6 replies to this topic

[Andy]

Hi,
My son has homework,we can not find anythink on disadvantages of
a catapult,bribery or mining we have checked the web,any ideas or a web
site to tell the answers to help him would be great.
Thanks Andy

[Mr Moorhouse]

You'll have to break this down into bite sized chunks for your son as it's probably a little too detailed for someone in KS3 (I assume).

The technical term for a Medieval catapult is Trebuchet. There are quite a few sites that discuss the effectiveness of this form of weapons:

http://web.grinnell..../vick/treb.html

http://faculty.wm.ed...dy_Aim_Fire.htm - refers to Medieval examples of the failure of the Trebuchet.

http://www.webpages....ll/armtrebu.htm

Mining:

Given the tools available at the time it would take a long time to undermine the walls of a castle. It was also possible that the defenders would be able to hear the noise of the mining team and act against it. Moats, ditches and other defensive features made the task more hazardous as well. Ultimately the attacker would need to dig a tunnel under the foundations of a Castle, typically aiming at corners to inflict the most damage. To bring the walls down the mining team would often start a fire in the tunnel with the intention of buring the foundations out from underneath the walls: the problems here are fairly easy to work out. The mining team would suffer from smoke inhalation; it was hard to accurately measure the distance tunneled and therefore hard to gauge whether they were actually under the wall or not.

http://www.castles-o...om/castle12.htm covers this method.

You'll find a range of sites if you switch your search term to undermining, rather than mining: Google search: castles+undermining+walls

[Mr Field]

Following the excellent reply from Mr Moorhouse, all I would suggest is that your son also considers these issues from what work has been completed in his lesson.

The lesson I have used with my Year 7s very recently is at http://www.schoolhis...es/activity.htm

This was designed to help them work out advantages and disadvantages of each method of attack.

[Andy]

Mr Moorhouse And Mr Field,
Many thanks for your quick reply,my son is
now able to complete his homework.He also tells me his history teacher is
also called Mr Field and he is doing this project with him.
Thanks Andy

[Mr Field]

Mr Moorhouse And Mr Field,
                                        Many thanks for your quick reply,my son is
now able to complete his homework.He also tells me his history teacher is
also called Mr Field and he is doing this project with him.
                                                              Thanks Andy

Surely it's the same Mr Field then from Neale-Wade?

His homework is to complete the table - you've got the advantages for each method of attack from classwork. Homework is to complete the disadvantages - all that is needed is a sentence for each, suggesting what could be the problems with each method of attack!

[Andy]

Hi,
Yes Nathan is at the Neale Wade,his form tutor is Mr Hamilton-Box,
Thanks once again for your help.
Andy

[Mr Moorhouse]

I had my suspicions that poor teaching was at the root of the original problem...