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The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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often certainly the term Mangonel seems to be used generically for all machines of
this class. Marino Sanudo uses no word but *Machina*, which he appears to
employ as the Latin equivalent of *Mangonel*, whilst the machine which he
describes is a Trebuchet with moveable counterpoise. The history of the word
appears to be the following. The Greek word μάγγανον, "a piece of witchcraft,"
came to signify a juggler's trick, an unexpected contrivance (in modern slang "*a
fim*"), and so specially a military engine. It seems to have reached this specific
meaning by the time of Hero the Younger, who is believed to have written in the
first half of the 7th century. From the form μαγγανικόν the Orientals got *Manganîk*
and *Manjânîk*,* whilst the Franks adopted *Mangona* and *Mangonella*. Hence the
verbs *manganare* and *amanganare*, to batter and crush with such engines, and
eventually our verb "to mangle." Again, when the use of gunpowder rendered
these warlike engines obsolete, perhaps their ponderous counterweights were utilised
in the peaceful arts of the laundry, and hence gave us our substantive "the Mangle"
(It. *Mangano*)!
The Emperor Napoleon, when Prince President, caused some interesting ex-
periments in the matter of mediæval artillery to be carried out at Vincennes, and a
full-sized trebuchet was constructed there. With a shaft of 33 feet 9 inches in length,
having a permanent counterweight of 3300 lbs. and a pivoted counterweight of
6600 lbs. more, the utmost effect attained was the discharge of an iron 24-kilo. shot
to a range of 191 yards, whilst a 12½-inch shell, filled with earth, ranged to 131 yards.
The machine suffered greatly at each discharge, and it was impracticable to increase
the counterpoise to 8000 kilos., or 17,600 lbs. as the Prince desired. It was evident
that the machine was not of sufficiently massive structure. But the officers in charge
satisfied themselves that, with practice in such constructions and the use of very
massive timber, even the exceptional feats recorded of mediæval engineers might be
realised.
Such a case is that cited by Quatremère, from an Oriental author, of the dis-
charge of stones weighing 400 *mans*, certainly not less than 800 lbs. and possibly
much more; or that of the Men of Bern, who are reported, when besieging Nidau in
1388, to have employed trebuchets which shot daily into the town upwards of 200
blocks weighing 12 cwt. apiece.† Stella relates that the Genoese armament sent
against Cyprus, in 1373, among other great machines had one called *Troja* (*Truia*?),
which cast stones of 12 to 18 hundredweights; and when the Venetians were
besieging the revolted city of Zara in 1346, their Engineer, Master Francesco delle
Barche, shot into the city stones of 3000 lbs. weight.‡ In this case the unlucky
engineer was "hoist with his own petard," for while he stood adjusting one of his
engines, it went off, and shot him into the town.
With reference to such cases the Emperor calculates that a stone of 3000 lbs.
weight might be shot 77 yards with a counterpoise of 36,000 lbs. weight, and a shaft
65 feet long. The counterpoise, composed of stone shot of 55 lbs. each, might be
contained in a cubical case of about 5½ feet to the side. The machine would be
preposterous, but there is nothing impossible about it. Indeed in the Album of
Villard de Honnecourt, an architect of the 13th century, which was published at
Paris in 1858, in the notes accompanying a plan of a trebuchet (from which
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731
732
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