S iege Warfare Plymstock School History Department

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 Warfare Siege 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 It is from Bernard Cornwell’s ‘Harlequin’

Activity 1 With a partner, you have fifteen minutes to reconstruct the scene described here by the author. Include: A compass (for direction) The City The Castle The 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: 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.