SSiege Warfareiege Warfare

Plymstock School History Plymstock School History DepartmentDepartment

Aims: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?

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.

Siege WarfareSiege Warfare

Siege 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 Cornwell’s ‘Harlequin’

Activity 1With a partner, you have fifteen minutes to reconstruct

the scene described here by the author. Include:

A compass (for direction)The City

The CastleThe English army and their weapons

Any other supporting detail from the clues

ACTIVITY 2

With your Group of 4, you have 5 minutes to decide on a battle plan:

How would you get inside the city?

How would you defend the city?

Trebuchet

Siege Tower

Battlements

Battering Ram

Scaling Ladder

Hot Oil

Stone Throwers

Now you have heard both plans to attack and defend,

which side would you rather be on?

ACTIVITY 3

AS 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

Were you correct?

What did you miss?

How does medieval siege warfare compare to the Romans style of warfare we studied earlier this

year?

Watch the Clip from Gladiator

Aims: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?

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.