Editing Siege tower (section)

==Medieval and later use==
[[Image:Beffroi.d.assaut.png|thumb|left|upright|Sketch of a medieval siege tower]]
[[File: Imperial Encyclopaedia - Military Administration - pic431 - 臨衝呂公車圖.svg|thumb|Chinese siege tower]]

With the collapse of the [[Western Roman Empire]] into independent states, and the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]] on the defensive, the use of siege towers reached its height during the medieval period. Siege towers were used when the [[Pannonian Avars|Avar]]s [[Siege of Constantinople (626)|laid siege]] unsuccessfully to [[Constantinople]] in 626, as the ''[[Chronicon Paschale]]'' recounts:
{{blockquote|And in the section from the [[Walls of Constantinople#Gates|Polyandrion Gate]] as far as the [[Walls of Constantinople#Gates|Gate of St Romanus]] he prepared to station twelve lofty siege towers, which were advanced almost as far as the outworks, and he covered them with hides.|<ref name=Constantinople>''The Walls of Constantinople, AD 324–1453'', [[Osprey Publishing]], {{ISBN|1-84176-759-X}}.</ref>}}
[[Image:Grose-Francis-Pavisors-and-Moveable-Tower-Assaulting-Castle-1812.jpg|thumb|Medieval English siege tower]]

At this siege, the attackers also made use mobile armoured shelters known as sows or cats, which were used throughout the medieval period and allowed workers to fill in [[moat]]s with protection from the defenders (thus levelling the ground for the siege towers to be moved to the walls). However, the construction of a sloping [[Talus (fortification)|talus]] at the base of a castle wall (as was common in [[Crusades|crusader]] fortification<ref name="Castle">''Crusader Castles in the Holy Land 1192–1302'', [[Osprey Publishing]], {{ISBN|1-84176-827-8}}.</ref>) could have reduced the effectiveness of this tactic to an extent.

Siege towers also became more elaborate during the medieval period; at the [[siege of Kenilworth]] in 1266, for example, 200 [[History of archery#Medieval history|archers]] and 11 catapults operated from a single tower.<ref name=" Beisty"/> Even then, the siege lasted almost a year, making it the longest siege in all of [[England in the Middle Ages|English history]]. They were not invulnerable either, as during the [[Fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, Ottoman siege towers were sprayed by the defenders with [[Greek fire]].<ref name="Constantinople"/>

Siege towers became vulnerable and obsolete with the development of large [[cannon]]. They had only ever existed to get assaulting troops over high walls and towers and large cannons also made high walls obsolete as fortification took a new direction. However, later constructions known as ''battery towers'' took on a similar role in the [[gunpowder]] age; like siege-towers, these were built out of wood on-site for mounting siege [[artillery]]. One of these was built by the [[Russians|Russian]] [[military engineer]] [[Ivan Vyrodkov]] during the [[siege of Kazan]] in 1552 (as part of the [[Russo-Kazan Wars]]), and could hold ten large-calibre cannon and fifty lighter cannons.<ref name="Kazan">''Russian Fortresses, 1480–1682'', [[Osprey Publishing]], {{ISBN|1-84176-916-9}}</ref> Likely, it was a development of the [[gulyay-gorod]] (that is a mobile fortification assembled on wagons or sleds from prefabricated wall-sized shields with holes for cannons). Later battery towers were often used by the [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]] [[Cossacks]].

During the [[Imjin War]], the Japanese utilized siege towers to scale the walls of [[Jinju]] but were beaten back several times by [[Korean cannon]]s.{{sfn|Turnbull|2008|p=70}}<ref>Turnbull, Stephen. 2002, pp. 69–70</ref> In the early 19th century, the [[Joseon Army]] utilized siege towers to lay siege to Jeonju where the last of [[Hong Gyeong-rae's Rebellion|Hong Gyeong-Rae's Rebellion]] made their stand but were beaten back several times by the rebels.<ref>{{cite book|title=Marginality and Subversion in Korea: The Hong Kyŏngnae Rebellion|author=Sun Joo Kim|publisher=University of Washington Press|year=2007|isbn=9780295989310|pages=159–160}}</ref>