ebuchet is not to be confused with catapults. Catapults are sad little things, when compared to the power and accuracy of the trebuchet. A large trebuchet can reach out and squish a catapult with a half-ton rock at two hundred yards or more. Trebuchets were fairly complicated engines, dependent on very heavy timber constructions for their proper functioning. The weight box might accommodate up to twenty tons of ballast consisting of stones, sand, or lead, and the piece of ammunition might weigh as much as three-hundred kg. Various types of ammunitions were used in the trebuchets. Stone shots have already been mentioned, but they also use beehives, small stones burned into clay balls that would explode on impact like grape shot bullets, casks of tar and oil on fire, dead animals for introducing plagues and disease, and finally prisoners of war and spies. It was said that one knew when they landed when the cries stopped!
             A fair number of medieval sources report the use of trebuchets. The Danish historian "Saxo" write that King Erik Emune used trebuchets at the siege of Haroldsbor near Roskilde in the year of 1131. At this time the Danes had no knowledge of the finer arts of warfare and several Saxons were summoned to build and handle the engines. The
             chronicles Oluas Magnus writes of another trebuchet used at Kalmar. An old woman happened to sit down on the sling pouch and by mistake tri
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