. Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance. gs.—Fac-simile of aMiniature of the Fifteenth Century, from a drawing by M. Prosper Merimee. that when the timber was consumed the walls crumbled down and openeda large breach to the besiegers. Nothing then was left to the garrison butto surrender, in order to avoid the horrors of an assault and the sack of thetown (Figs. 60 and 61). The only remedy possessed by a garrison against this last method ofattack was to keep a good watch and to endeavour to discover the where- 7° WAR AND ARMIES. abouts of the mine,
. Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance. gs.—Fac-simile of aMiniature of the Fifteenth Century, from a drawing by M. Prosper Merimee. that when the timber was consumed the walls crumbled down and openeda large breach to the besiegers. Nothing then was left to the garrison butto surrender, in order to avoid the horrors of an assault and the sack of thetown (Figs. 60 and 61). The only remedy possessed by a garrison against this last method ofattack was to keep a good watch and to endeavour to discover the where- 7° WAR AND ARMIES. abouts of the mine, and neutralise it by a countermine. At the siege ofRennes, in 1356, the governor of the town ordered basins of copper, eachcontaining several globes of the same metal, to be placed all about theramparts; when these globes were seen to vibrate and tremble at each strokeof the hidden pickaxe, it was easy to guess that the mine was not far was also a body of night watchmen, who carefully noted the enemysmovements, and who rang the alarm-bell at the slightest noise. These. Fig. 63.—Machine intended to break the ranks Fig. 64.—Machine to shoot arrows, and to assistof the enemy and to crush his soldiers.— in approaching a besieged town.—EobertVegece, I/Art Militaire : 1532. Valturin, La Discipline Militaire: 1555. watchmen were often replaced by dogs, whose barks, in case of a surprise,gave notice to the garrison (Fig. 62). The slow and laborious work of the miner was often advantageouslyreplaced by the more powerful action of certain machines, which may bedivided into two distinct classes. The first, intended to be used at closequarters and to make a breach in the wall, comprised several varieties of theancient battering-ram; the second, employed at a distance, were termedpierriers, mangonneaux, espringaks, &c. (Figs. 63 and 64). WAR AND ARMIES. 7 The battering-ram, which was probably well known from the remotestperiods, is described, in the documents of the Mi
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