Medieval cannon. Artillery in the Middle Ages

In 1453, two significant events took place at opposite ends of Europe: the end of the Hundred Years' War between France and England (as well as the preceding pogrom inflicted by the Franco-Burgundian army on the English fortresses in Normandy and Guienne) and the fall of the capital of the Byzantine Empire - Constantinople. These events culminate the Artillery Revolution, which began around 1420. The “sudden” and complete failure of the old fortresses before the power of new siege weapons opens the “age of the great cannons,” lasting from approximately 1420 to 1520, when it is “closed” by new fortification systems.

The age of great guns begins

By the middle of the 15th century, Italy and Germany became the main centers of European arms production. Secondary centers are France, Flanders, Spain, Switzerland (however, Spain will have to wait another half century for a military-technical breakthrough). In terms of the development of artillery technology since the 14th century, all other countries have been ahead of the Italian city-republics. It was here that cast bronze tools and iron projectiles began to be systematically used. Here, in the mid-third quarter of the 15th century, the first attempts at physical and technical understanding of artillery issues were made (works by Taccola and Leonardo da Vinci).

From about the third quarter of the 15th century, the leading role of Italy in the development of artillery technology was “intercepted” by France. This is often considered to be the merit of the Bureau brothers, Jean and Gaspard (“chief commanders of the royal artillery” from 1439 and 1444, respectively), and with their participation, the allocation of artillery to a “arms of arms” during the military reforms of King Charles VII.

Bombard (or large kurto) and mortar. The siege of the fortress, as seen by a French or Flemish artist of the 1470s–1480s. Manuscript “Chronicles of England” by Jean Wavrin (“Recueil des croniques d’Engleterre”; Royal 14 E IV)

Mainly, however, France's successes should be attributed to the strengthening of central power - and at the same time the financial power of the state. The scale of resource use required by the new level of artillery technology was simply unsustainable for smaller or weaker government entities. The leading military-technical force in the Muslim world - comparable to European centers - at that time was the Ottoman Sultanate, and what was said about France fully applies to its successes.

Examples of successes of siege or siege artillery in the 2nd half of the 15th century are numerous, so we will list only the most famous or characteristic of them. We are talking about the successes of the Franco-Burgundian forces in the sieges of the 1450s. was already underway. Their “reflection” on the other side of Europe is the fall of Constantinople.

The so-called “Dardanelles cannon”, made by the Turks in 1464. Most likely, the design is very similar to the “Urban cannons” used in the siege of Constantinople in 1453.

During the siege of Constantinople in 1453, which had powerful fortifications with walls up to 12 m high and up to 7.5 m thick, the Ottoman army had numerous artillery and handguns. The famous 1200-pound "Hungarian Urban cannon" was included in the main 4-gun siege battery of the Ottoman army, installed against the gate of St. Roman. In addition, eight other large guns made up three more siege batteries. The largest of them fired 800-pound cannonballs, while the others fired much smaller ones: from 500-pound to less than 200-pound caliber. To make the cores, marble was used, which was taken from ancient Greek buildings.

Western historians are of the opinion that on the second day the “Urban gun” cracked, and on the 4th or 5th day of the bombardment, which began on April 12, it became completely unusable. It was then allegedly repaired by May 6 and used during the final assault on May 28. If all this is true, then it is more likely that the cannon was still of a traditional iron construction. However, a certain Nestor-Iskander, who saw the siege from the Turkish side, reports that a successful shot from the defenders damaged the gun. Then they repaired it and strengthened it with iron hoops, but without success. And only after some major repairs

“...I hit with big guns, and a lot of stones fell. In other strikes, and the walls of the great place fell apart... the Turks again struck with big guns lower than that there is a lot of space, and the walls have fallen down; and so on in another and in a third.”

It is reported that Urban, it turns out, was not very experienced in directing the fire of siege artillery, and he was helped by the envoy of the removed Hungarian regent Janos Hunyadi with practical advice. Under fire from siege batteries in the end “two walls and a tower between them, as well as the tower of St. Romano near the gate, collapsed to the ground, and the Turks saw the defenders inside, and they saw them”. The Turks had to shell the city for more than six weeks in a row, until the very last assault.

In 1456, in the penultimate siege of Belgrade, the Ottoman army again used many artillery pieces. This time the Turks failed to repeat the success of Constantinople. In this regard, the message of Dollecek is very interesting, who says that “The Turks are leading 12 [cast bronze] cannons with a barrel length of 5–6.5 m and a caliber of up to 1500 mm against Belgrade, but almost all of them explode”. It is likely that casting cannons from bronze, especially such large ones, is still a new thing, including for the Turks, and the hope for untested samples is not justified. Only in the 1480s. this technique is becoming, according to Dollecek, commonplace.

On the other hand, in the Belgrade fortress back in 1432 there were “3 bombards made of bronze, two of them [have barrels] of two parts, and one is so large... 42 inches across where the stone goes [caliber approx. 1100 mm]". According to an eyewitness, "it's too short"- i.e., most likely, this refers to the prototype of later mortars.

The iron bombards behind wooden covers roughly correspond to what could be seen during the siege in England in the second half of the 15th century. However, long-barreled hand guns appear here only around last quarter century. Handwritten “Chronicles of England” by Jean Wavrin (“Recueil des croniques d’Engleterre”)

In 1464, during the Wars of the Roses, after the Battle of Hexham, Sir Gray retreated to Bamburgh Castle, where he was besieged by the Duke of Warwick, the "kingmaker". The Duke's army carries with it two "huge bombards" ("cum maxemis bombardis"), called "London" and "Newcastle". "Heretofore unapproachable", Bamburgh Castle surrenders. The same guns were apparently used in the successful siege of Dunstanburgh in 1465.

The general military failures of the Duchy of Burgundy in the 1470s, indirectly related to artillery, seem to “cast a shadow” on the capabilities of Western European guns of that time. However, rather, they indicate a comparative lag in the tactics and equipment of other branches of the military.

The Siege of Orleans in 1429, as seen by a Flemish artist around 1490. In terms of the composition of the equipment, it may well relate to the Burgundian sieges. Shown is a long-barreled bronze bombard, a field gun and a long-barrelled hand grip

So, during the siege of Beauvais (1472), where, by the way, another Jeanne became famous - Jeanne of Leni, nicknamed Jeanne Hachette (Hatchet), - the Burgundians made a hole in the wall with the very first shots. During the siege “stones [cannonballs] fell everywhere, some in a circle as big as the bottom of a barrel, and others as big as a dish...”. During the Siege of Neuss (1474–1475), siege artillery "reduces the gates and walls of the city into ruins." However, both of these sieges were ultimately unsuccessful. In three unsuccessful battles of 1476–1477. (under Granson, Morat and Nancy) the Burgundians were completely "guns were distributed" to the Swiss. This indicates weak interaction between the military branches on the battlefield.

The siege by the Turks in 1480 of a fortress on the island of Rhodes, belonging to the knightly Order of the Hospitallers, ended in failure. Siege artillery ( "16 great cannons, each 22 feet long") destroyed several towers, walls and the palace of the Grand Master. During the bombing "the ground trembles under your feet", and the only safe place in the city is "cellar or cave". However, all assaults were repulsed and the siege was lifted. It is noteworthy that the German pilgrim who described the siege claimed that almost all the gunners in the Turkish army were Germans.

The Italian wars, which began with the conquest of the French king Charles VIII in 1494–1498, were already fought during siege artillery using iron cannonballs and field artillery on movable wheeled carriages. The sieges of Italian cities by the French army, in comparison with the final period of the Hundred Years' War, were the same as the sieges of the end of the Hundred Years' War were in comparison with the sieges of the beginning of the 15th century. Cities with powerful (by old standards) fortifications not only surrendered in a few days - many surrendered without a fight at all. Half a century later, the only Italian states of any military significance were Venice and Genoa.

Types and design of guns

By the middle of the 15th century, the main type of siege weapon was a bombard with an iron forged-welded barrel (French, English, Flemish and German lands) and, much less often, with a bronze cast barrel (Italian and probably Spanish lands, where large guns were “pawnshops”) " - came from Italy).

Bombard barrel from 1410–1420s. lengthened, although short-barreled bombards of “old proportions” (“mortar bombers” in our modern classifications) were also used. Moreover, the weight of a core of several hundred pounds became common. If in 1427 the city of Nuremberg purchased a 200-pound caliber bombard, then in 1434 the British threw in cannons, the largest of which were designed for a 330-pound caliber cannonball. In 1435, a bombard of approximately 700 pound caliber was made in Ghent. In 1457, the Scottish king received a bombard of approximately 330 pound caliber as a gift.

By the end of the 15th century, large forged-welded iron tools were replaced by cast bronze ones, and stone cores by cast iron ones. Thus, in Nuremberg (1445), master Hans von Rosen cast a bombard weighing 519 centners (up to 20 metric tons), decorated with the image of St. Sebald. In 1451, he cast the Luxembourg bombard in Luxembourg, which weighed 36 thousand pounds (up to 18 tons).

Master Jacquemin de l'Espin made for the Duke of Burgundy in 1457–1458 "large cast [bronze] bombard" weighing 33–34 thousand pounds of “metal” (up to 16 tons), firing stone cannonballs "17 inches across". Perhaps they planned to use this weapon with an iron core. By the way, “behind the said bombard, so that it would be safer to shoot from it”, an 800-pound lead plate was installed.

Monstrelet writes of a large bombard made by Jean Maug at Tours (1478), the iron core of which weighs 400 pounds. In 1477, by order of Louis XI, it was cast "a dozen huge bombards made of bronze, shootingiron core500 pounds".

In addition to bombards, siege artillery of that time included any smaller guns, but large enough to cause damage to fortifications. Common names for them are “cannon” or “big gun”, and also (large) “vogler”. They are listed in this order in sources from the mid-15th century: “...a lot of big bombards, big guns, foglers...”.

By the last quarter of the 15th century, mortars themselves appeared, i.e. specialized guns with low muzzle velocity, capable of firing at very high elevation angles. These guns are finally replacing mortar bombards. Mortars have been mentioned in French sources since the 1460s. In Burgundian sources before 1485, mortars are rarely mentioned, mainly as a comparison (“the gun fires like a mortar”). Mortars have been mentioned in German military manuals since the 1470s. However, they would become truly useful and widespread only in the 16th century, with the advent of an effective explosive projectile.

Around 1460–1470s. in France and Burgundy, and later in England, a type stands out large-caliber gun, called “courtau” (French “courtau”, English “courtaw”). Courtaulds are capable of firing more frequently than bombards, both direct fire and mounted ( "above the obstacles"). That is, they are the prototype of howitzers. These smaller (and cheaper) bombard guns have combat mobility: they are mounted on a wheeled carriage. Curtos could be muzzle-loading or have a removable charging chamber.

For ease of transportation, the barrel of large bronze bombards (Italian, Turkish) could be made of two or even three parts, which were equipped with threaded connections. In this case, parts of the barrel had noticeable belts of square holes for inserting levers, which were used to rotate the parts during assembly and disassembly.

Any of the above-mentioned types of guns could have a removable charging chamber, if the size and weight allowed it at all. Larshey gives examples of charging chambers - archaeological finds weighing up to 1.5 tons. It is possible, however, that these are simply parts of finished tools, since even non-removable charging chambers could be manufactured separately.

However, by the end of the century, the increase in the strength of gunpowder coupled with imperfect locking structures put an end - for three and a half centuries - to large breech-loading guns. Small “treasury charges” did not go out of use for much longer. The expression “breech loading” refers here only to a charge of gunpowder placed in a removable chamber. The wad (wooden pallet), and then the cannonball, were loaded from the muzzle, as in subsequent purely muzzle-loading designs.

Shells

The events of 1453 are the pinnacle of achievements of siege weapons that fire stone cannonballs. Rock artillery will never achieve anything as amazing as this again. It should be noted that the actual introduction of the stone projectile in the 1360–1380s. was a forced measure generated by the technical imperfections of the then gun barrels and gunpowder and, in parallel, the need to increase calibers.

The ratio of the densities of stone and cast iron can reach up to 1:3, so a stone core is up to 1.4 times larger in diameter than an iron core of equal weight. Accordingly, it loses speed faster. The strength of a stone core is about the same as that of an opposing stone wall, so a stone core can break. Making a stone core is difficult and difficult to perform: the wages of a stone cutter in England, as Oakeshott reports, in the 1380s. was "equal to the pay of a horse archer", and in 1399 it was compared with the payment of a mounted man-at-arms. In the 16th century, the cost of making stone shells increased even more.

On the other hand, a stone core of the same diameter as a metal one requires a smaller powder charge. This not only saves expensive gunpowder, but also makes it possible to make the walls of the gun thinner and the gun lighter. These features allowed stone-shot bombards to be used very successfully on Mediterranean military rowing ships at the end of the 16th century. The most advantageous battle tactic for them was to approach the enemy at close range and fire longitudinally at the enemy rowers from the bow guns. Under such conditions, large stone cores were in no way inferior to iron ones.

