Editing Trebuchet (section)

====Origins====
[[File:Fall Of Baghdad (Diez Albums).jpg|thumb|Siege of Baghdad (1258) from the ''Jami' al-tawarikh'', c. 1306-18{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=425}}{{sfn|Needham|1994|p=236}}]]
[[File:Guinevere beseiged in tower - La Mort le Roi Artus (c.1316), f.81v - BL Add MS 10294.jpg|thumb|Counterweight trebuchet in the ''La Mort le Roi Artus'', c. 1316]]

There is little to no consensus as to where and when the counterweight trebuchet, which has been described as the "most powerful weapon of the Middle Ages",{{sfn|Purton|2009|p=382}} was first developed.{{sfn|Fulton|2016a|p=4-5}} The earliest known description and illustration of a counterweight trebuchet comes from a commentary on the conquests of [[Saladin]] by [[Mardi ibn Ali al-Tarsusi]] in 1187.<ref name="Bradbury 1992">{{cite book |last= Bradbury |first= Jim |title= The Medieval Siege |publisher= The Boydell Press |year= 1992 |isbn= 978-0-85115-312-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.historynet.com/weaponry-the-trebuchet.htm |title=Arms and Men: The Trebuchet |newspaper=Historynet |date=5 September 2006 |publisher=Historynet.com |access-date=2016-08-29 }}</ref> However cases for the existence of both European and Muslim counterweight trebuchets prior to 1187 have been made. In 1090, Khalaf ibn Mula'ib threw out a man from the citadel in [[Salamiya]] with a machine and in the early 12th century, Muslim siege engines were able to breach [[Crusades|crusader]] fortifications. David Nicolle argues that these events could have only been possible with the use of counterweight trebuchets.{{sfn|Nicolle|2003|p=16}}

Although al-Tarsusi provided the first description and illustration of a counterweight trebuchet, the text implies that the engine was not new and had previously been built. Al-Tarsusi referred to the counterweight trebuchet as the "Persian" trebuchet whereas the "Frankish" trebuchet was a light traction engine.{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=37}}{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=433}} Later during the 13th century, Muslims used ''manjaniq maghribi'' (Western trebuchet) and ''manjaniq ifranji'' (Frankish trebuchet) to refer to counterweight trebuchets.{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=37}} Paul E. Chevedden suggests that ''manjaniq maghribi'' was used to describe hinged counterweight engines in contrast to previous fixed or hanging counterweight trebuchets.{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=449}} Sometimes counterweight trebuchets are separated into two or three different categories based on how their counterweights are attached. These being fixed, hanging, and hinged counterweights. A fixed counterweight is an intrinsic part of the swinging arm and its trajectory is circular.{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=47}}<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dv4eXvagfgYC&q=hanging+counterweight&pg=PA70 | title=Estonian Journal of Archaeology | year=2006 | publisher=Estonian Academy Publishers }}</ref> Hanging counterweights hang below the arm and drop vertically. Hinged counterweights are attached to the arm by a swinging joint. Some fixed counterweights also had a hinged component. The type described by al-Tarsusi was a hanging counterweight. Writing in 1280, [[Giles of Rome]] claimed that hinged counterweight trebuchets had a greater range than fixed counterweight types.{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=438-439}}{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=449}}

