NOVA: Medieval Siege

Starring:Nova
Studio: Wgbh Boston
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
The Scots inside Stirling Castle must have felt untouchable. Protected by a massive stone fortress, they prepared for a long drawn-out siege against the army of England's Edward the First. Fifty carpenters worked day and night to create the fourteenth century version of the atom bomb: the trebucheta fearsome, gravity-powered catapult dubbed "Warwolf" that was capable of hurling boulders, bee hives and plague-infected corpses long distances. Travel back to the Middle Ages and relive a fascinating turning point in warfare and medieval history.

- Enter the battlefield and experience the chaos of medieval warfare200 years before the invention of the cannon
- Discover how the mechanized catapult sent English history and warfare in different directions
- Enter gigantic medieval castles and explore why these mighty fortresses became vulnerable to the "Warwolf"
- See how the medieval manuscripts provided clues in the trebuchet mystery
- See medieval experts create two competing full-scale catapults
- Travel to the banks of Loch Ness as newly designed catapults attempt to destroy a castle wall with 250 pound stone balls

Description

The Scots inside Stirling Castle must have felt untouchable. Protected by a massive stone fortress, they prepared for a long drawn-out siege against the army of England's Edward the First. Fifty carpenters worked day and night to create the fourteenth century version of the atom bomb: the trebuchet—a fearsome, gravity-powered catapult dubbed "Warwolf" that was capable of hurling boulders, bee hives and plague-infected corpses long distances. Travel back to the Middle Ages and relive a fascinating turning point in warfare and medieval history.

- Enter the battlefield and experience the chaos of medieval warfare—200 years before the invention of the cannon
- Discover how the mechanized catapult sent English history and warfare in different directions
- Enter gigantic medieval castles and explore why these mighty fortresses became vulnerable to the "Warwolf"
- See how the medieval manuscripts provided clues in the trebuchet mystery
- See medieval experts create two competing full-scale catapults
- Travel to the banks of Loch Ness as newly designed catapults attempt to destroy a castle wall with 250 pound stone balls

Customer Reviews:

Boring.......2006-07-11

This DVD just shows growned up guys playing around with more complicated toys, attempting to built a trebuchet. It would be the same to see a two-year-old child trying to built a castle of cards.

Great for homeschooling medieval history.......2006-01-21

My boys enjoy this movie and cheer with the craftsmen as they launch their trebuchets. Excellent for teaching material on life in medieval times. Watch this and then view Peter Jackson's depiction of the attack on Minas Tirith in LOTR with new appreciation, since he shows the orcs with catapults and the city with trebuchets. Then buy "The art of the Catapult" and make your own (providing you have a large backyard and a helmit, of couse) We made our model with popcycle sticks.

Medieval Siege.......2005-08-14

This 2000 episode of the PBS's NOVA is narrated by actor Stacy Keach and, as the product description indicates, takes an in-depth look at the hot siege weapon of the Middle Ages, the trebuchet (trey-boo-shay.)

Come to think of it, after just re-reading the product description I think its `travel back to the Middle Ages' and `experience the chaos' is a little misleading. Basically the Middle Ages are set in the background, source material for the meat of the program. MEDIEVAL SIEGE is a low-tech version of a dear departed cable television show called `Junkyard Wars.' Here, two teams - one American, the other French - using ancient illustrations and descriptions, try to build a working, castle-busting trebuchet.

The teams aren't playing around, either. There are medieval weapons specialists (everything has a specialist, doesn't it?), a forty-plus man team of traditional artisans, a pipe puffing scientist and a pair of forty-foot tall Douglas firs used to build the main arm of the weapon. A trebuchet, by the way, is a large (in this case VERY large) `see-saw' with a heavy weight on one end. Stick a pea in the bowl of a spoon, pull the spoon back and let it fly and you've got the trebuchet concept down.

MEDIEVAL SIEGE was fascinating. Until time starts running down and the workers pull out the socket wrenches and acetylene torches the techniques used are all traditional - ever see someone try to shave down a five-ton tree using 13th century tools? The scale is daunting - one trebuchet requires ten tons of lead counter-weight rings, the other uses a swinging basket that holds fourteen tons. The target is a newly constructed castle wall. The drama is inherent in the situation. Can they figure out how to build a trebuchet without any surviving model to work from? Will the meager historical references to trebuchets provide enough information to build a working model? Will they be able to loft a 250-pound sandstone ball three-hundred yards, much less hit a relatively small target? This program answers all those questions and more in a fun filled sixty minutes.

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