The Massive Medieval Weapon That Caused a Castle To Beg For Surrender At the Mere Sight of It
All hail the Warwolf
After many years of hard and frustrating fighting, King Edward I of England finally had the subjugation of Scotland in his sights. Despite soundly defeating the bulk of William Wallace’s rebellious forces at Falkirk in 1298CE resistance had continued throughout the countryside. It took years to grind down the remaining Scots and by 1304 there was only one major hostile fortress left standing opposed to English rule — Stirling Castle.
It was no accident that Stirling Castle was the last fortress standing. It was, and still is, a formidable construct that guards the crossing over the River Forth. Without it, Edward could not claim to have fully beaten the Scots. With a large army and a dozen siege engines, the English army laid siege to the castle. But Edward also had a new secret weapon at his disposal that made him confident that the castle would fall quickly. Edward was about to deploy the mysterious Warwolf.
Warwolf’s stunning measurements
Warwolf was the largest trebuchet ever built. It was designed specifically with pesky castles like Stirling Castle in mind. Other smaller siege engines could not break a siege quickly which resulted in months long sieges…