The stone core could be made from local raw materials, without the use of high-tech equipment. Not only Turkish, but also Burgundian siege weapons of the 15th century used marble. English artillery of the 16th century used balls made of Kentish gray limestone (“Kentish ragstone”).

In addition, the thin-walled weapon could use an analogue of buckshot, which made it useful in close combat. This allowed stone guns to linger in the role of anti-assault weapons and in combat formations in the 16th century. Back in the middle of the 16th century, the army of Charles V had breech-loading stone-firing cannons, and the stone-firing guns of the German army became trophies of Charles V in the Schmalkaldic War (1546–1547). English artillery of the 16th century used stone cannonballs. The names of these weapons in the 16th century directly meant “stone shooter, stone thrower”: fr. "perrier", Spanish "pedrero", German. "Steinbüchse" etc.

The Moscow “Tsar Cannon” (1586), designed specifically for firing “stone shot” - buckshot, was made at a time when Tatar attacks on Moscow were still real. Stone-fired weapons (cannons and mortars) remained in use as early as late XVIII centuries - in outlying fortifications and in the fleet, most often in the breech-loading version. The arsenal of the Spanish fortress Castillo de San Marcos in America numbered 6 thousand stone shells in 1707. Mainusi gives an example of a 16-inch Spanish mortar from 1788, designed for mounted shooting with stone grapeshot. This weapon (and, apparently, similar ones too) has been around since the 1750s. could also fire "baskets of hand grenades".

From the 1470s, siege artillery, primarily French and Burgundian (German - closer to 1500, under Maximilian I), began the transition to an iron (cast iron) cast core. However, a reliable technique for casting cores for large iron cannons would not be developed until the 1540s.

For smaller (field) guns, with imperfect iron casting technology, composite cores were also used - an iron (less often stone) core in a lead shell. Such cannonballs were found in abundance on the island of Rhodes, and the Danish artillery used similar ones even in 1849. There are also references to bronze cores, although these are apparently out of the ordinary cases. Bronze is an expensive material, so it can only be used if there are “free resources” (as in the case of the plunder of cities by imperial and French troops in the Italian wars).

An incendiary projectile for relatively small guns in the 14th century was a fire (cannon) arrow. Since the 15th century, treatises on artillery often depict cannonballs emitting fire (that is, filled with an incendiary composition). It is unclear, however, whether this was actually carried out. An incendiary projectile - a red-hot cannonball, the invention of which is attributed either to Franz von Sickingen (1525) or to the Polish king Stefan Batory in the 3rd quarter of the 16th century, has been known since the Ghent siege of Udenar (1452) and is depicted in treatises of the 15th century.

The explosive shell (cannon bomb) with a cast iron casing was first used at the siege of Rouen in 1562. Its prototype with a body of two copper hemispheres was used by the Venetians already in 1376. Apparently, the same shells were used by the army of the Duke of Bavaria against the city of Regensburg in 1388. The army of the Duke of Rimini Malatesta used bronze shells filled with gunpowder in 1434. The shells, which consisted of an iron shell, which was tightly packed with gunpowder, were mentioned by the Greek historian of the mid-15th century, Doukas.

Anti-personnel shotgun shell in its “real” (specially made) form was used for the first time only in the last quarter of the 16th century (the naval battle of Lepanto and the siege of Ostend), but prototypes of buckshot (stone shot, various fragments and pieces of stone and metal) were used back in the 14th century century.

Carriage

In the 15th century, guns began to be mounted on wheeled carriages, and in the middle of the century axles appeared - transverse axles attached to the barrel and simplifying vertical aiming. Siege weapons of the old design, i.e. with trunks without trunnions, of course, they still used fixed platforms made of beams, equipped with stops.

But the newly made great cannons with a stone core (and therefore having a particularly large caliber) had to be installed in the same way, since they were too heavy for wheeled carriages. Only a new generation of siege weapons designed for an iron core acquired mobility - the new “great cannons” in France, “royal cannons” in Spain, scarfmen in Germany, etc.

However, in the 1540s. Biringuccio lamented that the wheeled carriages were so cumbersome that the guns were barely able to move and slowed down the movement of the troops. As Devries and Smith believe, the low mobility of guns during a campaign is still exaggerated. The armies themselves of that time moved no faster than large guns, that is, marches of the order of 12–20 km per day (figures for an army of 10–20 thousand people).

Proper names

Large guns in the 15th century, as a rule, received proper names, and the most bizarre ones at that. In addition to female names, there were often names based on “place of birth or residence,” names of fabulous, outlandish and frightening creatures, and even just random or funny names. But the names also had a very practical meaning - in the era of the absence of standards, they helped to distinguish shells and charges for certain guns in the convoy.

Samples

Even the “great cannons” became too numerous in the second half of the 15th century to list them all. The following are brief descriptions the most characteristic or well-known specimens.

"Faule Magdt von Dresden"

German (Saxon) “faule Magd” of the 1st half of the 15th century. The carriage was made much later

Bombard made in Saxony in the 1st half of the 15th century. Exact year the building is unknown, but some design features (for example, a relatively voluminous charging chamber) indicate the interval of 1430–1450.

Iron barrel with a caliber of 34.5 cm, muzzle-loading, forged-welded design (20 longitudinal bars and 46 hoops, less often attached to the barrel). The barrel length is 2.33 m (including the charging chamber 0.81 m) and the weight is 1.32 tons. The estimated weight of the stone core is about 50 kg.

An example of German “ordinary” great cannons from the mid-15th century.

"Dulle Griet von Gent"

Flemish "dulle Griet" (c. 1435). Iron tools were painted bright red in the 15th century to protect them from rust, as well as for style.

The bombard "Mad Greta (Marguerite) of Ghent" was made in Flanders (1435) and named after a character from Dutch folklore - “a battle-woman descending into hell and causing a scandal there”(sometimes it is said that the name was given supposedly in memory of the cruel Margaret of Flemish, who lived in the 13th century).

Iron barrel with a caliber of 64 cm, muzzle-loading, forged-welded design (32 longitudinal beams and 61 hoops). Trunk length 5 m, weight 16.4 tons. Stone core weight approx. 320 kg.

The gun was used in battle only once, during the siege of the city of Udenar by the Ghent army (1451/1452); After the failure of the siege and the hasty retreat of the Ghent people, the gun fell into the hands of the Udenarians and was returned to Ghent only in 1578.

The largest surviving European bombard of forged-welded construction, but by no means the largest ever made.

"Mons Meg"

Flemish "Mons Meg" (1449). Decorative carriage

Bombard Meg (Marguerite) from Mons was made by order of the Burgundian Duke Philip the Good in Flanders (1449) and presented to the Scottish king James II (1457). Studying it in the 1980s. made it possible to re-evaluate the capabilities of forged-welded technology of the mid-15th century.

Iron barrel with a caliber of 48–50 cm, muzzle-loading, forged-welded design (25 longitudinal bars and 36 hoops). The charging chamber is made separately and tightly screwed to the barrel. Trunk length 4 m, weight 5.8 tons. Stone core weight approx. 150 kg.

The weapon was used in the sieges of the castles of Dumberton (1489), Thrieve (1497) and Norham (1497). In 1682, in Edinburgh, it exploded during a salute in honor of the Duke of York (later King James II of England), nearly injuring the Duke himself. The decorative two-wheeled carriage was replaced in the 20th century by the decorative four-wheeled one on which the gun is mounted today.

An example of large Flemish/Burgundian bombards from the mid-15th century.

"Basel gun"

Basel gun (left) and courteau (right)

This bombard is conventionally called “Basel” after the museum in which it is exhibited. Made according to a Burgundian order, apparently in Flanders around 1450. Captured by the Swiss in 1476 (part of the "Burgundian booty").

Iron barrel with a caliber of 34.5–36 cm, muzzle-loading, forged-welded design (20 longitudinal bars and 34 hoops). The estimated weight of the stone core is 98 pounds.

An example of “ordinary” Flemish/Burgundian bombards from the mid-15th century.

Constantinople bombard

The famous cannon made by order Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1453 for the siege of Constantinople, is known only from descriptions of contemporaries, including eyewitnesses of the siege - the Byzantine historians Doukas and Chalkokondyles. It is known that it was made by the master Urban, who came either from Hungarian, or from Dacian (Greek: “∆αξ”), or even from German lands. Although he created other guns, this is the one usually associated with his name (“Urban’s gun”).

The barrel is generally considered to be cast bronze, consisting of two parts that are screwed together when installed in position. Assembled barrel length "40 spans"(at least 8 m), weight of marble cores "1200 pounds" and their size “11–12 spans in circumference”; the caliber is therefore at least 70 cm; most likely ok. 75–80 cm. Firing range of at least 1 km. The rate of fire is 4 shots per day (sometimes they say 7 shots per day).

Dardanelles gun

Dardanelles gun today

A bombard made in 1464 (or 1467) for the Ottoman Sultan and presented to the Queen of England in 1866.

The barrel is bronze, cast, and consists of two parts. Caliber 63 cm, length 5.18 m and weight 16.8 tons. The estimated weight for marble cores is at least 290 kg.

The only surviving example of these pores and the place of manufacture. The cannon is on display at Fort Nelson near Portsmouth. It is assumed that it is of the same type as the bombards of the Constantinople and Belgrade sieges. Given the time of manufacture and the numerous explosions of those guns, it is possible that this gun is of an improved design.

"Tsar Cannon"

The famous weapon cast from bronze by master Chokhov (Chekhov) in Moscow (1586); installed in the Kremlin. At first it was called "Shotgun". The name “Tsar Cannon” came into use between 1810 (History by Karamzin) and 1865 (works by Khmyrov).

The barrel is bronze, cast, relatively thin-walled. Caliber 89 cm, length 5.4 m ( "2 fathoms 3 feet 9 inches"), mass of St. 39 t ( "2400 pounds"). The projectile, judging by the name, is a charge of “shot”, stone buckshot.

Before the “Shotgun,” there already existed the “huge “Tsar Cannon” (also known as the “Debosis Cannon”), cast in Moscow in 1488 by the invited master “Fryazin [Italian] Pavel Debosis.” From it in 1584, “in the first days of the reign of Fyodor Ivanovich,” Muscovites who rebelled against the “hated boyar Belsky” intended to shoot at the locked Spassky (or Florovsky) gates of the Kremlin..

Apparently, it was precisely these “two huge cannons” in the early 1590s. “were lying on Red Square,” as Karamzin reports.

Despite the time of construction, Chokhov's Tsar Cannon demonstrates the concepts and design of the 2nd half of the 15th century. The combat value is unclear, but the demonstrative value is undeniable - including as an example of mastering the technology of casting super-large products.

Courtauld

Courtaulds are mentioned in the sources for a relatively short period of time and are not clearly defined in them. Of the surviving examples, Smith and Devries refer to the courtauld bronze cannon in the Basel Museum, which originated from the "Burgundian booty" of the Swiss.

"Burgunderin" cannon in the arsenals of Maximilian I around 1500–1510. Perhaps it was precisely such a weapon that contemporaries called “curto”, like the bronze barrel in the Basel Museum

The weapon in question was made in 1474 by Jean de Malin (Johann of Mechelen) for the Duke of Burgundy. It was captured by the Swiss in 1476 under Granson, and is now on display in the Basel Museum. A gun called "Burgunderin", almost identical to this one and mounted on a wheeled carriage, is depicted in the inventory of the workshops of Maximilian I.

The barrel is bronze, cast, caliber 22.7 cm (barrel length is about 7 calibers), with two trunnions. Barrel length 2.55 m, weight 1956 pounds (up to 1 ton). 85 lb. core (in the case of an iron core. "Burgunderin" in the illustration is shown with stone cores).

It is also possible that this weapon is a transitional type from the bombard or great cannon of the 15th century to large siege weapons with an iron core of the 16th century such as the scarfmetz and the like. In this case, the example is also notable for having only two trunnions on a large 15th-century weapon.

Sources from the 1470s they talk about the court in the artillery park of Karl the Bold as guns with a charging chamber, a barrel “4½ feet long”, on a wheeled carriage.

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• Promis C. Dello stato dell"artiglieria circa l"anno millecinquecento... Memoria storica II // Trattato di architettura civile e militare di Francesco di Giorgio Martini, architetto senese del secolo XV (1841). P. 121–199.
• Smith R. D., DeVries K. The artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy, 1363–1477. Boydell Press, 2005.
• Sterzel H. Die “Dulle Griet” von Gent // Z. Hist. Waffenkunde. 1915–1917. Bd. 7. S. 324–325.
• Würdinger J. Kriegsgeschichte von Bayern, Franken, Palestine und Schwaben von 1347 bis 1506. Band II. Kriegsgeschichte und Kriegswesen von 1458–1506. Munich, 1868.
• Zeugbuch Kaiser Maximilians I. . Innsbruck, .

Technical aspects

The history of the invention of gunpowder and the appearance of guns and ammunition very soon became overgrown with myths and legends. Petrarch, who revered the Greco-Roman civilization, believed that the ancients could not have been unaware of the use of gunpowder. The same judgment is found in a letter from Pope Pius II to Duke Federigo of Urbino: “In Homer and Virgil one can find a description of all types of weapons used in our century.” Valturio, the author of the treatise “On Military Affairs” (1472), sees Archimedes as the inventor of cannons. True, at the same time Francesco di Giorgio Martini noted that if the ancients had guns, embrasures would have been found in the ruins of their fortresses.

