06-26-2007, 08:34 PM
Salve!
I recently had a long good look at the manuballista reconstruction of the Xanten find with the original alongside. It's in Nijmegen at present and it's a reconstruction which follows the original find down to the last millimeter. It would seem most unpractical to lug this much hardware around a battlefield and try to fire it out of hand, as any archer would be more mobile and have a higher rate of fire. This type of weapon would IMHO really come into it's own as a mobile artillery piece, firing long range projectiles into approaching troops from a rampart either in a castellum or fortress or from the castle of a marauding liburna. This is also the way early crossbows were used, rampart defenses (which is what took out Richard the Lionhearted). The heavy crossbows had a detachable ratchet and gear mechanism which could be slotted to the back. Some even had a windlass build into it.
A weapon like this could very well have had a two man firing team, quickly moving it around to provide firepower where needed. There would be no need for a tripod or fixed rest, just load, lean and let rip. This does not exclude the fact that it may have been constructed as a "belly-bow", by the way, as that type of cocking is fast and easy. It would only require an extra pair of hands to secure the trigger once cocked and swiftly drop in a bolt. This would really pick up the firing cycle!
Man, this really calls for some experiments
I recently had a long good look at the manuballista reconstruction of the Xanten find with the original alongside. It's in Nijmegen at present and it's a reconstruction which follows the original find down to the last millimeter. It would seem most unpractical to lug this much hardware around a battlefield and try to fire it out of hand, as any archer would be more mobile and have a higher rate of fire. This type of weapon would IMHO really come into it's own as a mobile artillery piece, firing long range projectiles into approaching troops from a rampart either in a castellum or fortress or from the castle of a marauding liburna. This is also the way early crossbows were used, rampart defenses (which is what took out Richard the Lionhearted). The heavy crossbows had a detachable ratchet and gear mechanism which could be slotted to the back. Some even had a windlass build into it.
A weapon like this could very well have had a two man firing team, quickly moving it around to provide firepower where needed. There would be no need for a tripod or fixed rest, just load, lean and let rip. This does not exclude the fact that it may have been constructed as a "belly-bow", by the way, as that type of cocking is fast and easy. It would only require an extra pair of hands to secure the trigger once cocked and swiftly drop in a bolt. This would really pick up the firing cycle!
Man, this really calls for some experiments