Battering Rams from De re militari (Concerning Military Matters), Plate 45 from Woodcuts from Books of the 15th Century

This woodcut was taken from Roberto Valturio’s De re militari (Concerning Military Matters), a 12-volume series of books on military practices. While most of the techniques described were innovations of the Roman Empire, they were still essential to medieval and Renaissance warfare. De re militari was the second illustrated book to be printed in Italy, and its text and woodcuts were printed independently. The initial letters were also left unprinted and were intended to be added later by the miniaturists formerly responsible for manually writing entire manuscripts. In 1929, this leaf was recompiled into a portfolio of prints called Woodcuts from Books in the 15th Century, with a historical survey by W. L. Schreiber.