes are attached, and the sling {{convert|2.8|ft|abbr=on}} long. The range given for projectiles are {{convert|300|ft|abbr=on}}, {{convert|180|ft|abbr=on}}, and {{convert|120|ft|abbr=on}}. They were used as defensive weapons stationed on walls and sometimes hurled hollowed-out logs filled with burning charcoal to destroy enemy siege works.{{sfn|Liang|2006}}{{sfn|Needham|1994|p=207-209}} By the 1st century AD, commentators were interpreting other passages in texts such as the ''[[Zuo zhuan]]'' and ''[[Classic of Poetry]]'' as references to the traction trebuchet: "the guai is 'a great arm of wood on which a stone is laid, and this by means of a device [ji] is shot off and so strikes down the enemy.{{'"}}{{sfn|Needham|1994|p=206}} The ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'' say that "The flying stones weigh 12 catties and by devices [ji] are shot off 300 paces."{{sfn|Needham|1994|p=206}} Traction trebuchets went into decline during the [[Han dynasty]] due to long periods of peace but became a common siege weapon again during the [[Three Kingdoms]] period. They were commonly called stone-throwing machines, thunder carriages, and stone carriages in the following centuries. They were used as ship mounted weapons by 573 for attacking enemy fortifications.{{sfn|Needham|1994|p=210}} It seems that during the early 7th century, improvements were made on traction trebuchets, although it is not explicitly stated what. According to a stele in [[Barköl Kazakh Autonomous County|Barkul]] celebrating [[Tang Taizong]]'s conquest of what is now [[Ejin Banner]], the engineer Jiang Xingben made great advancements on trebuchets that were unknown in ancient times. Jiang Xingben participated in the construction of siege engines for Taizong's [[Emperor Taizong's campaign against the Western Regions|campaigns against the Western Regions]].{{sfn|Needham|1994|pp=214–215}} In 617 [[Li Mi (Sui dynasty)]] constructed 300 trebuchets for his assault on [[Luoyang]], in 621 [[Li Shimin]] did the same at Luoyang, and onward into the [[Song dynasty]] when in 1161, trebuchets operated by [[Song dynasty]] soldiers fired bombs of lime and sulphur against the ships of the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] navy during the [[Battle of Caishi]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Joseph|last=Needham|title=Science and Civilisation in China: Military technology: The Gunpowder Epic, Volume 5, Part 7|year=1987|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-30358-3|page=166}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Herbert|last=Franke|editor=Denis C. Twitchett|editor2=Herbert Franke|editor3=John King Fairbank|title=The Cambridge History of China: Volume 6, Alien Regimes and Border States, 710–1368|year=1994|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-24331-5|pages=241–242}}</ref>

{{blockquote|For the trebuchet they use large baulks of wood to make the framework, fixing it on four wheels below. From this there rise up two posts having between them a horizontal bar which carries a single arm so that the top of the machine is like a swape. The arm is arranged as to height, length and size, according to the city [which it is proposed to attack or defend]. At the end of the arm there is a sling which holds the stone or stones, of weight and number depending on the stoutness of the arm. Men [suddenly] pull [ropes attached to the other] end, and so shoot it forth. The carriage framework can be pushed and turned around at will. Alternatively the ends [of the beams of the framework] can be buried in the ground and so used. [But whether you use] the 'Whirlwind' type or the 'Four-footed' type depends upon the circumstances.{{sfn|Needham|1994|p=211}}|''Tai bai yin jing'' (太白陰經) by Tang military official Li Quan (李筌), 759 AD}}

