PLAUSTRELLA- war carts, Communall Italian

[Martin Smith]

A friend is enquiring about the plaustrella war carts mentioned in the DBA  army lists for Communal Italians-
"  The plaustrella is a two wheeled hand cart covered in spears and scythes, similar to the Indian rathamasaula (see Museum Miniatures Indian section). I just wondered if anyone on the forum had any more info' about what it looked like, how it was crewed (probably crossbowmen?)"

Does anyone have ANY info relating to the plaustrella please, or, dare I ask, any pics??

Any help appreciated.

Cheers

Martin

[Duncan Head]

See Luke Ueda-Sarson's pictures of his plaustrella models at http://lukeuedasarson.com/CommunalWWgX.html - which I actually linked to only last week in response to a different question -  with a note on the original source.

For the text of the source, the Gesta Federici I imperatoris in Lombardia, see https://archive.org/stream/gestafedericiii00holdgoog#page/n44/mode/2up/search/plaustrella - it doesn't tell you any more than the summary on Luke's page, though.

[Martin Smith]

Thanks Duncan- I'd missed that post.
Very handy.

Martin

[Martin Smith]

This plaustrella was made for a recent tournament by a friend of mine, Colin O'Shea. Nice take on it, I thought.

Martin