Authors who regret the invention of artillery and gunpowder attribute it to foreigners or, rather, “infidels” (Turks and Chinese). Flavio Biondo in Rome Triumphant (1455-1463) places responsibility for the invention of gunpowder on a German in the mid-14th century. and dates its first use to the Chiogin War between Genoa and Venice (1378-1381). In 1493, Antonio Cornazano added to the legend, claiming that this German was an alchemical monk who taught the Venetians in 1380. This monk was later resettled at the end of the 13th century. and gave him a name - Berthold Schwarz from Freiburg. Spanish sources offer a different version: the Moors were the first to use gunpowder in 1343, during the war with Alfonso XI.

Traditionally, the diabolical nature of this invention was emphasized. John Mirfield, about 1390, speaks of "that deadly diabolical instrument, which is commonly called a cannon." Francesco di Giorgio, himself a military engineer, joins those who define this invention as “not human, but diabolical.” In the 15th century The Book of the Secret of Artillery and Cannoncraft attributes it to "Master Bertrand, the great warlock" and alchemist. But chance allegedly played the main role here. At first, the master simply wanted to get “a beautiful paint similar to gold, for the production of which he took saltpeter, sulfur, lead, oils and mixed these substances and placed the mixture in a clay pot, which, properly sealed, put on the fire.” When the ingredients heated up, the pot, of course, exploded. The alchemist repeated the experiment using a carefully closed copper pot. Then he realized how to use this explosive force, improved the proportions and “ordered a device in the style of a cannon.” This is how the “cannon business” was allegedly opened. The connection between magic and artillery is also found in the story of the “bombardier” from Metz named Camouflage, who, around 1437, was said to “shoot three times a day whenever he wished, and resort to the art of magic.”

Let's return to what we know more or less reliably. The first mention of the cannon powder formula is found in the Chinese text of 1044 “Wujun Zongyao”. This gunpowder was used to produce smoke, incendiary, and explosive projectiles. At the end of the 13th century. it was widely used by the Mongols, for example in their attempts to invade Japan (1274 and 1281). Soon, projectiles (primarily incendiary arrows) began to be thrown using gunpowder, after inserting them into a guide tube made of thick bamboo, wood, iron or bronze.

These inventions and technologies came to the West from Muslim countries. A certain Andalusian botanist, who died in Damascus in 1248, calls saltpeter “Chinese snow”; in Persia the same substance was called “Chinese salt.” The Mongols may have used primitive firearms at the Battle of Sayo in Hungary (1241). From the middle of the 13th century. The Moors put gunpowder into various projectiles thrown from catapults or trebuchets (medieval stone-throwing weapons). In the West, the first known recipe for gunpowder dates back to 1267 (Roger Bacon).

Scopituses (a primitive cavalry firearm: a tube with a butt resting on the rider's chest and a bipod) were allegedly used in the defense of Forli by Guido di Montefeltro's warriors in 1284. Single evidence is doubtful. The first reliable data appear forty years later. The image of a cannon in the form of a pot lying horizontally on a trestle, from which an arrow emerges, is found in one miniature from the treatise “On the Remarkable, the Wise and the Prudent” by Walter of Milimete (1326). This probably refers to one of the machines for throwing “bolts” (short and thick arrows designed for shooting from a crossbow), which are often mentioned in mid-14th century sources. and later.

As for the word “cannon” (French canon), coming from the Greek kanun or the Latin sappa - “pipe”, it first appears in a Florentine document dated February 11, 1326, by which the Signoria appoints two persons “to make<...>iron pipes and metal cannons." The new artillery was probably used in the Metz War of 1324 and certainly by two German knights at the siege of Cividale (Friuli) in 1331. Bombards are mentioned in reports of the siege of Berwick-on-Tweed in 1333. In 1341 the city of Lille held a “master of thunder.” In 1346 Aachen had an “iron pipe for thunder shooting.” Two years later Deventer had three "guns". In 1341 Lucca handed over to Ghiberto da Fogliano, its captain, “an iron cannon for throwing iron balls”, while at the same time in Brescia two blacksmiths received the materials ordered to forge a “pipe for throwing balls” and “an iron cannon, tubular and iron cores." In the Papal States, cannons and bombards are mentioned in 1350 in connection with the war in Romagna.

The accounts show "1050 pounds of iron, wrought and unwrought, for making bombard balls" and "226 iron bombard balls" for a total weight of 88 pounds. Not only did the English almost certainly use gunpowder and fire several shells at the Battle of Crécy (1346), but they also sent ten cannon, fire-wagons, lead balls, and gunpowder from London to the Siege of Calais (1346-1347). One document, dated May 10, 1346, speaks of 912 pounds of saltpeter and 886 pounds of sulfur purchased from an apothecary in London “for the cause of the king himself for the sake of his guns.” In France, the first mention of artillery pieces dates back to 1338. In 1340, during the siege of Cambrai, one nobleman, an expert in new weapons, Sir Hugh de Cardailac, ordered ten cannons for the modest sum of 25 livres 2 sous 6 deniers of Tours, while the extremely necessary To use these tools, saltpeter and lump sulfur cost 11 livres 4 sous 3 deniers of Tours. In 1346, the same lord proposed using 22 cannons to defend the castle of Bioule (Tarn-et-Garonne). 29 April 1345 Ramundus Arceria, "artilleryman of the King of France at Toulouse", signs for receipt a certain amount to "2 iron cannons, 200 lead balls and 8 pounds of gunpowder."

Thus, over the course of twenty years and in ways that cannot be traced, the new invention spread throughout the West - probably starting in Italy. True, in the peripheral regions it was unknown for a long time: the first mention of artillery in Scotland dates back only to 1384.

From the middle of the 14th century. descriptions of guns appear in educational treatises and narrative sources. One of the first was made by Jean Buridan in his “Questions to the books of Aristotle’s Meteorology”: “The power of this gas is manifested in these devices called cannons (canalibus), from which, by means of a gas generated by a pinch of gunpowder, large arrows or lead balls are fired with such force that no armor can withstand them.” The Chronicle of Tarvis (1376) reports in more detail about “these bombards, which had never before been seen or heard of in Italy, which were miraculously made by the Venetians. And it is true that the bombard is a very powerful iron device: in front of it there is a wide channel, into which a round stone of the same shape is placed as the channel, and in the back there is a pipe twice as long as the channel with which it is connected, but narrower; and into this pipe they put black gunpowder, which is made from saltpeter, sulfur and willow charcoal, through the entrance to this pipe from the side of the barrel. And that hole of the said muzzle is further closed with a wooden shutter inserted inside; after a round stone is placed on the other side, fire is brought to the small hole in the pipe (meaning the ignition hole), and the stone erupts with great force from the ignited gunpowder.”

For a long time, most guns were small. This is evidenced by the masses of 73 cannons made for Richard II of England by William Woodward from 1382 to 1388:

1 gun weighing from 665 to 737 English pounds,

47 "big guns" averaging 380 pounds,

5 guns of 318 pounds,

4 "copper cannons" of 150 pounds each,

7 “small guns” 49 pounds each,

9 "small guns" of 43 pounds.

As for gunpowder consumption, it remained very modest. In 1375, during the siege of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte by the troops of Charles V, 31 pounds of gunpowder was enough to load three “great iron cannons” that fired stones, 24 copper cannons that fired lead balls, and 5 iron cannons that also fired lead balls . In 1376-1377 the powder charge of an “iron cannon throwing a weight of 60 pounds” is one and a half pounds. In 1383, for the so-called naval army, “four large cannons on carriages, equipped with iron protrusions and hinges, with four wooden trestles, one hundred and sixty-six pounds of gunpowder and one hundred and sixty stones for these cannons,” i.e., one pound each, were loaded onto barges. gunpowder per shot.

As an exception, very large caliber guns were made: a cannon weighing 9,500 pounds was noted at Mons in 1375. However, from the very beginning of the 15th century. large-scale changes begin. In 1410, Christina of Pisa recommended the use of four large cannons, each with their own names, to storm a well-fortified fortress, the largest of which would fire cannonballs weighing from 400 to 500 pounds. Indeed, from that moment on, the largest cannons were given names designed to instill fear or related to the circumstances of their manufacture and first use, or to the position of their owner.

So, with big guns the situation was the same as with ships or bells: they acquired individuality, becoming in some way living beings.

The fact that the recommendations of Christina of Pisa were not at all purely theoretical is proven by the contract concluded a year earlier between “masters of bombards and cannons” and Duke of Burgundy John the Fearless for the casting of a large “copper” bombard in Ausonne weighing 6,900 pounds with a stone core weighing 320 pounds. . In 1412, Carcassonne had a bombard of 10,000 pounds. "Mons Meg", an iron bombard now kept in Edinburgh Castle, was ordered in 1449 to the "artillery merchant" Jean Cambier by Philippe the Good, Duke of Burgundy, for 1536 livres 2 sous. This cannon had an overall length of 15 feet (an English unit of length equal to 0.3048 m) and weighed 15,366 pounds. According to 18th-century expertise, the powder charge was 105 pounds for a stone core of 549 pounds. The “Mad Greta” bomb, which still stands on the Market Square in Ghent, is more than 5 m long; its diameter is 0.64 m, and its weight is 16400 kg. Another monstrous weapon is the “large cast bombard”, ordered in 1457-1458. Philip the Good "in his Lebbre palace in Brabant with Jacquemin de l'Espin, master of bombards and other guns." This cannon had a mass of 33,000 -34,000 pounds and fired stone cannonballs 17 inches in diameter. "Behind the said bombard, in order to fire from it was safer," a lead plate weighing 800 pounds was installed. One of the heaviest artillery pieces was ordered in Brussels in 1409-1411 by the Duke of Brabant: the weight of this gun reached 35 tons - slightly less than the 40-ton "Raja-Gopal", a giant Mughal era cannon kept at Thanjavur in Madras State.

If in the 14th century, at least in France, there were only two terms for artillery pieces: “cannon” and “bombard,” then in the 15th century. the lexicon is expanding:

By 1410 - culverin and arquebus;

By 1430 - serpentines, crapodos, crapodines;

By 1460 - kurtods and mortars;

By 1470 - arquebuses;

By 1480 - falques and falconets.

Based on the work of Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1487-1492), the following, highly idealized table can be compiled, which gives an idea of ​​​​what artillery was, or, more precisely, should have been.

	Gun name
	Bombarda (general or medium)	Mortar	Bombard	Kurtoda
Length (feet)	15-20	5-6	10	12
Projectile material	Stone	Stone	Stone	Stone
Projectile weight (lbs)	300	200-300	50	60-100
Powder to projectile mass ratio	16/100	16/100	16/100	16/100

	Gun name
	Pass-volunteer	Basilisk	Serbatan	Spingard
Length (feet)	18	22-25	8-10	8
Projectile material	Lead or iron	Bronze or iron	Lead	Stone
Projectile weight (lbs)	16	20	2-3	10-15
Powder to projectile weight ratio	10/100	10/100	10/100	10/100

Other transformations took place in artillery. Instead of cannons made by joining strips of wrought iron (back in 1456, a large bombard consisted of 38 narrow strips and 33 iron hoops), cast iron guns appeared. “The molten metal was poured into a casting mold in the form of a hollow cylinder, along the axis of which a core,” or mandrel, was located. The correctness of the channel was ensured by boring it with a steel countersink. The use of injection molds of the same size made it possible to standardize calibers. In addition, here, as in the manufacture of bells, bronze was used, in which the copper content was increased and the tin content was decreased. Bell makers could also make cannons; if necessary, bells could be melted down to make cannons. Here, for example, is a deal concluded in 1488 between the city of Rennes, on the one hand, and the gunner-foundry and the gunner-smith, on the other. The foundry worker will have to cast several falki, one bell, and two containers that will serve as hanging chambers (a chamber is the space in the breech of a gun for a powder charge) for forged iron serpentines. It will receive the required "metal and copper" weighing up to 6,000 pounds. The blacksmith will forge two iron serpentines. One of them will have a brass chamber made in advance and be loaded from the breech, and the other will be forged from one piece, loaded from the muzzle and have trunnions to fire from a wheeled carriage. Both serpentines “will throw iron cannonballs.”

Improvements affected both the transportation of guns and their installation in a combat position. For a long time, artillery pieces (with the exception of cannons and hand-held culverins, which began to appear at the end of the 14th century) were transported on carts, usually four-wheeled. In order for them to fire, they had to be removed. The guns were mounted on trestles or a frame. However, from the middle of the 15th century. mention is made of guns equipped with axles and lying on a carriage mounted on an axle with two wheels. On August 19, 1458, the city of Rouen purchased a 100-pound cannon “in the form of a small serpentine of bronze, firing lead balls the size of a small ball, mounted on a carriage and carried on two wooden wheels.” In 1465-1466. a certain carpenter from Nevers delivers eight wheels ordered to him: four medium ones for a large iron bombard (from which we can conclude that it was placed on a cart) and four more bigger size for two serpentines. In 1490, the castle of Angers took into custody three large serpentine cannons weighing about 7,000 pounds, with six large wheels. Thus, trailed artillery arose, which was easy to put into a combat position and move; Since 1470, such weapons have been depicted in numerous miniatures, and individual examples of them have been preserved among the trophies taken by the Swiss after the victory over Charles the Bold at Gransonev in 1476.

