Hi Mr. Cornwell.

As I was reading about Uhtred’s failed attempt to take Bebbanburg, I reflected that it might have been different if he had known about siege artillery.  If he had been able to set up a couple of trebuchets or a proper battering ram on wheels with a protective roof, he could have knocked down or burned the High Gate.  These things were known to the Romans, and the scholars of the day must have had some idea that they had existed, yet we see none till the Crusades. In your opinion, why did the Danes and Saxons never develop ballistae and catapults?

Alan Kempner