Mangonel

The mangonel is a siege engine that originated in ancient China during the Warring States period and had spread across Eurasia by the sixth century AD, remaining in use through the medieval period. Rather than relying on twisted-cord torsion like the earlier onager, it was powered directly by a crew of soldiers who pulled ropes attached to one end of a pivoting wooden beam, whose other end carried a sling that launched the projectile when released, a mechanism modern historians describe as a traction trebuchet to distinguish it from later counterweight designs. Chinese forces are recorded building 300 mangonels for assaults on Luoyang in 617 and 621, and the Jin dynasty deployed 5,000 of the machines during the siege of Kaifeng in 1126. The mangonel was gradually superseded by the more powerful counterweight trebuchet during the 12th and 13th centuries, though its faster reload rate and greater portability kept it useful for anti-personnel bombardment even after that shift.