Thursday, March 27, 2014

Throwback Thursday

This is a different kind of Throwback Thursday - it mostly just involves the throwing part.

As you know, one of Dr. M's students made a trebuchet for him. This inspired him to launch (heh) a new tradition at his school - Medieval Mondays! Here's their flier (this & all the picture captions were written by Dr. M):



First Annual Medieval Monday
March 31, 1-3pm
Swedenborg Memorial Library
  
Come one, come all
To the Library mall
For a Medieval time
(We can all speak in rhyme)

No jousting, alack
Nor mead in a sack
Just casual play
With a real trebuchet!

Siege towers and knights
Will enter our sights
Projectiles we’ll fling
Bawdy songs we will sing

We’ll have a great time
It won’t cost a dime
So come on and come all
To the Library mall! 

Sponsored by the Order of the Lance History Club and the dedicated students of Medieval European History 

We tried it out today, with limited success.

This day we stood atop the ramparts of Acre and watched as the Kings rallied their knights and brought forth terrible siege towers... King Richard's tower was to our left, with the valiant king out front, scouting for a smooth path over the rough plain.


As we commenced fire, we wondered what manner of beast that might be atop King Phillip's tower!

 
Alas, it was as if it possessed some power to ward off shots that appeared to be destined to unseat it!


How can this shot have missed? How, but for some great magic spewed forth by yon beast!

By this time, we had exhausted all but a few pink stones (pink tennis balls), imbued though they were with the magic of "Hope"
 


It was then that our fortunes turned! The pink stone smote the very top of Richard's tower, breaking it's canopy asunder and toppling the cursed war machine itself!


As a haze settled over the field, Richard and Phillip withdrew, along with their remaining tower and its fell beast. The sun sets, and our banner yet flies over Acre!


And now just for fun - a video where we laugh maniacally. 

 

18 comments:

  1. Am I mistaken in saying that Trebuchet is also a font, or did I just dream that up? I went to a party once that had a Monty Python and the Holy grail theme, we rode piggy-back on the boys and had jousting sticks. For the life if me, I can't recall what they were made of. ( Ha! Originally, I typed the word "mead" rather than made.)

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  2. Great fun for "onE and all" tho' I'm still clueless as to the meaning of Trebuchet! (Such ignorance mine!)
    How many came? Loved hearing your laugh :-)

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    1. I know...I missed an E. The actual event is Monday...expect a full update and pics/video!

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  3. So how is a trebuchet different from a catapult?

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    1. Technically, a trebuchet is a catapult, but one that works on a counterbalance principle rather than torsion principle. Also, purists say that to be a trebuchet, the counterbalance must swing freely, as in a basket filled with rubble or perhaps sand bags tied onto the short end of the lever. Also, it should have a sling mechanism for the projectile, instead of a fixed basket like the old torsion catapults.

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  4. LOL -- is that a peacock I hear in that video?!

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    1. Actually you might be hearing the monkey - it howls when you throw it :)

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    2. Hahaha! Yes, it was the monkey. It is made to be thrown at people, and it howls on contact. It DOES sound like a peacock, Steve! I had neighbors once who had several...wow.

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  5. You guys are having entirely too much fun with this contraption!

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    1. Hearing my wife laugh maniacally as I play Crusader is kind of priceless, if a little deflating at times ;-)

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  6. When the kids were younger we did something similar with those big water blasting guns.

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    1. Yep! Water guns are fun...who knows, the Byzantines may have invented them!

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  7. This reminds me of the annual Fruitcake Toss in Colorado. Hone your skills, and you may soon be ready for a slightly bigger (and perhaps nuttier) time!

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    1. Thank you! I was trying to remember where they held the Fruitcake Toss, but I haven't gotten around to looking it up :-)

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  8. Ha! What fun. The best fun always involves very little money and lots of imagination and creativity.

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    1. I spent way more on blocks for the siege towers than Keven spent on wood for the trebuchet, but still, great fun! I have always been that kid...the gifted child, for good and ill. Thank you!

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Thanks for stopping by - I'd love to hear what you have to say!

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