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56-524: Nagmati was, according to legend, the first wife and chief queen of King Ratan Sen (identified with Ratnasimha ), the Rajput ruler of Medapata (present-day Mewar ). Nagmati plays an important role in Malik Muhammad Jayasi 's epic poem Padmavat . In Padmavat , an epic poem written by Malik Muhammad Jayasi in 1540, Nagmati is said to have been King Ratan Sen's first wife and chief queen,

112-560: A Whirlwind mangonel. When the Jurchen Jin dynasty (1115–1234) laid siege to Kaifeng in 1126, they attacked with 5,000 mangonels. The Wujing Zongyao lists various types of the mangonel: The mangonel was adopted by various peoples west of China such as the Byzantines , Persians , Arabs , and Avars by the sixth to seventh centuries AD. Some scholars suggest that Avars carried the mangonel westward while others claim that

168-576: A battle against King Deopal of Kumbhalgarh . Both Nagmati and Padmavati commit jauhar (the Hindu custom of mass self-immolation) along with other women of the fort after Ratan Sen's death to protect their honour from Alauddin Khilji, who successfully conquers Chittor Fort. Jayasi in his Padmavat impressively illustrates the pain of separation of the Queen Nagmati in " Nagmati Viyog Khand ", which

224-525: A date around 400. The mangonel was most efficient as an anti-personnel weapon, used in a supportive position alongside archers and slingers. Most accounts of mangonels describe them as light artillery weapons while actual penetration of defenses was the result of mining or siege towers. At the Siege of Kamacha in 766, Byzantine defenders used wooden cover to protect themselves from the enemy artillery while inflicting casualties with their stone throwers. Michael

280-480: A green Hindu was found, he was to be cut down like dry grass. Owing to this stern order, thirty thousand Hindus were slain in one day. It seemed that the meadows of Khizrabad had grown men instead of grass. Amir Khusrau's Khazain ul-Futuh Khusrau's account is also corroborated by the 14th century Muslim chroniclers Ziauddin Barani and Isami . Historian Banarsi Prasad Saksena believes that Khusrau's account

336-495: A mangonel could have been used at Theodosiopolis in 421 but was "likely an onager". Peterson says that mangonels may have been independently invented or at least known in the Eastern Mediterranean by 500 AD based on records of different and better artillery weapons, however there is no explicit description of a mangonel. According to Peterson's timeline and presumption that the mangonel became widespread throughout

392-542: A monkey from one city to another. Nabhi-nandana-jinoddhara-prabandha by Kakka Suri (1336) According to historian Dasharatha Sharma , this suggests that the ruler of Chitrakuta ( IAST : Citrakūṭa i.e. Chittor) survived the siege, and corroborates the accounts of the Muslim chroniclers. The earliest Hindu account of the event is the Kumbhalgarh prashasti (eulogistic inscription) of 1460 CE. This inscription

448-457: A myth. But it is impossible, at the present state of our knowledge, to regard it definitely as a historical fact." Mangonel Although the mangonel required more men to function, it was also less complex and faster to reload than the torsion-powered onager which it replaced in early Medieval Europe . It was replaced as the primary siege weapon in the 12th and 13th centuries by the counterweight trebuchet. A common misconception about

504-509: A pulley" Mangonel was a general term for medieval stone-throwing artillery and was used more specifically to refer to manually (traction--) powered weapons. It is sometimes wrongly used to refer to the onager . Modern military historians came up with the term "traction trebuchet" to distinguish it from previous torsion machines such as the onager. The mangonel was called al-manjanīq , arrada , shaytani , or sultani in Arabic. In China,

560-400: Is correct. Kishori Saran Lal , on the other hand, doubts this account, arguing that it seems improbable that Alauddin spared the life of Chittor's ruler while ordering a massacre of 30,000 other Hindus. The Jain writer Kakka Suri, in his Nabhinandana-Jinoddhara-Prabandha (1336 CE) states: He [Alauddin] captured the lord of Citrakūṭa fort, took away his property, and made him move like

616-742: Is disputed. Ratnasimha succeeded his father Samarasimha as the Guhila ruler of Mewar around 1302 CE. He belonged to the Rawal branch of the family, which ruled from Chitrakuta fort (now known as Chittorgarh ). Ratnasimha is attested by the 1302 CE (1359 VS ) Dariba temple inscription, which records a gift of 16 drammas (coins) to the temple during his reign. The inscription mentions his title as Maharajakula (which appears as Maharawal in colloquial literature). A few coins issued by Ratnasimha have also been discovered. In 1303, Alauddin Khalji ,

