Medieval Quiz III (Knights, castles and sieges)

To tommo, the Middle Ages was the most fascinating period of history.
Here's the last of 3 quizzes that will test your knowledge - and your resourcefulness.....With apologies to Horrible Histories for this spot of plagiarism.

Quiz 3 (Part One) - on Sieges.
A castle is a home, an army camp, a local government office, a lookout place, a jail and a food store: With so much happening in one place it has one big weakness: capture a castle and you control all of its lands. Castle owners knew this of course, so they made their castles too strong to capture: They built higher, thicker walls. And attackers built bigger climbing towers to get over the walls - or bigger catapults to batter them down.
But, if the attackers had plenty of time, there was another way of defeating the people in the castle: Surround it. Let no-one in or out - let no food in - and wait till the people inside starve: That's a siege. The most famous siege in history was probably that of Troy: the Greeks ended a 10-year siege by using the Wooden Horse trick. Trouble is no-one is likely to fall for that one again !
Could you find a way to take a castle? Or could you defend one? 1pt for correctly identifying the solution, with bonus points available for elaboration.

1 You are in Aiguillon, France and the year is 1346. You are the English commander inside the castle and the French are surrounding you. The French have built a dozen catapult machines to throw boulders inside your walls. Are you just going to sit there and let it happen ? Come up with a plan to stop the boulder bombardment. (Clue: you have a good supply of wood inside the castle)

2 You are in Wallingford, England, in 1152. You are defending the castle and you know that an enemy army is on the way. You have lots of crops in the fields around the castle. The castle should hold out against an attack, but you are afraid that a long siege would starve your people. What two things must you do before the enemy arrives in two days' time ? (Clue: you have more soldiers than the enemy who will be arriving)

3 You are in St Andrews, Scotland in 1546. You are defending well but are afraid that the enemy will find a way to get into the castle. You suspect they will try to dig beneath your walls and pop up inside. But which direction will the tunnel come from ? And how will you stop the attack ? (Clue: they can't dig under your walls without making the ground tremble a bit)

4 You are in the castle on the Greek island of Rhodes in 1440. You are being attacked by Egyptians using tall wooden towers on wheels. They begin by smoothing the ground so the towers have a level road. After all, if the tower tilts too far it will topple over. You try to dig ditches to stop the towers coming forward but the strong attackers drive you back into the castle and fill in the ditches. The smooth road is almost complete: tomorrow the towers full of men will roll forward and they will climb over your walls. Wet animal hides will stop you setting fire to its roof. What can you do ? (Clue: how would you catch an elephant ?)

5 You are in Ballon castle, France in 1098. You are surrounded by Count Fulk's army and you are getting hungry. The attackers are good soldiers and guard their camp well at night. But you suspect that they get careless at dinner time. If you attack them as they sit down to dinner then you have a good chance of winning. Only trouble is, you have no idea what time they have their dinner. How can you find out ? (Clue: James Bond would know how)

6 You are in Hosn Al Akrad in the Holy Land in 1099. You are Turks surrounded by Crusaders who will massacre you if they get inside. All you have are your sheep inside the castle with you. They are not savage fighting sheep but they may be useful in helping you to escape. How ? (Clue: the Crusaders have very little food with them.)

Part Two is a simple matter of answering True or False (although again bonuses may apply) - but once you have answered the question is gone !

True or false....?
7 When a knight in armour fell off his horse, he couldn't get up again and fight.

8 Stairways in castle towers go up clockwise.

9 Richard the Lionheart had an unbreakable sword.

10 Besieged castles kept in touch with friends by using carrier pigeons.

11 Knights didn't always charge on horseback. Sometimes they crept up on enemy tents to murder them in their sleep.

12 Swords were polished with a cloth dipped in vinegar.

13 If a baby was going to grow up to be a knight then his first mouthful of food should be from a silver spoon.

14 A crusader would share his tent with his horse.

15 One group of Crusaders was led by a goose.

16 Once archers had used up their arrows they had to hide behind the knights.

You may answer 4 questions only in any 4-hour period. Good luck !

[gandalf the untidy]

8 clockwise, true, as knight hold their shield on their right side so advancing knights would expose their left side to attack and their sword arm would have restricted use
9 false, no sword is unbreakable
16 false, they used arrows shot by others or became infantrymen
15 got to be true, as no one would think of using it as a question....I hope... unless it was a swan?

Aug 9, 2014 7:42:12 GMT gandalf the untidy said:

8 clockwise, true, as knight hold their shield on their right side so advancing knights would expose their left side to attack and their sword arm would have restricted use
9 false, no sword is unbreakable
16 false, they used arrows shot by others or became infantrymen
15 got to be true, as no one would think of using it as a question....I hope... unless it was a swan?

