page_title: Warfare in Medieval Scotland
section_title: Siege engines and artillery
hierarchical_section_title: Warfare in Medieval Scotland / Late Middle Ages / Siege engines and artillery
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die Mons Meg, ein mittelalterliches Riesengeschütz aus der ersten Hälfte des 15. Jahrhunderts aus Edinburgh (Schottland) English: Mons Meg, a medieval supergun of the first half of the 15th century from Edinburgh, Scotland
context_page_description: Warfare in Medieval Scotland includes all military activity in the modern borders of Scotland, or by forces originating in the region, between the departure of the Romans in the fifth century and the adoption of the innovations of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. In this period conflict developed from minor raids to major conflicts, incorporating many of the innovations of continental warfare.
  In the Early Middle Ages war on land was characterised by the use of small war-bands of household troops often engaging in raids and low level warfare. The arrival of the Vikings brought a new scale of naval warfare, with rapid movement based around the Viking longship. The birlinn, which developed from the longship, became a major factor in warfare in the Highlands and Islands. By the High Middle Ages, the kings of Scotland could command forces of tens of thousands of men for short periods as part of the "common army", mainly of poorly armoured spearmen and bowmen. After the "Davidian Revolution" of the twelfth century, which introduced elements of feudalism to Scotland, these forces were augmented by small numbers of mounted and heavily armoured knights.
context_section_description: The Wars of Independence brought the first recorded instances of major mechanical artillery in Scotland. Edward I used a range of siege engines, which were carefully constructed, transported, deployed, dismantled and stored for reuse. This began with the siege of Caerlaverock Castle in 1300. Here, after the failure of an initial assault, a small rock-throwing engine was employed, while three large engines (probably trebuchet, using a counter-weight mechanism), were constructed. Their destruction of walls demoralised the garrison and forced a surrender. Edward's armies deployed several such engines, often named, with "Warwolf", one of 17 used in the capture of Stirling Castle in 1304, being the best known (currently considered the largest trebuchet ever built). They also deployed lighter bolt-shooting balistas, belfry siege towers and on one occasion a covered sow. Some of these were supplied by Robert Earl of Carrick, the future Robert I, who was present on the English side. Scottish armies, with more limited resources and expertise tended to rely on assault, blockade and subterfuge as siege tactics. Robert I is known to have employed siege engines against the English, but often with little success, as at Carlisle in 1315 where his siege tower floundered in mud. The disparity in siege technology has been seen as resulting in a policy of castle destruction by Robert I.
  
  Edward I had the major ingredients for gunpowder shipped to Stirling in 1304, probably to produce a form of Greek fire, to be shot into the town in earthenware pots by siege engines. The English probably had projectile gunpowder artillery in the 1320s and the Scots by the next decade. The first clear recorded use in Britain was when Edward III besieged Berwick in 1333, where it was used alongside mechanical siege engines. The first use by the Scots was probably against Stirling Castle in 1341. Gunpowder artillery began to fully replace mechanical engines in the late fourteenth century. The Stewarts attempted to follow the French and English crowns in building up an artillery train. The abortive siege of Roxburgh in 1436 under James I was probably the first conflict in which the Scots made serious use of artillery. James II had a royal gunner and received gifts of artillery from the continent, including two giant bombards made for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, one of which, Mons Meg, still survives. Although these were probably already outdated on the continent, they represented impressive military technology when they reached Scotland. James II enthusiasm for artillery cost him his life and demonstrated some of the dangers of early artillery, when a gun exploded at the siege of Roxburgh in 1460. James III also experienced ill-fortune, when artillery sent from Sigismund, Archduke of Austria sank in a storm en route to Scotland in 1481. James IV brought in experts from France, Germany and the Netherlands and established a foundry in 1511. Edinburgh Castle had a house of artillery where visitors could see cannon cast for what became a formidable train, allowing him to send cannon to France and Ireland and to quickly subdue Norham Castle in the Flodden campaign. However, his 18 heavy artillery pieces had to be drawn by 400 oxen and slowed the advancing Scots army, proving ineffective against the longer range and smaller calibre English guns at the Battle of Flodden.
caption: Mons Meg at Edinburgh Castle, with its 20" (50 cm) calibre cannonballs
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