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672-632: Is not explicitly stated what. According to a stele in Barkul celebrating Tang Taizong 's conquest of what is now Ejin Banner , the engineer Jiang Xingben made great advancements on mangonels that were unknown in ancient times. Jiang Xingben participated in the construction of siege engines for Taizong's campaigns against the Western Regions . In 617 Li Mi (Sui dynasty) constructed 300 mangonels for his assault on Luoyang , in 621 Li Shimin did

728-622: Is remarkable in Hindi literature. Ratnasimha Ratnasimha ( IAST : Ratna-Siṃha, r. c. 1302–03 CE) was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mewar in present-day Rajasthan , India . He belonged to the Rawal branch of the Guhila dynasty, which ruled from the Chitrakuta fort (modern Chittorgarh ). The last ruler of this branch, he was defeated by Alauddin Khalji during the Siege of Chittorgarh in 1303 CE. The Rajasthani legends mention him as

784-526: The Han dynasty due to long periods of peace but became a common siege weapon again during the Three Kingdoms period. They were commonly called stone-throwing machines, thunder carriages, and stone carriages in the following centuries. They were used as ship mounted weapons by 573 for attacking enemy fortifications. It seems that during the early 7th century, improvements were made on mangonels, although it

840-581: The Miracles was treated as a novelty in either 586 or 597, since the Byzantines would have known about it in both cases. Yet there are no descriptions of the mangonel in the west prior to the encounter with the Avars. Purton considers it equally likely for the Avars, Byzantines, or Persians to have learned of the mangonel first in the western world. Michael Fulton says it is at least equally likely that

896-686: The Mozi , the mangonel was 17 ft (5.2 m) high with 4 ft (1.2 m) buried below ground, the fulcrum attached was constructed from the wheels of a cart, the throwing arm was 30–35 ft (9.1–10.7 m) long with three quarters above the pivot and a quarter below to which the ropes are attached, and the sling 2.8 ft (0.85 m) long. The range given for projectiles are 300 ft (91 m), 180 ft (55 m), and 120 ft (37 m). They were used as defensive weapons stationed on walls and sometimes hurled hollowed out logs filled with burning charcoal to destroy enemy siege works. By

952-451: The Rajput ruler Rawal Ratan Singh . A fictionalized version of him appears as Ratan Sen in Malik Muhammad Jayasi 's Padmavat . According to this poem, Alauddin Khalji attacked Chittorgarh to obtain his beautiful wife Rani Padmini ; Alauddin captured the fort after Ratan Sen died in a combat with king Devpal of Kumbhalner ; subsequently, Padmini and other women committed Jauhar to protect their honour. The historicity of this legend

1008-580: The Siege of Acre (1291) , where the Mamluk Sultanate fielded 72 or 92 trebuchets, the majority were still mangonels while 14 or 15 were counterweight trebuchets. The counterweight trebuchets were unable to create a breach in Acre's walls and the Mamluks entered the city by sapping the northeast corner of the outer wall. The Templar of Tyre described the faster firing mangonels as more dangerous to

1064-560: The Sinhala princess Padmini after a quest . Alauddin Khalji invaded Chittor to obtain Padmini, after hearing of her beauty. Ratan Sen was captured by the Delhi forces, but his Rajput warriors rescued him on Padmini's request. While he was in captivity, his Rajput neighbour - Devpal of Kumbhalner - sent a marriage proposal to Padmini. Ratan Sen fought with Devpal to avenge this insult, and

1120-536: The Sultan of Delhi , invaded Chittor. After reaching the foot of the Chittor hill, two wings of his army attacked the fort from two different sides. After two months of unsuccessful siege, the attackers pelted stones on the fort using manjaniq s ( mangonels ), but still failed to capture the fort. Finally, on 26 August 1303, the invaders managed to enter the fort. According to Amir Khusrau , who claims to have entered

1176-577: The 1st century AD, commentators were interpreting other passages in texts such as the Zuo zhuan and Classic of Poetry as references to the mangonel: "the guai is 'a great arm of wood on which a stone is laid, and this by means of a device [ji] is shot off and so strikes down the enemy. ' " The Records of the Grand Historian say that "The flying stones weigh 12 catties and by devices [ji] are shot off 300 paces." Mangonels went into decline during

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1232-408: The Arabic word for trebuchet mandjanik is derived, was also first used to describe Avar machines used against Constantinople in 626. Peter Purton notes that the account by Theophylact is not contemporary and likely written when the mangonel was more common. David Graff and Purton argue that the account by Theophylact has chronological problems and does not explain why the machine used by the Avars in