I thought you might be tempted to tip your lance at this one, Gandalf. And you have come up with four top answers so have earned 8pts.
8) Indeed, with the defender in mind, easier for a right-handed swordsman to back up the spiral stairs...not so easier for the right-handed attacker. An exception is Caerphilly castle, which has a couple that go anti-clockwise.
9) correct: Richard I set off on the Third Crusade and took a hawk from a peasant - he said hawks should only be used by lords. A mob surrounded him and Richard slapped one man with the flat sword blade. It snapped, and Richard just about escaped with his life. Swords were blunt and brittle things, for bashing rather than for slicing.
16) exactly, although some had horses in reserve.
15) correct: in 1095 when the First Crusade set off, one group of pilgrims found a goose that they thought was sent by God. They began to play Follow My Leader with it. When they inevitably ran out of food they probably played Eat My Leader.

Leader:
GandalftheUntidy 8pts

[gandalf the untidy]

1 A good supply of wood could be in the form of arrows, the best form of defence might be attack, so they did with archers

10 true, the attackers often had rows of archers targeting any birds flying near their objective

11 False, twas against the knights chivalry code

Aug 11, 2014 23:44:14 GMT gandalf the untidy said:

1 A good supply of wood could be in the form of arrows, the best form of defence might be attack, so they did with archers
10 true, the attackers often had rows of archers targeting any birds flying near their objective
11 False, twas against the knights chivalry code

A mixed result here, but still some work to do before you can be dubbed Sir Colin of the Soot-house !
1) The answer was.......Build your own catapults from wood and fire back at the French. The more boulders they throw at you the more ammo you have to pelt back. They can't see where your catapults are because they are hidden behind your walls, but you can see their catapults from the viewing points on top of your towers. Aim at their catapults ! The result ? All twelve French catapults were destroyed by the defenders and the siege failed.
Will award 1 bonus point as the longbow proved vital in the Battle of Crecy in the same year (1346).

10) Top answer for 2pts. The Crusaders learned the trick of using pigeons from the Turks. Messages were fastened to pigeons' tails or under their wings, not their legs.....There are several stories of pigeons landing in the wrong camp and giving away secrets or having their messages switched so that enemies were tricked ! In 1171 the Turks even had a pigeon relay system going to carry news from one end of their empire to the other.

11) I'm afraid it's true, so nothing there. For example, on 15 April 1291 a group of Templar knights crept into a Turkish camp - seemingly forgetting that tents are usually held up by ropes: one knight clumsily tripped over a rope and fell head first into a ditch that the Turks were using as a toilet. He drowned in the sewage. Yuk ! The rest of the force were then captured and executed, their heads tied round the neck of a horse and presented to the Sultan the next day. The Battle of Otterburn in England (1388) also started with a night attack and ended with the English attackers blundering to defeat. They attacked the baggage train by mistake and missed the Scottish knights. It seems that dark knights can get confused on dark nights !

Leader:
GandalftheUntidy 11pts

[gandalf the untidy]

13 False ,I'm sure the phrase born with a silver spoon in their mouth derives from nobility rather than knighthood

[gandalf the untidy]

6 let the sheep out of the north gate, the Christians will round them up leaving your troops to escape out of the south Gate

Aug 13, 2014 20:09:29 GMT gandalf the untidy said:

13 False ,I'm sure the phrase born with a silver spoon in their mouth derives from nobility rather than knighthood

Top answer for 2pts. The first mouthful of food should be eaten from the tip of his father's sword if he was going to grow up to be a knight. Hopefully daddy was able to keep a steady hand !

Aug 13, 2014 20:12:20 GMT gandalf the untidy said:

6 let the sheep out of the north gate, the Christians will round them up leaving your troops to escape out of the south Gate

Top answer for 2pts. Next morning when the Crusaders attacked, they wondered why the Turks didn't fight back ! A glorious victory was won without a single human being killed or captured on either side....

Leader:
GandalftheUntidy 15pts

[gandalf the untidy]

12 true, swords were cleaned with vinager, the acidity removes oxidation products (rust), an alternative will be lemon juioe.

Aug 14, 2014 12:58:37 GMT gandalf the untidy said:

12 true, swords were cleaned with vinager, the acidity removes oxidation products (rust), an alternative will be lemon juioe.

Top answer, 2pts. A further popular use was for cleaning chain mail (the squire had the boring job of putting it in a sack with sand and vinegar and then shaking it about till clean).
Incidentally, also used by tommo for removing the bird crap from his car (I have to park underneath trees).

Leader:
GandalftheUntidy 17pts

[gandalf the untidy]

14 true, animals usually shared the facilities, it was the best way to keep them from being stolen or eaten by passers by
7 false he would be able to get up and fight but not necessarily on his horse, it also depends on the type of armour and whether he was jousting

[BigPhilMac]

4. I have two possible but may not be viable theories. Number 1 is diseased rats released into the viscinity, as you said elephants I had the idea of their fear of rodents. Number 2 I'm going to go for some kind of snare that attaches to the towers and they are pulled down. Because if you had a rampaging elephant coming at you and then snared them they wouldn't go very far...