For a long time, it was mandatory to use shutters (a cannon device to eliminate the breakthrough of powder gases when fired), hermetically closing the hole in the chamber where the powder charge was placed. Textbook on cannon making of the 15th century. describes this process in some detail: “If you want to make good seals for bombards, you need good alder or poplar wood, completely dry, and make them in such a manner that the front part is thinner than the back, so that when you hammer the seal into the chamber with a stick, he entered exactly and did not at all stick out from the chamber.” The seals had to be made of wood that could swell under the influence of vapors released during the combustion of gunpowder. At the moment when the pressure became high enough, the seal flew out, almost like a champagne cork, and then the released explosive force of the gunpowder imparted movement to the core. It was recommended to divide the entire internal length of the chamber into five equal parts: the first part, near the hole, was reserved for the seal, the second remained empty, and the remaining three were filled with gunpowder.

It seems that at the end of the 15th century, at least in France, seals were no longer used in some guns. Either the combustion of the gunpowder had already become so fast that there was no longer any need to create pressure, or the perfect fit of the nuclei to the bore prevented the gases from escaping too quickly. In any case, monolithic guns without a separate chamber are mentioned. First, gunpowder was poured into the bottom of the barrel using “spruce poles called loading spoons,” and then the cannonball was inserted through the barrel. Another manual on cannon business said: “In order to load your gun, take a tool, which the gunners call a shuffla, made of iron or copper plates, three times as long as the diameter of the cannonball, mounted on the end of a pole, and fill in a full shuffle of gunpowder, and push it through to the bottom of the barrel, and turn it with your hand so that your gunpowder falls out and spills out of the shufla, which should be taken out back, and repeat this two or three times depending on how thin and good the gunpowder is or how large the shufla is, until you fill in a weight of gunpowder two-thirds of the weight of the kernel.”

For the first shells of the mid-14th century. lead and iron were used. But soon most of the cores, especially starting from a certain size, were made of stone: sandstone, marble, alabaster, etc. Stonemasons made ammunition in advance, using a model (“template”) of wood, paper, parchment. Then the iron cores appeared again. In 1418, the city of Ghent acquired 7,200 cast cores. In the French royal artillery, cast iron cannonballs were especially often used starting from the second half of the reign of Charles VII. Probably the decisive role here was played by the activities of the Bureau brothers, Jean and Gaspard. This trend intensified under Louis XI: in 1467, the king ordered Michaud Baudouin to cast 1000 iron cannonballs for each of his large serpentines and 100 cannonballs for each bombard. Karl the Bold also did not remain in debt: his large culverins used iron “cobblestones”. In 1473, he purchased 1335 cast cores. This innovation strangely remained unknown on the other side of the Alps: according to Biringuccio, Charles VIII “was the first who introduced us in Italy to iron cannonballs, when he came to besiege Naples in order to expel King Ferrante, and this was in one thousand four hundred and ninety fifth year."

Improvements affected even small “trunks”: in the middle of the 15th century in Germany, matchlocks began to be used for arquebuses.

There were two trends: on the one hand, a decrease in the mass of the cannonball in relation to the total mass of the gun, on the other, an increase in the mass of gunpowder in relation to the mass of the cannonball. This conclusion allows us to compare the Milanese bombards of 1472 and the English artillery under Henry VII and Henry VIII - see tables below: I and II, which are given in the work of F. Contamine (pp. 164-165).

Table I

Bombards of Milan 1472

Powder weight (lbs)	Kernel weight (lbs)
50	400	12,5
40	300	13,3
33	225	14,6
100	626	15,9

Table II

English artillery of the 15th - early 16th centuries.

Gun name	Powder weight (lbs)	Kernel weight (lbs)	Powder weight / core weight (%)
Bombard	80	260	30,77
Courtauld	40	60	66,66
Kulevrina	22	20	110
"The Gun of Nuremberg" and "The Apostle"	20	20	100
Lezar	14	12	117
Minion	8	8	100
Serpentina	7	6	117
Falk	1	1	100

So, at the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. abandoned gigantomania and preferred guns that were standardized, reliable, easily transported and installed in position, with a relatively high rate of fire; they used convenient projectiles, the movement of which was imparted by a significant powder charge. Finally, they tried to keep the range of flat shooting at a level below average. Of course, in some places there is a higher range. During the siege of Am in 1411, the Flemings fired a stone "more than the size of a barrel" from the "Big Bird" which flew over the city. In 1465, according to F. Commines, “Louis XI<…>had strong artillery, and the guns located on the walls of Paris gave<…>several salvos. It’s surprising that their cannonballs reached our army, because the distance was two leagues, but they probably raised the muzzles of their cannons very high.” The artillery of Francis I, the technical data of which is given in the following table (see below), is closer to the artillery of Charles VIII than that of Charles VII.

French artillery in 1530-1540.

Table III

Gun name	Total Weight (lbs)	Metal Weight (lbs)	Kernel weight (lbs)	Core mass/metal mass (%)
A gun	8200	5000	23	4,6
Large culverin	6380	4000	15,25	3,8
"Illegal" culverin	4773	2500	7,25	2,9
Medium culverin	2575	1500	2,5	1,6
Falk	1240	800	1,5	1,8
Falconet	880	500	0,75	1,5
Gakovnica	50	45	0,1	2

Gun name	Charge Weight (lbs) %	Charge mass / core mass	Number of shots per day	Firing range “to the center of the target” (in steps)
A gun	20	87	100	500
Large culverin	10	66,6	100	700
"Illegal" culverin	5	68,9	140	500
Medium culverin	2,5	100	160	400
Falk	1,5	100	200	300
Falconet			250	200
Gakovnica	0,1	100	300	120

Quantitative aspects

For a long time, artillery pieces were not only small and ineffective, but also few in number. However, from 1360-1370. in the West, many cities and almost all large states have their own arsenals. Intendant to the King of England in Ponthieu in 1368-1369. acquires for the fortresses of this county 20 copper and 5 iron cannons, 215 pounds of saltpeter, sulfur and ambergris for the production of gunpowder and 1300 large “bolts” for cannons. When planning a campaign in France in 1372, the English government intended to use 29 iron cannons and 1,050 pounds of saltpeter. In 1388, the arsenal of the Tower of London contained 50 cannons, 4,000 pounds of gunpowder and 600 pounds of saltpeter.

In the same year, the castle of Lille contained 59 pounds of gunpowder, 652 pounds of saltpeter and 114 pounds of sulfur. Rent in 1380 acquired 70 firearms, Ypres in 1383 bought 52. From 1372 to 1382, Mechelen increased its reserves by an average of 14 guns per year. At the end of the 14th century. garrisons in the north of the French kingdom, controlling Calais, as a rule, have one gunner (gunner, artilleryman) per fortress.

At the turn of the XIV and XV centuries. changes are happening. In 1406, in anticipation of the siege of Calais, the Franco-Burgundian army kept at least fifty gunners in service; a minimum of 20,000 pounds of gunpowder were purchased. Four years later, Christina of Pisa believed that the defense of any fortress required 12 stone throwers, from 1000 to 1500 pounds of gunpowder, and as ammunition - 3000 pounds of lead for cannonballs and 200 stones; for an attack, in her opinion, 128 cannons, 1,170 stones, 5,000 pounds of lead for cannonballs, 30,000 pounds of gunpowder are required. In 1417, the mayor's office of Dijon decided that 5,000 pounds of gunpowder needed to be purchased to defend the city. In 1431, during the crusade against the Hussites, the army of the German Empire had about a hundred bombards.

A good criterion for assessing the number of artillery is the need for gunpowder. In 1413, François Pastoureau, a Parisian merchant, sold John the Fearless approximately 10,000 pounds of gunpowder, saltpeter and sulfur. Document for 1421 -1422. states that the raw materials for the manufacture of 20,000 to 25,000 pounds of gunpowder could be purchased locally in Paris.

In some cases, it was possible to find out the consumption of gunpowder for military operations. In 1425, Lancelot de Lisle, governor of Chartres, on behalf of Henry VI of England and the marshal of the troops of the Earl of Salisbury, received from John Harbottle, commander-in-chief of the artillery under the regent Bedford, 1000 pounds of gunpowder for the siege of Beaumont, 3000 pounds - Man, 2800 pounds - St. Suzanne, £5800 - Mayena. During the siege of Compiegne in 1430, the army of Philip the Good used 17,000 pounds of gunpowder, compared with 10,000 in 73 days, during which the 1436 campaign at Calais continued.

In the second half of the 15th century. a new quantitative leap is taking place. During the reign of Louis XI, the artillery budget increased almost fivefold. Cities are more interested in arming themselves with artillery than ever before. In 1452-1453 gunpowder reserves at Rennes exceeded 5,000 pounds. From 1450 to 1492, this city acquired 45 cannons, 32 serpentines, 65 culve-rins, 149 arquebuses, 7 arquebuses and 45 falques. Ghent in 1456 had 189 guns of various calibers, in 1479 - 486 guns. For Cologne these figures for 1468 are 348, for Nuremberg for 1462 - 2230, for Strasbourg for 1476 - 585.

At the end of the 15th century, as confirmed by the Italian Wars (1494-1559), French artillery was the first in the world in terms of numbers and quality. An account for 1489 shows that Charles VIII had five artillery battalions, numbering dozens of gunners, about 150 guns, thousands of horses, and possessing tens of thousands of pounds of gunpowder. This year, expenditures on artillery amounted to 8% of all military expenditures of the French monarchy, compared to 6% in 1482.

Even such a small state as the Duchy of Brittany could not afford to remain without guns: an inventory for 1495, immediately after annexation to France, lists 707 guns distributed among a dozen fortresses.

Olivier de La Marche (perhaps exaggerating) says that Charles the Bold had a fleet of 300 guns; it is known that during the Geldern campaign of 1472 there were 110 of them, during the siege of Neuss (1474-1475) - 229, during the first conquest of Lorraine (1475) - 130.

Despite a certain technical backwardness, the Italian states also spent significant sums on new weapons. The artillery of Milan in 1472 supposedly consisted of 8 bombards, 8 spinards and 100 scopitus, and for each bombard there were a hundred cannonballs. The gunpowder requirement was about 34,000 pounds. To transport and move all this, 334 carts and 754 oxen or oxen were required. Available stocks of gunpowder in the same duchy for 1476: 138,847 pounds in Milan, 26,252 in Padua, 24,399 in Cremona.

By 1500, fortresses and castles, at the expense of sovereigns and rulers, had a considerable amount of artillery pieces and ammunition: in Castel Nuovo in Naples there were 321 guns, 1039 barrels of gunpowder, saltpeter and sulfur, 4624 cannonballs. The arsenal of Venice, according to the German pilgrim Arnold von Harff, included 12 horse-drawn powder mills and contained 80,000 ducats worth of saltpeter. The same source reports that the two "artillery houses" built in Innsbruck by Maximilian of Habsburg contained 280 artillery pieces, 18,000 arquebuses and 22,000 hand culverins. In the citadel of Perpignan in 1503, Antoine de Lalaine allegedly counted "from four to five hundred pieces of artillery, such as courteaus, serpentines and falques."

Even private individuals increasingly own personal firearms: since 1470, “lists” of citizens in the cemetery of Neuchâtel in Switzerland show that of the 523 people recorded, 100 had a hand-held culverin.

By the end of the 15th century. artillery was still on the rise and showed no signs of diminishing importance. She had to develop at the same pace. In 1513, during the siege of Tournai, the army of Henry VIII of England numbered 180 guns, which, when fully loaded, could consume up to 32 tons of gunpowder per day; 510 tons were brought for the campaign. Almost at the same time, in various cities and castles of France, from Boulogne-sur-Mer in the north to Bayonne and Beziers in the south, as in many fortresses of Northern Italy conquered by that time, the Valois monarchy had 4 bombards , 2 small bombards, 88 serpentine cannons, 38 large culverins, 86 medium culverins, 2 courteaus, 254 falques and 947 arquebuses. Total - 1430 “large and small” guns



"..The presented materials are part of my article dedicated to the artillery service of the Burgundian dukes. Paragraphs about the Burgundian artillery control system, transport service, field camp, etc. have been removed from the text. At the same time, I hope that the typification of Burgundian artillery pieces given in the text , based on written sources (an array of archival documents from the departments of Cotdor and Nord, memoirs and chronicles of participants or contemporaries of the Burgundian Wars), visual sources and analysis of surviving samples from the collections of various museums, will allow the reader to get a more complete picture of the Burgundian artillery, as the most advanced artillery of that time..." - A. Kurkin.

Kurkin A.V.

Artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy. Experience in typing medieval artillery pieces.