1288-524: The Avar theory to be the most likely. As McCotter puts it, "there is no good reason to doubt that the Avars may have brought it and the Byzantines copied it." According to Georgios Kardaras, the idea that the Avars directly learned siegecraft from a Byzantine captive is not credible, as they had been perfectly capable of taking walled Byzantine towns beforehand and had been in contact with other tribes who engaged in siege warfare. The Byzantines may have used

1344-500: The Avars how to construct a "besieging machine" which led to their conquest of Appiaria in 587. The word used for the machine is helepolis , which does not indicate a specific siege engine. It has been variously interpreted as a battering ram, a stone-throwing trebuchet, and a siege tower. Theophylact's account is vague on descriptions of the device and why it allowed the Avars to take Appiaria after they had already taken many Roman cities beforehand. The Greek term manganikon , from which

1400-433: The Avars or some other vector transmitted the technology to the Byzantines, but expressed skepticism that the mangonel was complex enough to require explanation by a captured Byzantine soldier. He described Theophylact's account as a "racially motivated explanation of how a supposedly 'barbaric' people were able to replicate and incorporate a piece of 'civilised' technology". Others like Stephen McCotter and John Haldon consider

1456-476: The Byzantines already possessed knowledge of the mangonel beforehand. Regardless of the vector of transmission, it appeared in the eastern Mediterranean by the late 6th century AD, where it replaced torsion powered siege engines such as the ballista and onager. The rapid displacement of torsion siege engines was probably due to a combination of reasons. The mangonel is simpler in design, has a faster rate of fire, increased accuracy, and comparable range and power. It

1512-494: The Padmini Legend (1960), proposed that there were actually four distinct people with similar names. According to him, the medieval bards confused and linked these four individuals: Other historians, such as Jogendra Prasad Singh (1964) and Ram Vallabh Somani (1976) have criticized Qanungo's theory based on the following points: Most modern historians have rejected the authenticity of the Padmini legend. Regarding

1568-612: The Pious contains the earliest western European reference to mangonels in its account of the siege of Tortosa (808–809) . In the 890s, Abbo Cernuus described mango or manganaa used at the Siege of Paris (885–886) which had high posts, presumably meaning they used trebuchet-type throwing arms. In 1173, the Republic of Pisa tried to capture an island castle with mangonels on galleys. Mangonels were also used in India. The catapult,

1624-707: The Rawal branch. However, Lakshmasimha ( IAST : Lakṣmasiṃha) is explicitly called a " Mahārāṇā ", thus indicating that he belonged to the Rana branch. The word "departed" ( tasmin gate in Sanskrit ) in this verse has been variously interpreted as "died" or "deserted the defenders". Historian Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha interpreted this verse to suggest that Ratnasimha bravely fought till death. Some other scholars such as Kalika Ranjan Qanungo and R. B. Haldar also accepted Ojha's translation. However, according to other historians such as Akshay Kirti Vyas and R. C. Majumdar ,

1680-685: The Roman Empire by the mid-6th century, mangonels would also have been used in Spain and Italy by the mid 6th century, in Africa by the 7th century, and by the Franks in the 8th century. Tracy Rihll suggests that the mangonel was independently invented through an evolution of the Byzantine staff-sling, although this has received little support. There are no sources indicating whether Byzantium received

1736-515: The Syrian noted that at the siege of Balis in 823 it was the defenders that suffered from bombardment rather than the fortifications. At the siege of Kaysum , Abdallah ibn Tahir al-Khurasani used artillery to damage houses in the town. The Sack of Amorium in 838 saw the use of mangonels to drive away defenders and destroy wooden defenses. At the siege of Marand in 848, mangonels were used, "reportedly killing 100 and wounding 400 on each side during

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1792-498: The account of which has been translated from the Greek several times, was quadrangular, with a wide base but narrowing towards the top, using large iron rollers to which were fixed timber beams "similar to the beams of big houses", having at the back a sling, and at the front thick cables, enabling the arm to be raised and lowered, and which threw "enormous blocks into the air with a terrifying noise". According to Leife Inge Ree Peterson,

1848-544: The battlefield and surrendered to Alauddin. The 16th century Padmavat legend claims that Ratnasimha ("Ratan Sen") died in a combat with the ruler of Kumbhalner , before Alauddin's conquest of the fort. The 17th century chronicler Muhnot Nainsi in his Nainsi ri Khyat , who wrote under Rajput patronage, states that Ratnasimha ("Ratan Singh") died on the battlefield. A legendary account of Ratan Singh (as Ratan Sen) appears in Malik Muhammad Jayasi 's 16th century epic poem Padmavat . According to this account, he married

