MEDIEVAL ARKBALISTA

For the first time on the battlefield, the Arkubalista (Latin arcuballistae) was used by the ancient Romans as a siege machine or "field" non-fire artillery. In its essence, it was a great crossbow capable of throwing bolts, stones or pots filled with a flammable substance. A special reel was used to tighten the string, and the maximum range of this weapon can be estimated at about 700-1100 meters, although this is only an approximate value. Arkubalista came into use again in the Middle Ages (especially the full - 11th-13th centuries), being not quite accurately called a rampart crossbow. The principle of operation was still the same, the reel was still used to tighten the string, but most often small stone balls were used for throwing. In the Middle Ages, it was a siege weapon. Over time, it was superseded primarily by fire artillery.It is assumed that during the early Middle Ages (the 5th century) in Latin Europe, the cavalry dominated the battlefields, and their charges often decided the fate of the battle. At that time, the infantry, although numerically significant, was treated as secondary. However, already in the full Middle Ages (11th-13th centuries) this picture began to change very slowly, to change significantly in the 14th-15th centuries. In the late Middle Ages, infantry was able to deal with chivalry, above all, cavalry quite successfully. Two significant examples are provided by the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453), when at Crecy (1346) and Agincourt (1415), English archers stopped the charge of the French cavalry and decided the results of these battles almost on their own. At the same time, however, the way of fighting infantry was changed by the Swiss, who used the most offensive tactics, and the strength of their highly disciplined infantry was based primarily on handguns - primarily pice. An example is the battle of Sempach in 1386. It is also worth remembering the battles fought by the Hussites, who, thanks to the use of e.g. rolling stock or still primitive firearms, were able to inflict significant defeats on the cavalry on the battlefields. These changes, taking place in the tactics and armament of infantry in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, meant that in Western Europe at the beginning of the modern era, the infantry will be the "queen of battlefields".