What the heck is a trebuchet?
According to dictionary.com, it is “A medieval catapult for hurling heavy stones.” Don’t let that description fool you, however. It’s not a catapult. It’s more of a sling. Imagine a big see-saw. On one end you have hanging a very heavy weight, and on the other, a rope attached to something you want to throw. The weight drops down and the rope whips around and launches your projectile. That’s basically how it works. Since there are already so many other pages with information about trebuchets, I’m not going to write another one. I’ll just link you to them. The Grey Company Trebuchet Page has a lot of really great info. If you want to learn more about trebuchets, that’s where you should go. On their site, the Freedom Launcher would fall under the counter-weight trebuchets.
