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No siege weapon in the crusading era was as destructive or as terrifying as the counterweight trebuchet. It hurled massive stones (or other projectiles) against enemy positions and was widely employed by European, Byzantine, and Islamic armies. Its primary use was for siege warfare in targeting and destroying a specific section of a city wall. It was also sometimes used for defensive purposes. The trebuchet employed a sling action that was driven by a counterweight—either by human counterweight or heavy stones.  Its superior power allowed for hurling large projectiles against or over city walls from great distances. According to scholars Helen Nicholson and David Nicolle, recent experiments with a trebuchet having a 200 kilogram counterweight threw a 15 kilogram ball 180 meters and a 47 kilogram ball 100 meters, all within a target area of only six meters square.(1) Because of their enormous size, trebuchets were usually built at the siege site using local materials. The trebuchet was a product of ancient Chinese military innovation that was improved technologically and used extensively by early Islamic and Byzantine armies, but was only brought to its fullest development in later medieval Europe (13th to 15th centuries). In a sense the later trebuchet was the collective achievement of Chinese, Islamic, Byzantine, and European societies and illustrates the transfer of technology that took place across Eurasia during the Middle Ages. Further Reading::  Paul E. Chevedden. “The Invention of the Counterweight Trebuchet: A Study in Cultural Diffusion.” Dumberton Oaks Papers, 54 (2000), 71-116. John France. Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades: 1000-1300. (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1999. Joseph Needham ed. Science and Civilisation in China: Military Technology: Missiles and Sieges,Vol. 6. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994. Siege Warfare During the Cruades- Crusades-Encyclopedia Helen Nicholson- Crusades-Encyclopedia David Nicolle- Crusades-Encyclopedia 1. Helen Nicholson & David Nicolle. God's Warriors: Crusaders, Saracens, and the Battle for Jerusalem. (Oxford: Osprey, 2005), 48. (c) Andrew Holt, December 2006- Permission is granted for electronic copying and distribution in print for educational and personal use. No permission is given for commercial use.