AROUND THE TURN OF THE 14TH CENTURY, ENGLAND’S KING EDWARD I led his soldiers north to battle Scottish rebels.
Eventually, he cornered his foes at Stirling Castle in central Scotland. Outside the castle walls, his English engineers built a phalanx of huge trebuchets. A trebuchet uses the force of gravity to fling projectiles. Its power comes from a counterweight—often a box that’s filled with stones or sand—connected to a lever arm. The other end of the arm is attached to a sling that holds a missile, such as a large rock. By raising the counterweight into the air with a pulley system and then letting it drop, the lever sends the boulder flying with great precision.
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