Battering ram
A heavy beam, often iron-capped, swung against a gate or wall under a protective roof.
A tree trunk with an iron head was hung by chains or ropes inside a wheeled shed with a sloping roof covered in wet hides against fire. Medieval writers called such sheds a 'cat' or a 'sow'. The crew swung the beam back and forth against a gate or the foot of a wall, cracking timber or loosening stones. A related tool, the bore, had a pointed head to pick stones out one by one.
A ram needed to reach the wall, so a deep ditch stopped it. Defenders lowered sacks of wool or mattresses to cushion the blows, caught the beam with hooks or forked poles, dropped heavy stones on the roof and tried to set the shed alight. A sloping batter at the wall base also kept it away from the wall itself.
More on the ram and the other engines · Or go under the wall instead