The traction trebuchet was adopted by various peoples west of China such as the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]], [[Persians]], [[Arabs]], and [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]] by the sixth to seventh centuries AD. Some scholars suggest that the Avars carried the traction trebuchet westward while others claim that the Byzantines already possessed knowledge of the traction trebuchet beforehand. Regardless of the vector of transmission, it appeared in the eastern Mediterranean by the late 6th century AD, where it replaced torsion powered siege engines such as the ballista and onager.<ref>{{harvnb|Chevedden|1995|p=2}} "Historians had previously assumed that the diffusion of trebuchets westward from China occurred too late to affect the initial phase of the Islamic conquests, from 624 to 656. Recent work by one of us (Chevedden), however, shows that trebuchets reached the eastern Mediterranean by the late 500s, were known in Arabia and were used with great effect by Islamic armies."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Graff|2016|p=141}} "Although neither the role of the Avars in the diffusion of the traction trebuchet and many other items of military technology westward across Eurasia nor the connection between the European Avars and the East Asian Rouran can be established with certainty, the fit is nevertheless a good one. The theory of an East Asian origin for at least a key component of the Avar elite is congruent with the evidence for the arrival of East Asian technologies in western Eurasia in the last decades of the sixth century ce."</ref><ref name="purton 2009 33">{{harvnb|Purton|2009|p=33}} "Neither the precise date, then, nor the route of its arrival can be determined with certainty. What is certain is that the only place known to have developed this form of artillery was China. It is equally possible that the Avars (with their origins in Central Asia), the Byzantines, or the Persians could have been the first to learn of and make use of the weapon in the western world."</ref> The rapid displacement of torsion siege engines was probably due to a combination of reasons. The traction trebuchet is simpler in design, has a faster rate of fire, increased accuracy, and comparable range and power. It was probably also safer than the twisted cords of torsion weapons, "whose bundles of taut sinews stored up huge amounts of energy even in resting state and were prone to catastrophic failure when in use."{{sfn|Peterson|2013|p=409}}{{sfn|Purton|2009|p=366}}{{sfn|Chevedden|1995|p=2}}{{sfn|Graff|2016|p=141}} At the same time, the late [[Roman Empire]] seems to have fielded "considerably less artillery than its forebears, organised now in separate units, so the weaponry that came into the hands of successor states might have been limited in quantity."{{sfn|Purton|2009|p=364}} Evidence from [[Gaul]] and [[Germania]] suggests there was substantial loss of skills and techniques in artillery further west.{{sfn|Purton|2009|p=364}}

According to the ''[[Miracles of Saint Demetrius]]'', probably written around 620 by John, [[Metropolis of Thessaloniki|Archbishop of Thessaloniki]], the Avaro-[[Slavs]] attacked [[Thessaloniki]] in 586 with traction trebuchets. The bombardment lasted for hours, but the operators were inaccurate and most of the shots missed their target. When one stone did reach their target, it "demolished the top of the rampart down to the walkway."{{sfn|Purton|2009|p=30}} The [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]] adopted the traction trebuchet possibly as early as 587, the [[Sasanian Empire|Persians]] in the early 7th century, and the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Arabs]] in the second half of the 7th century.{{sfn|Graff|2016|p=86, 144}} In 652, the Arabs used trebuchets at the [[siege of Dongola]] in the Sudan.{{sfn|Zurawski|2021}}{{sfn|Purton|2009|pp=45–46}} Like the Chinese, by 653, the Arabs also had ship mounted traction trebuchets.{{sfn|Purton|2009|p=47}} The [[Franks]] and [[Saxons]] adopted the weapon in the 8th century.{{sfn|Purton|2009|p=367}} The ''[[Vita Hludovici|Life of Louis the Pious]]'' contains the earliest western European reference to mangonels (traction trebuchets) in its account of the [[siege of Tortosa (808–809)]].{{sfn|Noble|2009|p=241 n.73}} In 1173, the [[Republic of Pisa]] tried to capture an island castle with traction trebuchet on galleys.{{sfn|Purton|2009|p=291}} Traction trebuchets were also used in India.{{sfn|Purton|2009|p=366}}