Fig.1. Burgundian artillery at Granson. Miniature from the “Lucerne Chronicle” by D. Schilling, 1513

1. Types of artillery pieces.

Typing medieval artillery in general and Burgundian artillery in particular is very difficult. The main reason for this is the very loose use of terms by medieval chroniclers and the contradictory data of the accounting records of that era. For example, some of the sources of the weapon itself are canons(canons) refers to a separate type; other sources understand artillery pieces in general as canons. Thus, in the accounting records of the Burgundian artillery for the period August 19-25, 1466, they appear "the canon of Jean de Malen,<…>Courtauld of the French King"(i.e. the document writer seems to distinguish between these types of tools) and "2 canons, called kurto". It is not always clear what medieval sources mean by the term “culverin” - manual weapon or still an artillery piece. Some names of certain types of artillery pieces (“crapodo”, “wegler”) fell out of use or were replaced by others. Researchers of medieval artillery made repeated attempts to classify the artillery guns of that era according to some similar characteristics - similar calibers, similar carriages, similar types of ammunition, and finally, similar combat missions solved during the battle. However, such approaches to the issue of typification not only artificially simplify the problem, but also interfere with the correct perception of the spirit of that era, when, on the one hand, people lived in a system of total regulation, and on the other, they allowed themselves to be blatantly careless in handling terms or chronology. All this should be avoided by classifying Burgundian artillery pieces, first of all, according to the terminology of medieval sources and comparing their data with the parameters of the original samples that have survived to this day. At the moment, medieval artillery pieces of the period of interest to us, whose belonging to the Burgundian armed forces is beyond doubt, are stored in the collections, first of all, of Swiss museums: the La Neuveville Museum (the most complete collection of field artillery), the Murten Museum (a significant collection, some of the guns which, declared as Burgundian, are in fact Swiss canons of obsolete samples), the Basel Historical Museum, the Historical Museum of St. Gallen, the Old Guildhall of Solothurn, the Swabian Bill Museum, the Berne Historical Museum (individual parts of guns). Burgundian guns are preserved in the collection of the Brussels Royal Museum of Arms; Burgundian artillery accessories are kept in the collection of the Paris Army Museum, a number of Dutch, Belgian and Austrian museums, as well as in some private collections. In addition to comparing the parameters of real Burgundian guns with written evidence, I used the visual sources available to me, primarily miniatures by Burgundian, German and Swiss artists who could see Burgundian artillery guns or even depict them “from life” (“Chronicles of Hainaut”, “Chronicle Charles Martell", two copies of the "Chronicles" by J. Froissart from the National Library of France and the British Library, "Chronicle of England" by J. Wavrin, "War Book" by F. Mench, "Bern, Lucerne and Zurich Chronicles" by D. Schilling, "Chronicles "A. Monstrele, "Basel Chronicle", "Swabian House Book", etc.).

Heavy or siege artillery included several types of guns, which primarily served to destroy enemy fortifications, breach walls, and destroy or set fire to various buildings.

Bombards (bombardes) - the main type of heavy artillery. In 1382, the Ghent bombard was used during the siege of Odenard. The gun barrel was welded from 32 longitudinal iron strips and fastened with 41 hoops. The barrel length was 18 feet (5.486 m), the caliber was 0.638 m, and the core weighed 600 livres (272 kg). To hide from the fire of this bombard, the inhabitants of Odenard took refuge in the cellars. During the siege of the castle of Vellexon (1409-1410) by the troops of Jean the Brave, the Burgundian artillerymen used a copper bombard cast by craftsmen from Ausonne. The weight of the gun was 6,900 pounds (3,065 kg), the weight of stone balls was 320 pounds (144 kg). In 1426, sources mention the Catherine bombard. In 1428-1440s. Burgundian arsenals were replenished with bronze bombards “Burgundy”, “Luxembourg”, “Romersvall”, “Red Bombarde”, “Greta”, “Beaurevoir” and others. The Greta bomb has survived to this day, installed on the Market Square in Ghent. The dimensions of this weapon are impressive: barrel length is more than 5 m, caliber is 0.64 m, weight is 16,400 kg. Surviving documents allow us to judge the caliber and cost of these guns:

"One large bombard, called Romersvall, throwing stones 32 inches (poux), 2,000 livres and 32 gros;
one bombard, called the Red Bombard, throwing stones 26 inches, 1,800 livres;<…>
one bombard, called Beaurevoir, throwing stones 32 inches, 1,800 livres;
one small bombard, called Burgundy, throwing stones 12 inches, 500 livres.”

In 1449, Philip the Good ordered an iron bombard from the “artillery merchant” Jean Cambier for 1,536 livres and 2 sous. The bombard, named “Mons Meg”, “Woman from Mons”, was acquired by the Scottish King James II in 1457, is now on display in the museum collection of Edinburgh Castle, had a length of 15 feet (just over 5 m) and weighed 15,366 pounds (about 7 tons). To throw a 549 lb (250 kg) stone cannonball, the bombarde required a 105 lb (47 kg) powder charge. In 1465-1466, the Burgundian arsenals were replenished with bombards “Artois”, “Brégières”, “Franciscan nun” (“Cordeliere”), “Namuriz” and others. The caliber of these guns was 12, 13 and 16 inches (0.3-0.4 m), the weight of the ammunition they used (usually marble cores) could reach 45 kg or more. In 1472, the arsenal in Lille allocated two bombards for the planned campaign on Zirikzee: “One iron bombard, painted red, called Artois, shooting stones 16-17 inches; another bombard, also painted red, called At, shoots stones 13 inches." In 1475 the same arsenal was ready to be sent to the Burgundian army “6 bombards made of iron and bronze, 6 mantlets for the said bombards, 6 carts for transporting the said mantlets, 12 stones for the bombards.” Neuss chronicler Christian Wierstreit, who survived the siege hometown Burgundian army in 1474-1475. left an interesting testimony regarding the weight of Burgundian bombard shells: “A powerful bombard was the first to fire at the Main Gate of Neuss. The first 3 cannonballs buried themselves in the ground, they were so heavy, but Landgrave Hermann, not at all surprised, ordered them to be weighed. At this time the Hessian prince/those. Herman himself/ glorified the Lord and St. Quirinus, deciding to donate these /cores/ to them along with wax candles, and they weighed 100 pounds(about 45 kg) ». Apparently, Wearstreit described the shells of the Burgundian bombard "Artois", which "faithfully" served Charles the Bold in many of his campaigns and was most likely lost during the Swiss campaign.

Fig.2. Burgundian bombard. Historical Museum, Basel.

The Basel Historical Museum houses a captured Burgundian bombard (inv. No. 1874-93), captured at the Battle of Murten (1476). The bombard's barrel is welded from 19 longitudinal iron strips and intercepted by 32 iron rings. The coat of arms of the Flemish family d'Occy is embossed on the trunk. Previously, the gun barrel was covered with red oil paint, which protected it from corrosion. The total length of the barrel is 2.73 m, of which 0.72 m is in the powder chamber. The chamber caliber is 0.155 m, the barrel caliber is 0.345-0.36 m. Apparently, this bombard, among other artillery pieces, was delivered to Murten by Jean d’Oxy, took part in the siege of the fortress and was captured by the Swiss during the battle. It is interesting that the caliber of this bombard, as well as the remains of the red coating, coincide with the description of the At bombard. Sometimes the barrel of the bombard was placed in a special oak block, which was lifted onto a cart during the march. The carriage, in turn, could be decorated with a pennon flag with the coat of arms of the duke. Thus, one of the accounting documents of the Accounts Chamber contains an order "to pay Henri Bellechause, the Duke's artist, for 2 armorial pennons mounted on carts, 4 gros." To transport the Catherine bombard in 1426, 4 cabbies, 1 servant and 15 horses were hired; 6 carts and more than 100 horses were used to transport 2 bombards with a supply of gunpowder and stones. In 1468 winter period the team of one cart with a bombard consisted of 24 horses. Bombards, like other artillery pieces, could be delivered to the site of hostilities using river transport. For example, the mentioned bombard, made in Osonna, was delivered to the besieged Wellekson by water. At a combat position, the bombard crew could hide from enemy return fire behind mantlet in the form of a rotating shield mounted on a horizontal axis. Gunpowder was loaded into the powder chamber located in the breech of the barrel using a loading spoon - shuffles. The shot was fired by igniting a powder charge through a seed hole.

Fig.3. Bombard with accessories. Miniature from the Arsenal Book of Emperor Maximilian, 1502, Innsbruck.

Shot distance, based on indirect evidence from medieval sources ( "four shots from a bow" etc.), ranged from 1-2 km or more. The strongest recoil from a shot could split the wooden deck in which the barrel was placed, so the gunners reinforced the deck with additional beams. Often the bombard barrel was laid directly on the ground. By pouring earth under the barrel or placing wooden blocks under it, they changed the angle of the shot, and damped the recoil with oak supports. The destruction caused by bombardments to enemy fortifications was sometimes very significant. Thus, during the relatively short siege of Dinan (1466) “walls and towers 9 feet thick were carried down 60 feet.” During the 10-month siege of the superbly fortified Neuss (1474-1475), the Burgundian bombards, despite the additional line of parapets - brae, destroyed "beyond recognition" 17 city towers and a significant section of curtain walls.

Bombardelli (bombardelles - bombards), judging by the name and data from medieval documents, were somewhat lighter than bombards, although they also served to destroy enemy fortifications. The Burgundian register of 1472 contains mention of these types of guns: "two iron bombardelli, called Lambillon, set with stones of 10 inches or so." Another account from 1475 also mentions bombardelli: “6 bombardelles, 6 medium mantels, 7 carts for transporting mantels, 12 stones for bombardelles.” Thus, the caliber of these guns averaged 0.25 m. Bombardelli, like bombards, could be equipped with a wooden block, possibly in some cases having a pair of wheels. Many miniatures and engravings of Swiss and German manuscripts (Bern Chronicle, Lucerne Chronicle, Basel Chronicle, etc.), illustrating various events of the Burgundian Wars, depict large-caliber Burgundian guns with a stationary swivel carriage mounted on a tripod and equipped with a vertical guidance mechanism. Perhaps this is bombardelli. It is known that in the winter of 1468 the team of one cart with a bombardelle consisted of 14 horses.

Fig.4. Artillery guns raised to the limbers. Miniature from the “War Book” by F. Mönch, 1496, Heidelberg.

Weglers (veuglaires - falcons) - a type of artillery that could be used both during a siege (large-caliber cannons) and in a field battle. The peak of their distribution occurred in the 1440-1460s. Thus, the Burgundian accounting records mention 7 weggers under 1443. In 1446, a 6-foot-long (2.88 m) wegler, equipped “a chamber of a new type behind the stone”/removable?/, entered service with one of the Burgundian ships. In 1453, the famous Burgundian knight Jacques de Lalen, during the siege of the castle of Pouquet, fell from a cannonball fired by an enemy wegler. Along with Lalen, 1 gendarme and 4 archers died. In 1458, a wegler with a removable powder chamber was made. The barrel weighed 978 livres (about 440 kg), the chamber, designed to hold 3.5 pounds (about 1.6 kg) of gunpowder, weighed 203 livres (about 92 kg). In 1466, during the siege of Dinan, the Burgundians had "2 veglers placed on the side of the Bastard of Burgundy's camp: 6 stones 10 inches across." In the corps of Peter Hagenbach, who blockaded Ortenberg Castle in 1470, the artillery was represented by several 4-foot-long weglers with powder chambers designed for 1 pound of gunpowder. In subsequent years, the term “Wegler” practically disappeared from Burgundian accounting documentation, and was replaced by the term “Bombardelle”. The museum collection of the Brussels Royal Museum of Arms contains 2 guns that researcher Charles Brustan identified as weglers. The barrels of these guns are almost identical: the barrel length is 0.75 m, the length of the removable powder chamber is 0.4 m. One barrel is placed in a 1.5 m long barrel, the second is mounted on a powerful wooden carriage, equipped with a pair of wheels in the form of solid wooden disks.

Fig.5. Wegler's drawing. Royal Arms Museum, Brussels.

A similar weapon, equipped with a gable mantlet, is depicted in the miniature “The Siege of Murten” from the “Bernese Chronicle” by D. Schilling (1480, Berne City Library). The Historical Museum of Basel exhibits a gun barrel (inv. No. 1874-95), cast from bronze in 1474 in Mechelen by the famous Burgundian foundry Jean de Malen. The barrel length is 2.555 m, the caliber is different parts barrel 0.13 (non-removable powder chamber) and 0.227 m. The barrel is equipped with a pair trunnions, greatly facilitated the process of horizontal aiming, with the embossed coat of arms of Charles the Bold, his monogram, as well as the inscription in Gothic font: “ JehandeMalinesmafautlanMCCCCLXXIII"(corrupted "Jean de Malen made me in 1474"). The Swiss researcher Florenz Deutschler was inclined to see in this weapon a transitional type from medieval bombards to more modern weapons of the era of Maximilian Habsburg. In my opinion, the specified barrel can be attributed either to the bombardelles described above, or to the so-called. courteaus, in the production of which Jean de Malen, in fact, specialized.

