Vol 1: The Bluets - Lackham Countryside Centre

The Bluets 55
It is noted that the instruction here was to destroy the houses at
Knepp, not the Castle itself. It may have been spared because hostilities
ceased after June 15 1215 when, at Runnymede, King John accepted the
terms in the document known as the Articles of the Barons. This
document was further revised over the next few days, until both John
and the barons accepted the provisions embodied within it, and it became
known as the Magna Carta (the Great Charter).
John almost immediately appealed against the charter to the pope,
who took the king's side, and yet another civil war ensued. John
captured Rochester castle and devastated the northern counties
and the Scottish border lands. But then Prince Louis of France
(later King Louis VIII), at the barons' request, invaded England.
Knepp Castle was still in existence in 1216, when the French invasion
of southern England was in full swing, with Roland still in charge of
the forests at Knepp. This is clear because King John was looking
for war engines and instructed that Roland should
Cause to be made, without delay, in the forest of Knappe as
many good engine-towers called Turkese 220 as you
220
This term is difficult but “the mention of a new 'Turkish' engine just prior
to Henry III's reign and the 'great engines' of Louis' invasion of England in
1216 have been accepted as evidence for the advent of the heavy counterweight
trebuchet in the West. 'Turkish' engines …[probably] referred to traction
trebuchets” http://medievalhistory.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/chap3.html
.
“The TRACTION TREBUCHET was a smaller, shorter range and more portable
machine that was "human powered", and therefore, was much easier to
construct and move from place to place and siege to siege. Instead of a massive
counterweight, the "Traction Treb" employed a group of people pulling down on
ropes attached to the rear or short end of the Virga (throwing arm) to provide
the weapon's throwing power. The mechanical action was the same; but the
weight of the projectiles was much less and the rate of discharge was much
faster, up to several shots a minute, as opposed to several minutes to "tens" of
minutes per shot with a large counterpoise type machine.
The smallest Traction Trebs could be powered by the weight and pulling strength
of one person using a single rope; but most were designed and sized to utilize
from 20 to 100 men and/or women, generally two per rope, using their combined
weight and pulling strength to power the weapon. These Teams would frequently
be local non-combatants (women, children, older men) assisting in the siege or in
the defense [sic] of their town. Traction Trebuchets had a range of from 200 to
well over 300 feet (60 to 100+ meters) casting weights up to 130 pounds (60kg )