A Medieval Pocket Rocket, Ancient Bic Lighter and Trebuchet

pocket rocket crossbow
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Tuesday, October 2.

Today I went to Castlenaud, across the river (so that would make it an English stronghold). I’m starting to be a little jaded about seeing more castles, honestly, they are everywhere! It’s like” Johnny Castle-Seed” was here. But this castle also has the best collection of medieval weaponry, and even if you think you don’t care about that, the weapons are fascinating. I’ve never seen so many ways to be stabbed, hacked, spiked or bludgeoned…it’s kind of scary. One room was full of crossbows, from a little pocket size (poche), which seriously looked like a little wooden gun with a bow mounted on top ( medieval pocket rocket!), to a room size unit that could shoot 200 meters through 3 men, a horse, and still skewer a door. Think “tool time” Tim to the max! ( I’ll bet there was some male “uuhhh-uuhhh-uuhhh going on). Some crossbows were works of art- beautifully inlaid with wood and bone- and others that had a stirrup on the tip for you to put your foot into while you hand cranked the bow back! I’m sure the” crank one” was powerful, but think about the downtime it would take to load it. There was definitely no rapid fire shooting going on.

I'm starting to get a little jaded about seeing more castles...it's like Johnny Castle-Seed was here

Room Size Crossbow
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Guns of all shapes and sizes filled the tower room, and the” pie’ce de resistance” had an intricate rotating mechanism that struck a flint to light the powder (a pre-cursor to the bic lighter). I took a picture up close for Tom Smith, the gun guy in the family. There also were cannons- big, little, skinny, long- and one with twelve barrels to spray shot over a wide area. It’s staggering to see the effort that went into their desire to defeat or be defeated. I wonder if they all had high blood pressure from worrying about all the different ways they might die? I know I would! Glass display cases held armor and chain mail, hatchets, spears and a multiple variety of daggers. (obviously a weapon of choice, and unisex too!). What I noticed was the similarities in the names we use today, to the French names for their weapons. “Dague” is a dagger, “Hache” is a hatchet, “Grapplin” is a grappling hook.

Rifle with automatic firing, rotating flint lights the powder
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Mounted up on the top of the castle wall was a replica “trebuchet”, a giant, and very precise slingshot, that worked with counter balance weights. Imagine an oil derrick…when the weights dropped, the rocker arm would rise, dragging a little hammock on ropes that contained a round rock. When the rocker arm reached the top and stopped, the ropes would whip the rock up and release it, “whoomph”! Ingenious. They could even adjust the distance by changing the counter balance weights and the size of the rock. The only problem was, it took so long to crank it into position, they only got off two shots per hour. No wonder sieges took so long! At any rate, the engineering was brilliant, and the plans guarded and handed down from generation to generation, like a family recipe, only this one was a matter of life or death. (Well, some of my family recipes might be a matter of life or death too, but we won’t go there).

Look Tom ,Guns!
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On the bottom floor was a forge with a video explanation of how time consuming and tedious making armor could be. Every piece was custom made, fully articulated for an individual, so he could bend his arms and legs in a normal manner while on the move. It took a week just to heat and blend the metal, hammer, shape, and polish a helmet! Quite an art.

I played a medieval video game, where you had to free your friend from the castle dungeons using only your wits and ancient weapons. They gave you three lives to start with. I ran in front of an arrow slit and got shot, fell into the moat, and ran from the kitchen to escape a boiling pot of oil and was killed by a guard. See what being a coward gets you? I think my friend rotted in the dungeon. Oops!

12 barreled machine gun
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I met a nice couple from Scotland, and we sat outside chatting and enjoying the warm sunshine, before I made my way back toward Beynac. My pace was never what you would call frantic, but now I’m happy if I see one or two places a day, ride my bike or take a hike, eat some good food, and just generally have a good time. I’ve actually stopped taking pictures of every castle and charming village, because there is another one around the next corner. Really! I am swimming in a sea of charming, and I’ve stopped trying to get to shore. I’m just floating in my inner tube and letting the waves wash me in…with a glass of white wine.

chain mail
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On my way home I stop and walk around La Roque-Gageac, another darling village that climbs the cliffs. This is where they filmed "Chocolat" with Johnny Depp. There are palm trees and all sorts of tropical plants in the gardens here, and I found out it is because the limestone holds the heat and the moisture, and the plants love it. There is also a Trogylodyte display, with a ladder that climbs up into a walled home in the cliffs, but I heard this one isn't very good, so I will wait and go to La Roque-St. Christophe on Friday. Just NW of here is Lascaux and a whole area where prehistoric drawings have been found in the caves. I guess people have been living in the limestone caverns for a long, long time.

crossbow with a foot stirrup and a crank
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Back to Beynac, I take a hike to the top of the bluff to watch the sun set. Tonight the sky is pink and gold, and it is lovely.