There are few data available on the transport of weggers. So, in 1426, 3 cabbies with a cart and 8 horses were hired to transport the wegler.

Fig.6. Gun barrel cast in the workshop of J. Malen. Historical Museum, Basel.

Courtauld (courtaux, courtauts) - the most “light” type of heavy artillery of this period. Judging by reports from sources, kurtos could be used both during sieges and field battles. Thus, in the battle of Montlhéry, on the French side, 1 courteau with a caliber of 7 inches (0.175 m) took part, which was captured at the end of the battle. Subsequently, this courtyard, together with canon Jeanne de Malena (probably also a courteau) took part in the shelling of the fortifications of Dinan (1466) and Saint-Tron (1467). Moreover, the caliber of the canon was 9 inches (0.2286 m), which practically coincides with the caliber of the gun described above by the same master and may indicate the standardization he established. Most likely, the courtyards were mounted on wheeled carriages. This statement is supported by the artillery record sheet of 1472: “two courtaulds made of bronze, made by Jean de Malen, on good carriages on four inexpensive wheels.” The courtauld, like the types of heavy artillery guns listed above, fired stone balls - cannonballs hewn from marble, alabaster or sandstone. From August 19 to 25, 1466, Canon Jacques de Malen fired 96 stone shells at the walls of besieged Dinan.

Fig.7. Burgundian siege artillery. Miniature from the Chronicle of England by J. Wavrin, 1480

Mortars (mortieres - mortars) - siege weapons that fire along a steep, overhead trajectory. The purpose of this type of weapon was the destruction of residential areas located inside the ring of walls and arson. Mortars, as follows from the name of the weapon itself, were distinguished by a short barrel and a relatively large caliber. They were mounted on a stationary carriage or dug into the ground at a large angle. For example, in the accounting records of the artillery arsenal in Lille for 1472 there were "two iron mortars, one equipped with a carriage and the other without a carriage, firing stones 10 inches." Burgundian accounting records contain an inventory of mortars for 1457, 1465-1467. The caliber of these guns was 12-14 inches. Between August 19 and August 25, 1466, two iron Burgundian mortars fired 78 stone cannonballs, 12 inches in diameter, into the urban areas of Dinan. In addition to stones, mortars could also shoot "copper apples"- bombs filled with gunpowder or grenades - "fire stones"(pierres de feu). Thus, during the siege of Beaulieu Castle in 1465, Burgundian artillerymen, led by master cannon Hans de Luckenbach, used 1 barrel of saltpeter and more than half a barrel of sulfur to make 8 grenades. True, the Burgundians were not able to use these weapons, because the shells ignited “unauthorized.” But during the siege of Dinan, as an eyewitness and active participant in the events wrote, Jean d’Haenin “The mortars frightened the inhabitants with the lightning-like fire they produced.”

Light or field artillery became an integral part of the combat disposition during the Burgundian Wars. For a number of reasons, field artillery was not then able to fully realize its potential, however, it firmly established itself on the battlefield as a very significant combat factor.

Serpentines or serpentines(serpentines - snakes) - the main type of light artillery. Serpentines were divided into large, medium and light. Their range could be 1,000 m. One of the first mentions of serpentine dates back to 1430. Burgundian accounting records from 1465 give an idea of ​​​​the mass of this type of gun - 250 livres (about 112 kg). In 1458, the Lille Arsenal supplied 17 serpentines to the army. In 1468, the Marshal of Burgundy was to deliver 12 serpentines to the main army. In 1472, for the campaign against Zirikzee, the Lille Arsenal allocated “two serpentines made of bronze by the same master /Jean de Malen/, equipped with /carriages on 4 wheels/, like the courtauld; three medium serpentines, equipped with a carriage with inexpensive wheels; another bronze serpentine, signed "d", equipped like the previous ones; six small serpentines, also bronze, of which four are equipped with wheels and carriages and two without wheels; six iron serpentines, calledtumereaulx, shooting stones, like small serpentines equipped with wheels; also another serpentinetumereaulx, also iron, having 1 wheel /pair?/.” From the above text it is clear that most serpentines had wheels, the so-called. “Burgundian” carriages, although there were serpentines without wheeled carriages.

Fig.8. Burgundy serpentine. Murten Museum.

The collection of the Murten Museum contains several original Burgundian serpentines from the mid-15th century, captured by the Swiss during the battle of the same name (1476). The barrels of some guns in the breech have removable powder chambers. Thus, the length of the iron-forged barrels of two Burgundian serpentines with removable chambers, dated approximately 1450 (inventory Nos. 109 and 112), respectively, is 0.665 and 0.84 m. The caliber is 0.142 and 0.072 m. At the same time, to the breech Part of the trunk of both serpentines is adjacent to a slightly downward iron “tongue”. Embedded in the carriage, this “tongue” probably served to partially dampen the recoil after the shot and change the direction of the recoil itself. Unfortunately, the original carriages have not survived; the barrels are mounted in wheeled carriages made in the 19th century. The presence of “tongues” suggests that initially the carriages may not have had wheels and were mounted on tripods. Another serpentine, also dated to the 1450s. (inv. No. 111), has a solid forged iron barrel with a length of 1.39 m and a caliber of 0.035 m. The barrel is intercepted by 15 rings, equipped with a “tongue” and attached to the carriage with 4 iron bands. The wheel carriage was also made (possibly reconstructed) in the 19th century. The total length (with carriage) of the gun is 2.6 m, width is 1.1 m, wheel diameter is 0.79 m. Iron cannonballs served as ammunition.

The largest batch of captured Burgundian guns is kept in the La Neuveville Museum. This collection is also notable for the fact that the gun carriages are almost entirely original. All the guns in the collection, mostly serpentines, were captured during the Battle of Grançon, many of them were the most modern field guns of their time, practically indistinguishable from artillery pieces of the Napoleonic Wars era. The trunks of most Neuveville serpentines are equipped with trunnions - a revolutionary invention of the Burgundian masters, which occurred in the mid-late 1460s - early 1470s. Along with the latest examples of medieval artillery, the museum’s collection also contains a number of obsolete guns. Thus, two serpentines, presumably made around 1460, have welded iron barrels fixedly mounted on swivel carriages. The carriages consist of two beams rotating in a vertical plane, a vertical guidance mechanism and a pair of wheels. Vertical aiming was carried out using two slightly curved iron strips attached parallel to the lower beam of the carriage - cremelier(cremaillere - hook) and the upper beam of the carriage sliding between them, together with the gun barrel mounted in it. When the required angle of inclination was reached, the upper beam was fixed with a pin, which was pushed through one of 12 pairs of holes in the cremeliers. Horizontal guidance was carried out using handguns or rules- two bars, which, like levers, could be used to influence the end of the lower beam of the carriage. Some information about the condition and dimensions of one of the guns: the barrel, 2.925 m long and 0.065 m caliber, is welded from four iron strips fastened with 14 hoops. The width of the hoops is 0.042 m; iron rings for carrying the barrel are attached to 2, 8 and 14 of them. The total length of the gun together with the carriage is 4.105 m, the total width is 1.6 m, the diameter of the wheels equipped with iron tires and 10 spokes each is 1.16 m. Iron cannonballs were used as ammunition.

Fig.9, A, B. Burgundy serpentines with cremeliers. Museum of La Neuveville.

Most of the Burgundian serpentines in the collection of the Museum of La Neuveville can be dated to the late 1460s and early 1470s. The barrels of these guns no longer have removable powder chambers and are equipped with trunnions. The carriages, in this regard, are fixed, made of two parallel, vertically oriented boards and complemented by built-in charging boxes. Vertical aiming was carried out using wooden wedges that raised or lowered the breech of the barrel to the required angle. Some data on the length of the barrels and calibers of these guns: forged iron barrel - length 1.4 m, caliber 0.067 m; forged iron barrel with traces of red oil paint – barrel length 1.32 m, caliber 0.055 m; forged iron barrel - length 2.075 m, caliber - 0.071 m. Some data on the condition and dimensions of one of the guns: iron barrel 2.21 m long and 0.058 m caliber, a lowercase “d” is stamped on the barrel in Gothic font (serpentines marked with this letter mentioned in the Burgundian accounting records), the barrel is painted red. The carriage with wheels is also covered with red oil paint. The length of the carriage is 2.69 m, the length of the axle is 1.61 m, the diameter of the wheel with 10 spokes is 1.17 m. The carriage is equipped with an ammunition box, the box lid is hinged and opens to the right. The Basel Historical Museum houses a barrel from a Burgundian serpentine from the same period (inv. No. 1905-4975). The barrel is cast from bronze, has 8 outer edges and is equipped with trunnions. Its length is 0.99 m, caliber - 0.03 m. On the barrel there is an imprint of the coat of arms of Jean de Rozier, master of artillery of Charles the Bold, which allows us to date the manufacture of this barrel no earlier than 1469.

Fig. 10. Burgundy serpentine with trunnions. Museum of La Neuveville.

Serpentines could use stone cannonballs as projectiles, but more often they used iron, lead or cast iron cannonballs ( balls) and buckshot bullets. Thus, the inventory of ammunition consumption during the siege of Dinan contains an indication of “1,000 livres of lead for large, medium and small serpentines, a thousand livres per day.” On October 27, 1467, the Burgundian artillerymen spent “200 livres of lead for the serpentine during the capture of the outskirts of Samson /Saint-Tron/.”

During the Burgundian Wars, serpentines were actively used in field battles, of which there is a lot of evidence. Thus, describing the battle of Brustem, its participant Jean d’Haenin noted the artillery duel at the outset of the battle: “The Serpentines from the city artillery and also 3 others, which belonged to Jacques de Luxembourg, were ordered to advance, they advanced to the indicated village of Brustem and the embankment much closer than all the others, and all at once or in turn began to shoot at the above-mentioned village, there, where, in their opinion, there were the most Liege residents; however, the village was surrounded by trees and a high embankment, which made observation difficult. However, the above-mentioned serpentines wounded and killed many, and when /shells/ flew past, they hit the treetops, producing a strong roar, like thunder from bombards, smashed tree branches as thick as an arm or a leg, and it seemed as if devils had climbed out there from hell - because of the terrible noise and lightning that was produced by cannons and serpentines on both sides. But, without a doubt, the Burgundian serpentines made much more noise than the rest (Liège guns) and fired better: 3 or 4 shots against one.” Karl the Bold, describing the beginning of the battle of Neisse (1475), also noted the actions of field artillery: “With the cry “Our Lady is with us!” Monsignor Saint George and Burgundy! our troops went on the offensive; in front, three or four flights of arrows, artillery and Italian infantry were deployed, and after they entered into action, not a single tent, pavilion or other building survived in the emperor’s camp, and people could remain there with great difficulty.”

Medieval observers pointed out the terrible injuries that accompanied successful gun shots. Thus, during the Battle of Montlhéry, Henin witnessed the injuries that two Burgundian nobles received from artillery fire: Jacques de Gemont’s hip was broken , “so the leg was left hanging on a small piece of skin,” and Jean de Pourland shot from the serpentine “It tore my entire calf out of my leg.” During the Battle of Murten, the Lucerne chronicler Etterlin witnessed several well-aimed shots from the Burgundian serpentines: the cannonballs tore the bodies of the Lorraine knights in two, so that “the lower part of the body remained sitting in the saddle with the legs inserted into the stirrups,” others had their heads torn off.

Culevrins (couleuvrines, coulevrines, culverines, couleuvres - snakes) - field tools, so similar in their name, shape and method of use to the serpentines described above that some researchers are tempted to combine them into one group. However, the sources clearly distinguish between serpentines and culverines. Thus, in 1465, captain Pierre de Lentil was allocated for the defense of the bridge in Saint-Maxence and Saint-Cloud “150 livres of lead to serve two bronze serpentines, which were entrusted to him with six culverins for the protection of the said bridge.” Among the Burgundian trophies of the Battle of Montlhéry were 7 French artillery pieces, including "4 large culverins made of cast iron." The Brussels Royal Arms Museum houses an artillery piece with a caliber of 0.05 m, which Belgian researchers identify as a culverin.

Fig. 11. Drawing of the culverin. Royal Arms Museum, Brussels.

It is possible that in some cases the culverin carriages were equipped not with wheels, but with tripods. In this case, the serpentines I described above from the Murten Museum (inv. Nos. 109, 111 and 112) can quite possibly be classified as heavy culverins. At the same time, evidence has been preserved that during the defense of Orleans (1428-1429) the French used a culverin on a light cart. In 1435 and later, culverins were prescribed to be strengthened on ribodecines: “a good supply of ribodequins equipped with culverins should be created”. Probably in this case we were talking about small-caliber culverins. One way or another, in the inventories of Burgundian artillery during the wars of Charles the Bold, handguns were referred to as culverins in the vast majority of cases. At the beginning of the 16th century. culverins began to be called field guns, sometimes large-caliber, equipped with wheeled carriages.