1904-425: The city's defenders. Ibn al-Adim describes a mangonel capable of throwing a man in 1089. At the siege of Haizhou in 1161, a mangonel was reported to have had a range of 200 paces (over 400 m (1,300 ft)). West of China, the mangonel remained the primary siege engine until the late 12th century when it was replaced by the counterweight trebuchet. In China the mangonel was the primary siege engine until

1960-536: The counterweight trebuchet was introduced during the Mongol conquest of the Song dynasty in the 13th century. The counterweight trebuchet did not completely replace the mangonel. Despite its greater range, counterweight trebuchets had to be constructed close to the site of the siege unlike mangonels, which were smaller, lighter, cheaper, and easier to take apart and put back together again where necessary. The superiority of

2016-663: The counterweight trebuchet was not clear cut. Of this, the Hongwu Emperor stated in 1388: "The old type of trebuchet was really more convenient. If you have a hundred of those machines, then when you are ready to march, each wooden pole can be carried by only four men. Then when you reach your destination, you encircle the city, set them up, and start shooting!" The mangonel continued to serve as an anti-personnel weapon. The Norwegian text of 1240, Speculum regale , explicitly states this division of functions. Mangonels were to be used for hitting people in undefended areas. As late as

2072-454: The defenders' own, which shot stones at the besieging machine. In response, the Seljuks constructed another one requiring 400 men to pull and throw stones weighing 20 kilograms (44 lb). A breach was created on the first shot but the machine was burnt down by the defenders. According to Matthew of Edessa , this machine weighed 3,400 kilograms (7,500 lb) and caused several casualties to

2128-458: The eight-month siege." During the siege of Baghdad in 865, defensive artillery was responsible for repelling an attack on the city gate while mangonels on boats claimed a hundred of the defenders' lives. Some exceptionally large and powerful mangonels have been described during the 11th century or later. At the Siege of Manzikert (1054) , the Seljuks ' initial siege artillery was countered by

2184-416: The established traditions of the family be forsaken by cowards, those who are valorous and steady do not give up their pursuit. Having thus destroyed his enemies in battle, he [Lakṣmasiṃha] died purified by weapons while defending Chitrakuta. Kumbhalgarh inscription of Kumbhakarna The inscription mentions the title of Ratnasimha and his predecessors as " Rāula ", thus indicating that they belonged to

2240-411: The fort with Alauddin, the ruler ("Rai") of Chittor surrendered to Alauddin. The Delhi Sultan massacred 30,000 other Hindus, but pardoned the ruler and his family. He assigned the fort to his young son Khizr Khan with Malik Shahin as the actual administrator, renamed it to Khizrabad, and then returned to Delhi. On the day the yellow-faced Rai sought refuge in the red canopy from fear of the green swords,

2296-561: The great Emperor (May his prosperity continue!) was still crimson with rage. But when he saw the vegetarian Rai trembling with fear, like the trampled and withered grass under the Imperial tent — though the Rai was a rebel, yet the breeze of royal mercy did not allow any hot wind to blow upon him. All the storm of the Emperor's wrath vented itself against the other rebels. He ordered that wherever

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2352-661: The head of his harem . She awaits happily as her husband returns home to Chittor , but the happiness turns to jealousy and contempt when she hears that he has taken a second wife, Padmavati , the beautiful princess of the Sinhala Kingdom . Ratan Sen assures an insecure Nagmati that as his first wife, she is still the most dear to him. Nagmati and Padmavati develop a rivalry of sorts, each vying for their husband's attention and love. Initially, Ratan Sen placates them by spending nights with them alternately, but then establishes peace by reprimanding them. After arriving in Chittor,

2408-649: The historicity of Padmini's story, historian S. Roy wrote in The History and Culture of the Indian People that "...... Abu-'l Fazl definitely says that he gives the story of Padminī from "ancient chronicles", which cannot obviously refer to the Padmāvat , an almost contemporary work. ...... it must be admitted that there is no inherent impossibility in the kernel of the story of Padminī devoid of all embellishments, and it should not be totally rejected off-hand as

2464-644: The mangonel from East Asia or if it was independently invented. Thus, on the basis of fairly hard evidence of unknown machinery in Joshua the Stylite and Agathias, as well as good indications of its construction in Procopius (especially when read against Strategikon), it is likely that the traction trebuchet had become known in the eastern Mediterranean area at the latest by around 500. The philological and (admittedly circumstantial) historical evidence may even support

