2-690-966 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Some Marvellous Methods by which the Medieval Castles Were Defended', c1934. Illustration showing engineering methods used to repulse attacks. The accompanying text explains that a 'pivoted bridge across the moat was so balanced that if a number of the enemy jumped...upon it the bridge overbalanced...and would tilt and shoot the intruders into pits where poisonous snakes were kept'. From The Romance of the Nation, Volume One, edited by Charles Ray. [The Amalgamated Press, Ltd., London, c1934]