Ribodequins (ribaudequins) - light carts with two or more gun barrels mounted on them. One of the first mentions of ribodequin dates back to 1435. In the arsenal of Bruges it was listed "6 ribodequins with chambers, painted red." The Battle of Gavere (1453) began with a skirmish between the Burgundian and Ghent Wegglers, Ribaudequins and Coulevrins. In 1458, 194 ribodequins were concentrated in Lille. The records of the Lille Arsenal in 1465 contain several entries that give an idea of ​​the appearance and caliber of the ribodecines: “1,200 stones of 2 inches, sent for the needs of the army from Lille in the period from May 22, 1465 to January 27, 1466, for the ribaudequins of the artillery,” “4 carts with ribaudequins, of which 3 with 2 “flutes” (flaigeoz) and 1 with 3 "flutes"", "5 wooden carts called ribodecines, equipped with a drawbar, wheels, platform and pavois." It is interesting that during the military campaigns of Charles the Bold, the Burgundians practically did not use ribodequins. However, at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries. Ribodecines experienced a real “renaissance” and appeared en masse as part of the German-Spanish troops. Thus, in the battle of Ravenna (1512) in the army of Raymond Cardona and Pedro Navarra, there were 30-50 ribodekins (German: Orgelgeschutzen - organ cannons): “reminiscent of the chariots armed with sickles, used by the ancients, and he (Navarre) equipped them with small field weapons and armed them with a long spear.”

Fig. 12. Ribodekin. Miniature from the Inventory List, Innsbruck.

Crapodo (crapaudaux - toads) - a type of field artillery found in the Burgundian arsenals in 1442-1447. Thus, in Tournai there were crapodos with iron and copper barrels 4-4.5 feet (1.22-1.37 m) long and 2-5 inches (0.05-0.127 m) in caliber, using stone and lead as projectiles kernels.

2. Quantitative indicators of artillery.

For military campaigns, the Burgundian dukes initially used artillery pieces taken both from their own reserves and from the arsenals of large cities and the top of the noble elite. For example, the Bruges artillery store in the 1440s. included “103 iron and copper courtyards; 115 iron, copper and bronze serpentines on carriages, one 17 feet long and weighing 1,852 livres; 6 chambered ribodequins, painted red; 21 bombards and weglers, including “St. Jaurès" 17 feet long and weighing 5,787 livres; 155 arquebuses." Data on the artillery reserves of Mons for the same period have also been preserved: “ 40 serpentines with iron cores, value 10 livres; 84 Wegler; 11 bombards and canonso (canoncaux); 136 culverin; 284 arquebuses; 3 mortars; 1 kurto". Henin wrote about the 3 serpentines of the lord de Fienne, who took part in the battle of Brustem, he also mentioned the artilleryman of this lord: “The one who served the serpentines of Lord Jacques de Luxembourg, which were moved to the fence in front of the village, fired several shots, after which he left his serpentines and, together with the archers, took part in hand-to-hand combat, where he was killed.” The total number of city, feudal and own artillery accompanying the Burgundian army could reach several hundred guns. Thus, during the siege of Calais in 1436, the artillery of Philip the Good, according to chronicle sources, amounted to 575 barrels. Gradually, the Burgundian dukes abandoned the services of the city artillery and the artillery of the lords. Thus, Philip the Good’s own arsenals in 1442-1446. numbered 9 bombards, 23 weglers, 175 crapodos and 113 culverins. Military campaigns of 1472, 1474-1475 The army of Charles the Bold was provided with artillery from state arsenals. However, with the loss of a significant part of the artillery pieces near Granson, the Duke again turned to the reserves of the city and seigneurial arsenals and even resorted to an extraordinary measure - melting down church bells.

The main artillery stores of Burgundy were located in Lille (2 arsenals), Dijon, Brussels, Arras and Namur. In 1465, the bombards of Charles the Bold were stored in Mézières. The documents mention the arsenals of Ecluse (1454-1479), Newport (1459-1468), Ata, Landen (both 1465) and Odenard (1467) as reserve artillery depots. In 1458, the Lille Arsenal, among other things, consisted of:
8 bombards;
10 weggers;
17 serpentine;
194 ribodequins;
14 pedrizos (partridges?);
190 culverin.

32 field guns took part in the Battle of Montlhéry on the Burgundian side. During the siege of Dinan, 10 heavy guns were used - 4 bombards, 2 large veglers, 2 mortars and 2 courteaus. In 1472, for the campaign against Zirikzee, the Lille Arsenal fielded 27 heavy and light artillery pieces:
2 bombards;
2 bombardelli;
2 mortars;
2 curtos;
2 large serpentines;
4 medium serpentines;
6 small serpentines;
7 serpentine–tumereaulx.

At the same time, the following were delivered from Arras by ship:
“14 iron canons placed in wooden blocks, equipped with 27 chambers; 100 bronze arquebuses; 1,000 lead hammers; 11 boxes for packing lead for culverins and arquebuses; box for packing Antwerp rope; two chests with brands, full of arrows for crossbows and krenekin; a large bay of ropes of various types; 3 other irontumereaulx /serpentines/, equipped with wheels and carriages; sealed cask containing 170 dozen wevrten; 40 ribbed pavois; a barrel of 70 dozen bow strings.”

Fig. 13. Trophy Burgundian serpentines. Miniature from the “Bernese Chronicle” by D. Schilling, 1480

In 1474, at the beginning of the siege of Neuss, the artillery of the Burgundian siege army numbered, according to the testimony of a participant in the siege, Wilwalt Schauenburg (See his biography in my article “German chivalry at the end of the 15th century: “The history and deeds of Wilibald von Schauenburg”,” posted on website), 200 guns of different calibers. Another participant in the siege, Olivier de La Marche, wrote in the same year: “Thus, the Duke can have three hundred artillery pieces that he can use in battle, in addition to arquebuses and culverins, of which he has countless numbers.” The figures given by Schaumburg and La Marche are partly confirmed by the accounting records of the Lille Arsenal, which prepared artillery for the siege of Neuss in 1474:
9 "big iron bombards";
8 bombardelles 8 and 11 feet long;
10 curtos 4.5 feet long;
115 serpentine 13 feet long;
6 serpentines 8 and 11 feet long;
66 serpentine 6 and 9 feet long;
15 serpentines with 4,000 livres of lead.
Total: 229 guns.

The same arsenal also prepared quite impressive artillery for the Lorraine campaign of 1475, consisting of 129 guns of various calibers and 200 arquebuses. Under Grançon, according to Jean Molina, the artillery of Charles the Bold numbered 113 guns, among them “/bombards/ Brezhie and Brezhier, six courteaus, six long serpentines and 6 small ones.” Italian Ambassador Giacomo Panigarola assessed the number Burgundian artillery at Granson with 200 barrels. The Swiss chronicler Diebold Schilling estimated the number of Burgundian guns captured at Granson at 420 pieces (Shilling may also have taken into account arquebuses). The Swiss Molbinger, when describing the Granson trophies, mentioned only 3 bombards and 70 serpentines. One way or another, under Granson, Karl the Bold lost the color of his artillery, the most modern guns, including almost all serpentines with trunnions. Therefore, for the new military campaign, he had to literally clean out the artillery arsenals and be content with outdated guns. Nevertheless, in quantitative terms, the Burgundian artillery park still remained a formidable force. In May 1476, a spy of the Holy Alliance reported on 3 bombards, 30 courteaus and 150 serpentines accompanying the Burgundian army near Murten. These guns were also lost by the Burgundians. Swiss sources, perhaps exaggerating, pointed to 400 Burgundian guns captured at Murten. In the last battle of his life, at Nancy (1477), Charles the Bold could be content with only 30 field guns.

3. Artillery ammunition.

Burgundian documents contain various titles artillery shells that time. Bombards, bombardellis, veglers, mortars and curtos fired in the vast majority of cases stones(pierres) - cores carved from marble or other rocks. Sometimes stones were used when shooting from serpentine (Murten Museum, stone cores for serpentine, caliber 0.072 m, inventory No. 112). Stonemasons calibrated projectiles using special templates - wide wooden shields with holes of various diameters cut into them. The variety of calibers of heavy artillery and the initial lack of uniform standards created difficulties both with the production of stone cannonballs (each cannon has its own caliber) and with combat use: the ammunition of one gun often could not be replenished with the ammunition of another gun. However, the situation with different calibers gradually began to improve, the number of calibers decreased, and certain standards began to be observed. In this regard, it is appropriate to cite a fragment of the accounting record of ammunition consumption by the Burgundian siege artillery in the period August 19-25, 1466:

“Bombard of Artois: 16 stones 16 inches across;
Bregier bombard: 78 stones 13 inches;
Cordelier bombard: 82 stones 13 inches;
Namurise bombard: 76 stones 12 inches across;
2 iron mortars: 78 stones 12 inches across;
2 veglers placed on the side of the Bastard of Burgundy's camp: 6 stones 10 inches across;
canon of Jean de Malin: 96 stones 9 inches across;
courteau of the French king, captured at Montlhéry: 20 stones 7 inches in diameter.”

Stone cores could be prepared in advance, but could also be produced at the location of the army. In 1445, 640 2-3 inch stones and 167 4-5 inch stones were harvested at Agimont and Rochefort. In 1462, the military supplier Etienne Brazelin was paid to supply 1,800 stones 8-9 inches across for 6 courteaus, "recently cast by Jean Malin." In 1475, during the Lorraine campaign, the Burgundian artillery was accompanied by 1 master of stonemasons and 6 of his subordinates - apparently in order to produce stone cannonballs on site. The weight of stone cores for bombards, which did not have such gigantic dimensions as, for example, “Mons Meg,” could be 45 kg (as evidenced by H. Wirstreit) and higher. For example, in 1468, stones weighing 166 livres (about 75 kg) were sent to the Burgundian artillery.

The next type of ammunition often mentioned in the Burgundian artillery records is the so-called. balls(boulets), essentially the same cores, only mostly metal. Typically, such balls were made of lead or iron. The production of such cores was established in Namur and Liege. In 1445, the arsenal in Andernach had lead balls weighing 32 livres (about 14.5 kg) each. In 1474, iron balls were mentioned in the Dijon Arsenal. Iron balls for serpentine calibers 0.071 m, 0.067 m, and 0.065 m are kept in the collection of the La Neuveville Museum. The Serpentina "Lambillon", which took part in the Lorraine campaign of 1475, was also equipped with 100 balls (material not specified).

Fig. 14. Burgundian artillery shells. Museum of La Neuveville.

Two more types of ammunition that were widely used by Burgundian artillery were lead(plommet, buckshot) and pebbles otherwise cobblestones(galet). These types of projectiles were cast from lead and cast iron. Thus, in 1445, the arsenal in Andernach had 200 livres of lead for the manufacture of 400 lead, i.e. each piglet weighed about 0.23 kg. On August 18, 1466, Burgundian artillerymen received “800 livres of lead for the Serpentines to capture the suburbs of the said Dinan and the Abbey of Leff, and also /use/ in the skirmishes that took place on this day in front of the said city of Dinan.” From August 27 to September 15 of the same year, 50 livres of lead were allocated for the signal guns of the Burgundian army. , “so that the artillery gunners would fire once or twice, waking up those sleeping.” In 1473, the Lille Arsenal allocated for the transportation of shells "50 small packing boxes for serpentine screws." During the Lorraine campaign of 1475, the Burgundian Serpentines used 600 pebbles cast in cast iron. In the Museum of La Neuveville, one of the Burgundian serpentines with a caliber of 0.067 m is equipped, in addition to iron balls, with screws. They are also equipped with a Burgundian serpentine with a caliber of 0.035 m (inv. No. 111) from the collection of the Murten Museum.

It is also worth noting two more types of artillery shells, which I already wrote about in the paragraph dedicated to mortars - "copper apples" And "fire stones", i.e. bombs filled with gunpowder.

Starting around the 20-30s. XV century European artillerymen began to grain gunpowder, i.e. roll it into small granule balls. This made it possible to freely transport gunpowder over considerable distances (previously, in order to avoid delamination of gunpowder during transportation, it had to be done on site), and also increased the efficiency of the shot: air easily penetrated between the granules, promoting faster combustion. In addition, the Burgundian artillerymen of the era of the wars of Charles the Bold began to use powder bags– pre-measured powder charges, which made it possible to speed up the loading process. For example, in 1472, the Lille Arsenal allocated for the needs of artillery "150 leather bags of various types, which contain gunpowder for the artillerymen."

Fig. 15. Buckets, bags and bags for gunpowder. Miniature from the Arsenal Book of Maximilian, 1502.

