Siege Warfare

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Siege Warfare

• Plymstock School History Department

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Aims

• What was siege warfare?
• What would it have been like to be involved in a
  siege?
• How does siege warfare compare with roman warfare
  1000 years earlier?

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Learning Outcomes

• By the end of this lesson your homework will
  require you to produce either
• Write a diary extract from a crusading knight
  laying siege to a city (perhaps Jerusalem) or,
• Produce a cartoon strip illustrating siege
  warfare or,
• write a creative story describing the defence or
  attack of a medieval castle.
• Remember to show knowledge of weapons,
  tactics, emotions, sounds and sights.

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Siege WarfareSiege warfare is the art of
capturing places that do not want to surrender.
Castles were always difficult places to attack,
so siege warfare was developed to capture them.
During the crusades, castles were often laid
siege to by both crusaders and Muslims. In this
task you are going to reconstruct the siege of a
castle based upon evidence left behind. The
evidence you are provided with is from a
fictional account of the siege of the French city
of Caen by the English in 1204. It is from
Bernard Cornwells Harlequin
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Activity 1With a partner, you have fifteen
minutes to reconstruct the scene described here
by the author. IncludeA compass (for
direction)The CityThe CastleThe English army
and their weaponsAny other supporting detail
from the clues
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(No Transcript)
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ACTIVITY 2With your Group of 4, you have 5
minutes to decide on a battle planHow would
you get inside the city?How would you defend
the city?
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Stone Throwers
Scaling Ladder
Battlements
Trebuchet
Hot Oil
Siege Tower
Battering Ram
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Now you have heard both plans to attack and
defend, which side would you rather be on?
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ACTIVITY 3AS you now watch the following clip
without the sound I would like you to tell me
what you would hear, and what emotions would you
experience if you were present at the siege of
Jerusalem
Chapter 37
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Were you correct?What did you miss?
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How does medieval siege warfare compare to the
Romans style of warfare we studied earlier this
year? Watch the Clip from Gladiator
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Aims

• What was siege warfare?
• What would it have been like to be involved in a
  siege?
• How does siege warfare compare with roman warfare
  1000 years earlier?

14
Learning Outcomes

• By the end of this lesson your homework will
  require you to produce either
• Write a diary extract from a crusading knight
  laying siege to a city (perhaps Jerusalem).
• Produce a cartoon strip illustrating siege
  warfare.
• write a creative story describing the defence or
  attack of a medieval castle.
• Remember to show knowledge of weapons,
  tactics, emotions, sounds and sights.