Day 7: The Fool's Wheel

[h2]Day 7: The Fool’s Wheel[/h2][p][/p][p]The Jester brought the idea from Burgundy, or so the talk goes. Said he’d once seen such a thing at a duke’s tourney, a marvel of iron and noise that scattered knights like dice from a cup. The Baron liked the sound of that. He told his fool to build one, and soon enough the smiths were melting scrap for the barrels.[/p][p][/p][p]It’s a cross of timber, four mouths of cannon fixed on a turning post. When fired, it spins like the devil’s own toy, hurling shot wherever fortune pleases. The Jester calls it the Wheel of Justice. The Baron laughs and lets it stand near the lists, where men bleed for sport.[/p][p][/p][p]Folk say it’s luck decides where the iron lands, but those who’ve watched the Jester’s eyes know better. He spins it when the crowd’s loudest, so none can tell if it’s fate or his hand that chooses who dies.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Origin: Central European design, likely Saxon or Burgundian influence. Workshops in cities such as Nuremberg and Augsburg were already experimenting with clustered small-bore barrels. [/p][p][/p][p]Purpose: Used as anti-personnel or anti-charge deterrents, firing multiple small iron balls at close range. They were cheap, terrifying, and easy to reload compared to full bombards. [/p][p][/p][p]Mechanics: Four small barrels fixed to a rotating timber frame, the rotation allowed rapid repositioning or sequential firing. Some were experimental siege or defense devices; others ceremonial or for executions.[/p][p][/p][p][/p]