{{blockquote|The catapult, the account of which has been translated from the Greek several times, was quadrangular, with a wide base but narrowing towards the top, using large iron rollers to which were fixed timber beams "similar to the beams of big houses", having at the back a sling, and at the front thick cables, enabling the arm to be raised and lowered, and which threw "enormous blocks into the air with a terrifying noise".{{sfn|Purton|2009|p=30}}|Peter Purton}}

The traction trebuchet was most efficient as an [[anti-personnel weapon]], used in a supportive position alongside archers and slingers. Most accounts of traction trebuchets describe them as light artillery weapons while actual penetration of defenses was the result of mining or siege towers.{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=24}} At the [[siege of Kamacha]] in 766, Byzantine defenders used wooden cover to protect themselves from the enemy artillery while inflicting casualties with their own stone throwers. [[Michael the Syrian]] noted that at the siege of Balis in 823 it was the defenders that suffered from bombardment rather than the fortifications. At the siege of [[Çakırhüyük, Besni|Kaysum]], [[Abdallah ibn Tahir al-Khurasani]] used artillery to damage houses in the town. The [[Sack of Amorium]] in 838 saw the use of traction trebuchets to drive away defenders and destroy wooden defenses. At the siege of [[Marand]] in 848, traction trebuchets were used, "reportedly killing 100 and wounding 400 on each side during the eight-month siege."{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=22}} During the [[Abbasid civil war (865–866)|siege of Baghdad]] in 865, defensive artillery were responsible for repelling an attack on the city gate while traction trebuchets on boats claimed a hundred of the defenders' lives.{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=22-23}}

Some exceptionally large and powerful traction trebuchets have been described during the 11th century or later. At the [[siege of Manzikert (1054)]], the [[Seljuks]]' initial siege artillery was countered by the defenders' own, which shot stones at the besieging machine. In response, the Seljuks constructed another one requiring 400 men to pull and threw stones weighing {{convert|20|kg|abbr=on}}. A breach was created on the first shot but the machine was burnt down by the defenders. According to [[Matthew of Edessa]], this machine weighed {{convert|3,400|kg|abbr=on}} and caused a number of casualties to the city's defenders.{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=24}} [[Ibn al-Adim]] describes a traction trebuchet capable of throwing a man in 1089.{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=25}} At the siege of [[Hai Prefecture|Haizhou]] in 1161, a traction trebuchet was reported to have had a range of 200 paces (over {{convert|400|m|abbr=on}}).{{sfn|Needham|1994|p=215}}

West of China, the traction trebuchet remained the primary siege engine until the 12th century when it was replaced by the counterweight trebuchet.{{sfn|Purton|2009|p=29}} In China the traction trebuchet was the primary siege engine until the counterweight trebuchet was introduced during the [[Mongol conquest of the Song dynasty]] in the 13th century.<ref name="Citiy of Heavenly Tranquility">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UOiGAAAAMAAJ&q=xianyang+foreign+engineers+persia+mangonels+catapults|title=City of heavenly tranquility: Beijing in the history of China|author=Jasper Becker|year=2008|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|edition=illustrated|isbn=978-0195309973|page=64|access-date=2010-10-28}}</ref>

<gallery class="center" widths="180" heights="180">
File:Five whirlwind trebuchets wjzy.jpg|Five whirlwind trebuchets from the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]''{{sfn|Needham|1994|p=213}}
File:Hudunpao-wujingzongyao.jpg|Crouching tiger trebuchet from the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]''{{sfn|Liang|2006}}
File:SiJiao Pao-t1.jpg|Sìjiǎo "Four Footed" traction trebuchet from the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]''{{sfn|Needham|1994|p=213}}
Image:Songrivership3.jpg|Traction trebuchet on a [[Song Dynasty]] warship from the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]{{sfn|Liang|2006}}
File:Liber3.jpg|12th-century depiction of a traction trebuchet (also called a perrier) next to a staff slinger
File:1285 مقذاف.jpg|[[Muslim]] traction trebuchet, 1285{{sfn|Needham|1994|p=235}}
</gallery>