Breaching Tower

Breaching Tower, or BEFFROI, was the name of a tower used in the military sieges of ancient and medieval times. When a town was to be besieged, a movable tower, as high as the walls, was brought near it; and this tower was the beffroi. Its use is more than once spoken of by Cæsar in his account of his campaigns in Gaul. Froissart describes, with his usual spirit, a beffroi employed at the siege of the castle of Breteuil in 1356. At the siege of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, a beffroi was carried in pieces, put together just beyond bow-shot, and then pushed on wheels to a proper position. Sometimes they were pushed on by pressure, sometimes by capstans and ropes. The highest were on six or eight wheels, and had as many as twelve or fifteen stories or stages; but it was usual to limit the height to three or four stages. They were often covered with raw hides to protect them from the flames of boiling grease and oil directed against them by the besieged; and there was a hinged drawbridge at the top to let down upon the parapet of the wall to aid in landing. The lower stage frequently had a ram (see BATTERING-RAM); while the others were crowded with bowmen and slingers; or there were bowmen on all the stages except the top, which had a storming or boarding party. The locus classicus for a description of such military engines is this from Lord Berners' Froissart, I. cix. 131: 'Two belfries of great timber, with iii. stages, every belfry on four great wheels, and the sides towards the town, were covered with enre boly [Fr. cuir bouilli] to defend them from fire and from shot; and into every stage there were 'pointed C. archers.' The engine was also called a sow.