Have you ever seen the Nova presentation on building 2 full scale 12th century trebuchets? Imagine one that will throw a 300 pound solid stone ball over 200 yards. Do a search on Youtube for “war wolf” and “nova”. Our ancestors weren’t stupid by any means, they built some amazing stuff.
Just did the search you suggested. Awesome. My Norske ancestors tended to trash less well-defended villages. :-)