Eight Medieval Catapult Shots From 13th Century Castle Siege Discovered

Some medieval catapult projectiles from a 13th-century siege have been found outside castle walls.

The eight catapult shots were found to be in a perfectly preserved state. Some of them were quite massive.

Medieval Catapult Shots Found

The catapult shots were discovered outside Kenilworth Castle's walls in Warwickshire in the West Midlands of England.

The projectiles were found amidst recent works in order to boost accessibility around the site of the castle for wheelchair users and pedestrians.

The English Heritage announced the discovery. This organization is a charity that handles historical sites and monuments across the country.

Such shots were used in the 1266 castle siege when England faced a civil conflict called the Second Barons' War. This war pitted several rebel barons' forces against the forces of royalty that fought in the name of Henry III, the monarch back then.

Second Barons' War

The rebel barons were led by Simon de Montfort, who was the brother-in-law of the king and the Earl of Leicester. He was previously granted the Kenilworth Castle in 1244. During the breakout of the Second Barons' War in 1263, he used the castle as an operation center.

However, in the year 1265, Montfort was killed in the middle of the Battle of Evesham. Nevertheless, his supporters kept using the castle as their base.

Back in 1266, a messenger sent by Henry to the rebels was returned with a severed hand. The king was outraged by this and dispatched a force in order to reclaim control over the royal stronghold.

The castle siege went on for 172 days, from June to December 1266. This duration made it one of English medieval history's longest sieges.

Some of the weapons used by the forces of the king were siege engines. These included catapults that were designed to release massive projectiles of stones. Similar siege engines were also present in the castle garrison.

The recently found projectiles were found outside the western walls of the castle and near the surface of the ground. These were likely fired by the two sides amidst the siege.

The projectiles have significant size variations. The largest one weighs roughly 230 pounds, while the smallest one was just around two pounds.

Will Wyeth, the properties historian of the English Heritage, explained that they were able to link such findings to the siege of 1266 due to the similar findings found during Kenilworth Castle excavations during the 1960s.

These could have resulted in grave damage if fired from the machines of war. Based on records, one of the wooden siege towers of Henry III, which had roughly 200 crossbowmen, ended up destroyed by just a single missile that was well-aimed.

The siege, which spanned 172 days, ended with the royalists' victory as the garrison of the castle succumbed to disease and starvation later on. The forces of the king then took control over the castle. Henry III subsequently gave the castle to Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, who was his son.

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