Chevedden argues that counterweight trebuchets appeared prior to 1187 in Europe based on what might have been counterweight trebuchets in earlier sources. The 12th-century [[Byzantine]] historian [[Niketas Choniates]] may have been referring to a counterweight trebuchet when he described one equipped with a [[windlass]], which is only useful to counterweight machines, at the siege of Zevgminon in 1165.<ref>{{harvnb|Chevedden|2000|p=86}}</ref> However the source for this was written in the 1180s to 1190s and Niketas may have been placing the engine of his own time anachronistically into the past.{{sfn|Fulton|2016a|p=11}} At the [[siege of Nicaea]] in 1097 the Byzantine emperor [[Alexios I Komnenos]] reportedly invented new pieces of heavy artillery which deviated from the conventional design and made a deep impression on everyone.<ref>{{harvnb|Chevedden|2000|pp=76–86; 110f.}}</ref> Illustrations produced later in 1270 depicted fixed counterweight trebuchets used at the siege.{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=442}} Possible references to counterweight trebuchets also appear for the [[Venetian Crusade#Siege of Tyre|second siege of Tyre in 1124]], where the crusaders reportedly made use of "great trebuchets".<ref>{{harvnb|Chevedden|2000|p=92}}</ref> However the sources for this siege, [[Fulcher of Chartres]] and [[William of Tyre]], only mention ''machinae'' and ''machinae iaculatoriae'' that were later translated as ''perrieres'' and ''mangoniaux'' in the ''[[Estoire d'Eracles]]''.{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=98}} Chevedden argues that given the references to new and better trebuchets that by the 1120–30s, the counterweight trebuchet was being used in a variety of places by different peoples such as the crusader states, the [[Norman Kingdom of Sicily|Normans of Sicily]] and the [[Seljuks]].<ref name="Chevedden 2000, 104f.">{{harvnb|Chevedden|2000|pp=104f.}}</ref>

The earliest solid reference to a "trebuchet" in European sources dates to the siege of [[Castelnuovo Bocca d'Adda]] in 1199. However it is unclear if this referred to counterweight trebuchets since the author did not specify what engine was used and described the machine as fairly light.{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=33}} They may have been used in [[Germany]] from around 1205. Only in the late 1210s do references to "trebuchet", describing more powerful engines and different components, more closely align with the features of a counterweight trebuchet. Some of these more powerful engines may have just been traction trebuchets, as one was described being pulled by ten thousand. At the [[Siege of Toulouse (1217–1218)]], ''trabuquets'' were mentioned to have been deployed,{{sfn|Fulton|2016|p=35-36}} but the siege engine depicted at the tomb of [[Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester|Simon de Montfort]], who was killed by artillery at the siege, is a traction trebuchet.{{sfn|Fulton|2016|p=380}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jaanmarss.planet.ee/juhendid/Mehaanilised_kaugrelvad_keskajal/andmebaas/Russell%20Miners/htt01.html|title=Historic Traction Trebuchet Illustrations Pt 1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.midi-france.info/medievalwarfare/121343_perriers.htm|title = Medieval Warfare during the Cathar Crusades}}</ref> Though soon after, clear evidence of counterweight machines appeared. According to the ''[[Song of the Albigensian Crusade]]'', the defenders "ran to the ropes and wound the trebuchets", and to shoot the machine, they "then released their ropes."{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=34}} They were used in [[England]] at least by 1217 and in [[Iberia]] shortly after 1218. By the 1230s the counterweight trebuchet was a common item in siege warfare.{{sfn|Purton|2009|p=387}} Despite the lack of clearly definable terms in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, it is likely that both Muslims and Europeans already had working knowledge of the counterweight trebuchet beforehand. From the [[First Crusade]] (1096–1099) onward, there does not appear to be any discernible difference in the technology of siege engines employed by Muslim and Frankish forces, and by the [[Third Crusade]] (1189–1192), both sides seemed well acquainted with the enemy's siege weapons, which "appear to have been remarkably similar."{{sfn|Fulton|2018|p=36}}<ref name="fulton 2018 405">{{harvnb|Fulton|2018|p=405}} "From the First Crusade onward, it is very difficult to discern any differences, let alone a technological advantage, between the trebuchets employed by Muslim forces and those used by their Frankish counterparts. Even during the siege of Acre (1189-91), when individuals from across Europe and the Middle East were drawn together and encountered people from distant regions and different technological traditions for the first time, their accounts provide no suggestion of an advantage or even difference between the engines employed by the Franks and those of the Muslims.</ref>