~18 min video in the link

https://laughingsquid.com/trebuchet-history/

On July 24, 1304 King Edward I of England captured the last stronghold of resistance against English rule in Scotland, the formidable Stirling Castle. But he did not have to storm the castle to make the defenders surrender. He merely had to threaten them with perhaps the most terrifying siege engine in the era…

I built a model trebuchet years ago, the arm perhaps a foot long, which I would demonstrate to some visitors to the lab

20 minutes ago, swansont said:

~18 min video in the link

https://laughingsquid.com/trebuchet-history/

On July 24, 1304 King Edward I of England captured the last stronghold of resistance against English rule in Scotland, the formidable Stirling Castle. But he did not have to storm the castle to make the defenders surrender. He merely had to threaten them with perhaps the most terrifying siege engine in the era…

I built a model trebuchet years ago, the arm perhaps a foot long, which I would demonstrate to some visitors to the lab

Yes the “Hammer of the Scots”. A tough guy. But left rather a mess for his son, who wasn’t up to it.

I always thought trebuchets, and such, siege engines originated in China, and spread westward about 1000 years later
Turns out, it was the torsion, or man-powered, trebuchet that originated in China ( 4th Century BC).
But the counterweight trebuchet originated ( 11th Century ) in the West ( Muslim or European ) and was introduced to China in the 13th Century.