Aug 14, 2014 15:17:06 GMT gandalf the untidy said:

14 true, animals usually shared the facilities, it was the best way to keep them from being stolen or eaten by passers by
7 false he would be able to get up and fight but not necessarily on his horse, it also depends on the type of armour and whether he was jousting

14 top answer (2pts). Some knights in the heat of the Holy Land even made sure their horses had water before they did.
7. top answer again (2pts). Most armour allowed the knights to move easily. A knight could turn a somersault and vault onto his horse. Heroes of the day, a bit like modern-day footballers !

Leader:
GandalftheUntidy 21pts

Aug 14, 2014 17:17:20 GMT BigPhilMac said:

4. I have two possible but may not be viable theories. Number 1 is diseased rats released into the viscinity, as you said elephants I had the idea of their fear of rodents. Number 2 I'm going to go for some kind of snare that attaches to the towers and they are pulled down. Because if you had a rampaging elephant coming at you and then snared them they wouldn't go very far...

4 We'll forget the meeces theory, but part two of your answer is worth the 2 points as a top answer. They waited till the night before the attack and dug a deep hole where the tower road was projected to meet the walls. Then the hole was covered with thin wood and the wood was covered with soil. The attackers couldn't see any ditches in their way, and when the towers rolled forward their weight send them crashing into the pit. As the towers tilted, the attackers were either hurled to the ground or trapped inside a three-storey house on wheels. The coup de gras was delivered by setting fire to the crumpled edifices.

Leaderboard:
1. GandalftheUntidy 21pts
2. BigPhilMac 2pts

[BigPhilMac]

3. If the attackers are digging underneath and you will know about it, surely you dig back to meet them half way and give them a surprise beasting!!

5. Sounds to me like a bit of underhand espionage will do the trick. You could send in some assassins to kill off the servants, disguise themselves then report back.

Aug 15, 2014 16:23:19 GMT BigPhilMac said:

3. If the attackers are digging underneath and you will know about it, surely you dig back to meet them half way and give them a surprise beasting!!

5. Sounds to me like a bit of underhand espionage will do the trick. You could send in some assassins to kill off the servants, disguise themselves then report back.

You're getting good at this !
3) At St Andrews the defenders did indeed dig their own mine and headed down to meet the attackers' mine: a fire underground smoked out the attackers and spoiled their plan. 2pts.
A stock method for identifying where tunnels were coming from was to place jars of water on the ground and space them out. If the water in one trembles, then you know where the mine is. You could build a wooden wall around the spot quickly so the attackers pop up and find they are in a trap.


5) You picked up on the espionage theme, but the defenders in this case dressed as beggars and went into the attackers' camp as spies. They discovered the exact time of day that everyone sat down to eat. They reported back to the defenders who surrounded the attackers as they munched their meal. The idea was a complete success. 1.5pts

Leaderboard:
1. GandalftheUntidy 21pts
2. BigPhilMac 5.5pts

Just question 2) left and that carries a Wallingford bonus !

[BigPhilMac]

2. A Brien Fitzcount reference! Well first things first, the defences around the fields where the crops were grown would need to be re-established to ensure that there was food!! It was useful for a while as Stephen's forces dug in deep at the castle at Crowmarsh Gifford. Secondly, the castle wasn't large enough for all the defence forces, so I would disperse them into the local houses as well as the castle to keep out those pesky people.

I've lived at in the Wallingford area my entire life and until recent-ish I didn't know the castle was that important and significant a place!

Aug 15, 2014 20:37:44 GMT BigPhilMac said:

2. A Brien Fitzcount reference! Well first things first, the defences around the fields where the crops were grown would need to be re-established to ensure that there was food!! It was useful for a while as Stephen's forces dug in deep at the castle at Crowmarsh Gifford. Secondly, the castle wasn't large enough for all the defence forces, so I would disperse them into the local houses as well as the castle to keep out those pesky people.

I've lived at in the Wallingford area my entire life and until recent-ish I didn't know the castle was that important and significant a place!

Top answer for 2pts and the Wallingford bonus point to boot !
Yes Wallingford castle has had a varied history, starting with the Stephen-Matilda conflict, then host to Henry V and VI during the Wars of the Roses and being the last bastion to hold out in the English Civil War before Oliver Cromwell ordered its destruction. (Not sure which historical figure I hate the most, Cromwell for blasting several castles to smithereens - or Henry VIII with the dissolution of the monasteries !)
This is what it must have looked like at the height of its magnificence:
www.britannia.com/history/berks/wallcast.html

The definitive answer is thus:
i. Harvest all the crops from the fields and rather than store them in the barns on the farms, take them inside the castle. (Not only will it give you plenty of food, the attackers will arrive and find nothing for them to eat.
ii. Don't sit inside the castle and wait to be surrounded: instead, hide outside the castle.
iii. When the enemy arrive and surround the castle, you surround them !
iv. The enemy are attacked from both sides, from inside the castle and from outside. They are squeezed and battered between the two.
And that's what happened in 1152, a victory for Matilda, aided and abetted by Brien Fitz Count.

Final points:
1. GandalftheUntidy 21pts
2. BigPhilMac 8.5pts