File:Conquista_de_Lisboa_(Roque_Gameiro,_Quadros_da_História_de_Portugal,_1917).png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
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12th century siege of Lisbon with siege tower, trebuchets and mantlets.
A siege tower or breaching tower (or in the Middle Ages, a belfry) is a specialized siege engine, constructed to protect assailants and ladders while approaching the defensive walls of a fortification. The tower was often rectangular with four wheels with its height roughly equal to that of the wall or sometimes higher to allow archers or crossbowmen to stand on top of the tower and shoot arrows or quarrels into the fortification. While the towers were primarily constructed of wood and thus flammable, their builders typically incorporated whatever non-flammable coverings could be readily procured including iron and/or fresh animal skins.