THE KING'S MIRROR 



fully shod with iron underneath and in addition armed 

 with large, sharp, red-hot plowshares. These are to be 

 thrown down upon the wooden engine in which the 

 plowshares are likely to stick fast, while the beams may 

 be hoisted up again. This attack should be followed up 

 with pitch, sulphur, or boiling tar.* 



Mines dug in the neighborhood of a castle are also 

 an excellent protection; the deeper and narrower they 

 are, the better it is; and where men are shoving mounted 

 engines toward the walls, it were well if there were many 

 mines. All mines should have a number of small open- 

 ings, which must be covered so as not to be visible on the 

 surface. They should be filled with fuel of the most in- 

 flammable sort, peat or anything else that burns readily. 

 When a castle is attacked at night either from wooden 

 towers or with scaling ladders or any other engine on 

 wheels, the defenders should steal out and fire the 

 mines, f 



Now if it should happen that the enemy's stones 

 come over the battlements with such violence that the 

 men cannot remain in the open to defend the wall, it is 

 a good plan to set up strong posts cut from thick oak 

 and to lay large and tough cross beams upon these, 

 then to roof the whole over with firm oak timbers, and 

 finally to cover the roofing with a layer of earth not less 

 than three or four ells in depth, upon which the rocks 

 may be allowed to drop.J In like manner the attack of 



* Evidently the purpose would be to crush the engine with the beam, to set it 



on fire with the hot plowshares, and to put the assailants to flight with the 



pitch, sulphur, or tar; these would also feed the flames. 



t On the subject of mines see Oman, Art of War, 549-550. 



J The posts were apparently placed on top of the wall, the purpose being to 



raise the wall to a greater height as well as to furnish shelter for the defenders. 