2520-429: The mangonel in 587 against a Persian fort near Akbas, although it does seem to have been operated effectively, suggesting that it was still a new weapon. The Persians may have used mangonels against Dara in the early 7th century and against Jerusalem in 614. The Arabs had ship mounted mangonel by 653 and used them at Mecca in 683. The Franks and Saxons adopted the weapon in the 8th century. The Life of Louis

2576-515: The mangonel is that it was a torsion siege engine . The word mangonel was first attested in English in the 13th century, it is borrowed from Old French mangonel , mangonelle (> French mangonneau ). The French word is from Medieval Latin manganellus , mangonellus , diminutive form of Late Latin manganum , itself probably derived from the Greek mangana , "a generic term for construction machinery." or mágganon "engine of war, axis of

2632-571: The mangonel was called the pào (砲). The mangonel originated in ancient China. Torsion-based siege weapons such as the ballista and onager are not known to have been used in China. The first recorded use of mangonels was in ancient China. They were probably used by the Mohists as early as 4th century BC; descriptions can be found in the Mozi (compiled in the 4th century BC). According to

2688-424: The news of Padmavati's beauty reaches Alauddin Khilji , the Sultan of Delhi . His demand that she is handed over to him is refused, whereupon he marches to and besieges Chittor. Alauddin captures Ratan Sen in a deceitful manner and takes him back to Delhi as a prisoner. Ratan Sen is later able to escape with his two faithful warriors - Gora and Badal. Shortly afterwards, Ratan Sen is defeated by deceit and killed in

2744-625: The same at Luoyang, and onward into the Song dynasty when in 1161, mangonels operated by Song dynasty soldiers fired bombs of lime and sulphur against the ships of the Jin dynasty navy during the Battle of Caishi . During the Jingde period (1004-1007), many young men rose in office due to their military accomplishments, and one such man, Zhang Cun, was said to have possessed no knowledge except how to operate

2800-455: The top of the rampart down to the walkway." The Miracles does not provide a clear date of the siege, which could have been in 586 or 597. An argument has been made that the Byzantines were already acquainted with mangonels prior to this based on the History written by Theophylact Simocatta in the late 620s. The account contained describes a captured Byzantine soldier named Busas who taught

2856-561: The two Rajput kings killed each other in a single combat . Alauddin then invaded Chittor, but before he could capture the fort, Padmini (Padmavati) and other women immolated themselves. Several adaptions of the Padmavat legend appeared in the later years. The 16th century historians Firishta and Haji-ud-Dabir were among the earliest writers to mention Padmini as a historical figure, but their accounts differ with each other and with that of Jayasi. For example, according to Firishta, Padmini

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2912-409: The verse means that Ratnasimha cowardly fled from the battlefield. Subimal Chandra Datta points out that while describing the death of Lakshmasimha, the inscription states that he "departed for heaven". But while describing Ratnasimha's departure, it simply mentions that he "departed". This, combined with the surrender of the "Rai" described in the Muslim accounts, suggests that Ratnasimha departed from

2968-456: Was a daughter (not wife) of Ratan Sen. Some other medieval legends written under Rajput patronage state that the contemporary ruler of Chittor was Lakhamsi (Lakshmasimha), and Ratan Sen (Ratnasimha) was his younger brother. Another version, compiled by James Tod , states that Padmini was the wife of Lakhamsi's uncle Bhimsi (Bhimasimha); this version does not mention Ratan Sen at all. Historian Kalika Ranjan Qanungo, in his A Critical Analysis of

3024-495: Was issued by Kumbhakarna of the Guhila family's Rana branch , who were a rival of Ratnasimha's Rawal branch. The inscription states: That ruler [Samarasiṃha] with all his sins removed by the worship of Maheśa became the lord of svarga , after entrusting the defence of Mount Chitrakuta to his son Ratnasiṃha. When he [Ratnasiṃha] had departed, Lakṣmasiṃha of the family of Khummana defended that excellent fort, (for) even though

3080-505: Was probably also safer than the twisted cords of torsion weapons, "whose bundles of taut sinews stored up huge amounts of energy even in resting state and were prone to catastrophic failure when in use." At the same time, the late Roman Empire seems to have fielded "considerably less artillery than its forebears, organised now in separate units, so the weaponry that came into the hands of successor states might have been limited in quantity." Evidence from Gaul and Germania suggests there

3136-550: Was substantial loss of skills and techniques in artillery further west. According to the Miracles of Saint Demetrius , probably written around 620 by John, Archbishop of Thessaloniki , the Avaro- Slavs attacked Thessaloniki in 586 with more than 50 mangonels. The bombardment lasted for hours, but the operators were inaccurate and most of the shots missed their target. When one stone did reach their target, it "demolished

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