Quote Originally Posted by jmm99 View Post
Unlike sieges after 1700 (perhaps a bit earlier in some places), the sieges of this era (1200-1700) were sordid affairs. Non-combatants and "expended" combatants were often sacrificed so that the besiegee or the besieger could carry on. A standard besiegee tactic was to expel its "useless" citizens from the fortress; the besieger would then drive them back to the fortress walls, where they usually starved to death.
I recently watched a documentary on Caesar's siege of Alesia, he used similar tactics to force the Gauls to keep the noncombatants in Alesia and eat up Vercingetorix's food faster, so this actually goes back farther still. Very interesting discussion.