The massive use of artillery required the Burgundian military leadership to show tireless concern for the production of gunpowder. Thus, the Burgundian archives of that period contain numerous evidence of the purchase of the necessary ingredients for the manufacture of gunpowder. For example, the treasury paid Jean de Veld, a merchant from Bruges, to supply saltpeter from Germany. Another merchant, Christophe Dalam, a merchant from the same Bruges, supplied the Duke’s artillery service with 7,000 livres of saltpeter from Germany and 6,000 livres of sulfur. In 1413, Burgundian artillerymen made gunpowder by mixing the ingredients in the following proportions: saltpeter - 71.5%, sulfur - 21.4%, charcoal - 7.1% (optimal proportion 74.64% / 11.85% / 13 .51%). Information has also been preserved regarding the consumption of gunpowder. For example, during the siege of Beaulieu Castle (1465), 16.5 barrels of gunpowder were consumed, during the battle of Montlhéry - 5 barrels of gunpowder and 1,500 livres of lead. In Etampes, 1 barrel of gunpowder and 250 livres of lead were spent on a ceremonial salute of 2 volleys (that is, during the salute, as well as during the wake-up call, they fired combat charges!). During the siege of Paris from October 20 to October 31, 1465, 11 barrels of gunpowder were used up. From August 27 to September 15, 1466, near Dinan were allocated “4 barrels of gunpowder to destroy /the city/ every day.” On October 28, 1467 it was spent “7.5 barrels of gunpowder for the courteau and serpentine in the battle that the monsignor gave on this day near the village called Bruste, against the Liege people who came to liberate the city of Samson / Saint-Tron /, and they were defeated and put to flight.” During the 10-month siege of Neuss, according to the Basel Chronicle, the Burgundian artillery used up 600 tons of gunpowder.

Fig. 16. Burgundian siege artillery. Miniature from the Chronicle of England by J. Wavrin, 1480

Application.

Below I place a translation of one of the accounting records of the Lille Arsenal (Archive of the Department of Nord, Lille, B.3519, II) dated 1475, the text of which gives a good idea of ​​the size of the artillery park, artillery crews and maintenance personnel, as well as the camp property and convoys, which were required for the army of Charles the Bold during the military campaign.

Preparations for the Lorraine campaign of 1475

“The service of all that relates to the artillery, which Monsignor the Duke intends to take with him, according to his written orders.

Consists of: 6 bombards made of iron and bronze, 6 mantlets for the said bombards, 6 carts for transporting the said mantlets, 12 stones for the bombards; 6 bombardelles, 6 medium mantlets, 7 carts for transporting mantelettes, 12 stones for bombardelles; 6 mortars, 12 mortar stones; serpentina Lambillon, 100 balls for her; 10 kurtos, 2,000 stones for said kurtos; 10 serpentines, 3 Hotel serpentines, 2 Jaquemin serpentines and Montlhéry serpentines, 36 medium serpentines, 48 ​​small serpentines, 200 arquebuses, 40,000 livres of lead, 600 cast iron pebbles for serpentines, 200 hanging pavois, 250 ribbed pavois, 400 shields, 8,000 bows, 10,000 dozen arrows, 4,000 dozen bowstrings, 12,000 crossbow arrows, 10,000 spindles for krenekin, barrels of Antwerp rope, 500 vuzhes, 600 slingshots, 4,500 lead hammers, 6,000 pikes, 1,200 spear shafts, 1,000 half-spear shafts, 1,200 shuffles, 1,000 dart shafts, 400 sapper jacques, 300 salades or chapelles, 1,000 shovels, 600 forged shovels, 400 curved garden knives, 300 wooden shovels, 1,000 crowbars, 500 hoes, 1,000 axes , 1,000 sickles, a windmill, 1,200 hand mills, 1,000 feet of bridge with arrangements requiring at least 100 carts for transportation, a store of fat, a forge, lanterns, saltpeter, sulfur, iron sheets, brass wire, leather bags, nails, devices and tools for carpenters, cab drivers, artillerymen; the house of the Duke, for /transportation/ which requires 7 carts, 3 pavilions, an awning for the Duke, 400 pavilions for the ordinance companies and gentlemen of the services of the Duke's Hotel, 350 new stables, 26 awnings with two poles, 7 pieces of awnings for the Duke's stable, 2 awnings for sentries, 16 other tents and pavilions for masters. The lieutenants, controllers and assistants of the above-mentioned artillery /shall provide/ ropes, poles, 2,000 tent pegs, ladders, leather boats, an assault tower made in Malin, bags for the lieutenants, controller and noblemen of the above-mentioned artillery. To deliver this artillery, it would be good to have 5,245 horses, not counting those that transport gunpowder; at the rate of 4 sous per day per horse, the expense for the delivery of artillery would be 1,049 florins per day. The people necessary for the maintenance and transportation of this artillery: 6 master bombardiers, 6 other bombardiers serving 6 bombardelles, 6 other canoniers for six mortars, 20 others for 9 courteaus and 15 serpentines, 40 others for medium and small serpentines, 50 culveriniers to shoot from arquebuses, 14 artillery assistants, Aman Milon - master of carpenters, 8 horse carpenters, 95 foot carpenters, master Wooten Teten - master of cabs, 20 foot cabs, 50 servants, 45 comrades, master of carpenters of the Duke's Hotel, 4 carpenters of his ordinance, 2 other comrades to carry 4 gates for tensioning awnings, 20 carpenters for awnings and pavilions, 200 other awning installers, 400 sappers, 2 master blacksmiths, 4 blacksmiths, 1 master stonemasons, 6 stonemasons, 3 foundries, 8 sailors for ships, 4 millers , 50 miners, 24 drivers.

Total payment for the men needed to maintain the artillery: 201 livres 9 sous per day.

Total amount including transportation costs: 1,250 livres 9 sous per day.”

Briefly about the article: The first firearms were Chinese gunpowder rockets. The Mongols attached them to arrows so that they would fly further. However, the real development of artillery began in the new era. Mortars and bombards, falconets and “mattresses”... Guns were even made of wood! Read about the “childhood” of artillery in our Arsenal.

Trumpets of Fire and Thunder

Rockets and artillery - from antiquity to the Middle Ages

The heavy metal core broke through Robillard's magical defenses, destroying a good portion of the rigging.

They have a gun with smoking powder! - shouted Garkle.

What? - Drizzt and Deudermont asked simultaneously.

Garkle couldn't begin to explain, but his frightened face spoke volumes.

Robert Salvatore, "Path to Dawn"

An amazing sight: great heroes and wise magicians tremble. Forgetting about attack spells and ship catapults, they prefer to seek salvation in flight. And it’s not the ancient dragon’s fault, no; They cope with dragons easily and playfully. Just a metal cylinder on the deck of an enemy ship. "Big Arquebus" A gun.

Are “smoking powder guns” really that much more terrifying than throwing machines, dragons, and magical lightning? There cannot be two opinions - it is incomparably worse. When building castles in fantasy worlds, have special precautions ever been taken in case the enemy uses magic or is attacked by a dragon? No. And the advent of firearms quickly led to a dramatic change in the appearance of fortifications and the tactics of field battles.

Rockets

The most primitive firearms were gunpowder flamethrowers, which were copper or bamboo pipes filled with a mixture of fuel and saltpeter. Such devices appeared in Asia since time immemorial. At the same time, it was noticed that a stream of hot gases not only ejects the incendiary composition from the barrel, but also noticeably pushes the barrel itself back. This is how the reactive principle of motion was discovered.

It is now believed that bamboo rockets appeared in India several centuries BC. The Macedonians who invaded India also mentioned such weapons. But the proliferation of rockets in antiquity could not have been significant. At that time, the method of growing saltpeter had not yet been discovered, and gunpowder, which required a lot to make rockets, remained too rare.

Descriptions of ancient rockets, unfortunately, are either too vague or completely implausible. More extensive information has been preserved about the rockets of the Middle Ages. For military purposes, rockets began to be systematically used in China from the 10th century AD. In the 13th century, the mighty tide of the Mongol invasion brought these weapons to the Middle East, from where they penetrated into Europe in the next century.

The most common rocket projectile of the Middle Ages, especially widely used by the Mongols and Arabs, was called " Chinese arrow"or "fire arrow". It was, in fact, an ordinary arrow, to the shaft of which a paper tube filled with gunpowder was attached below the tip. She was quite capable of shooting from a bow traditional way, but in flight the short fuse ignited the charge, and the arrow acquired a small jet engine.

The rocket arrows could travel 300 meters, twice the range of conventional incendiary arrows. But their more significant advantages at that time were rightly considered to be a loud whistle and long tails of colored fire and smoke. “Chinese arrows” served primarily to give signals and indicate targets to ordinary archers. The Mongols once used them to route enemy war elephants.

More powerful missiles (" spears of furious fire") weighed from 1 to 10 kilograms and were used both as signal and incendiary shells. To do this, the front part of the rocket body was filled with “Greek fire”. When the powder charge burned out, the incendiary mixture ignited, and jets of flame were ejected through holes specially made for this purpose.

The “spears” started, naturally, not from the bowstring, but from the spacer. The long shaft remained an integral part of rocket design until the late 19th century. When launched, the end of the pole was stuck into the ground and served as a guide; in the air it played the role of a stabilizer.

The flight range of the largest missiles could already exceed 2 kilometers in the Middle Ages. It was very, very good. However, the scale of use of rockets for a long time remained modest. The reason for this was the high cost, low accuracy and insufficient destructive power of the missiles.

Missiles with a warhead in the form of a cast iron grenade appeared only after the Napoleonic Wars. Medieval “fire spears” could not explode. The black powder, enclosed in a wooden casing, produced a lot of noise and smoke, but did not create a dangerous shock wave or fragments. The rockets did not harm the infantry and did not penetrate the roofs of buildings. Regarding accuracy, it is enough to say that ancient firecrackers even happened to turn around in the air and rush back to the launch point.

And who would have thought that over time missiles would become precision weapons?

Rockets in Rus'

Fireworks. Here the Firebird can imagine itself, and anything else. According to one of the most daring versions, rockets were first used in Rus' in the 10th century by Princess Olga. According to legend, this ruler burned down the rebellious settlement with the help of birds carrying burning wicks. A bird with a smoldering tinder attached to its leg will not fly back to its nest, so there is no question of a literal understanding of the evidence from the chronicle. But rockets in the Middle Ages were often called “firebirds”. Purely theoretically, in the 10th century Olga could already have received a shipment of “Chinese arrows” - for example, from the Byzantines or Bulgars. But it is much more likely that rockets in Rus' began to be used only in the 15th - early 16th centuries. In 1607, Onisim Mikhailov in “ Charter of military, cannon and other matters related to military science"described in detail the methods of manufacturing and using signal and incendiary flares. A special “Rocket Establishment” was opened in Moscow at the end of the 17th century. But only signal and fireworks rockets, known as “crackers,” were produced on it.

The emergence of artillery

The oldest weapons, invented in the 7th century in China, and in the 11th century, through the mediation of the Arabs, came to Europe, still did not have a pilot hole in the breech. The charge was ignited from the barrel using a wick passed into the gap between the core and the wall of the barrel.

The most amazing feature of such mortars was that the channel of their short barrel was not a cylinder, but a cone. The conical barrel practically does not direct the movement of the projectile and locks the powder gases only until the core begins to move. However, the choice of a cone rather than a cylinder was not accidental.

The fact is that the first cannons were intended for mounted firing, but did not yet have carriages, and in position they were simply stuck with the breech into the ground. Therefore, the range of the shot could be adjusted only in the same way as it was regulated with ancient catapults - by changing the weight of the projectile. The conical barrel allowed the use of stones of different sizes.

The tools of the 12th-14th centuries were still small. The barrel, weighing 20-80 kilograms and with a caliber of 70-90 millimeters, was cast from copper or bronze, or forged from soft iron. At that time, neither Arab nor European craftsmen were yet able to drill out massive metal blanks from the inside.

For this reason, copper and bronze trunks, like bells, were cast immediately with an internal cavity. Iron cannons were forged from strips of metal welded lengthwise and fastened with hoops. The tools made in this way turned out to be very fragile. This circumstance severely limited the power of artillery of the early period.

The firing force of the first bombards was approximately equivalent to the muskets of the 16th century. Accordingly, they fired from them not at the fortress walls, but at the knight’s horses, from a distance of only a few tens of meters. The Arabs loaded their guns with faceted iron bullets or lead wrapped in rope. Europeans preferred a stone weighing 0.5-1 kilograms wrapped in a rag, and sometimes a thick wooden bolt with an iron tip.

In Europe, cannons ceased to be rare by the middle of the 14th century. So, during the Battle of Cressy, the British used about 20 small bombards. By the end of the century, the use of artillery in battle had become common; however, the guns were still of very, very little use. Pipes throwing out projectiles " with a roar, a whistle and a force hitherto unknown"were used primarily for their moral effect.

The small bombards fired not only weakly, inaccurately and not loudly enough, but also very rarely. And the problem was not even that it was difficult to charge them - there was simply no one to charge them. Bombards of the 14th century exploded so often that only the master who made it risked firing the cannon. Therefore, for every 5-10 bombards there was only one gunner. Before the battle began, he installed and loaded the cannons. He also fired from them, running up with a torch to the gun, in the line of fire of which the enemy appeared.

Cannons made of wood?

Wooden bombard. No matter how paradoxical the phrase “wooden cannon” may sound, in reality, a significant part of the most ancient weapons were not made of metal. The conical depression could also be hollowed out in the stump of a hard tree. The wooden mortar did not last long, but making a new one was not difficult. Tools made from oak stumps were used in Europe by partisans until the 19th century. Bombards were also made from tree trunks held together with hoops. But much more often, when making “long” guns, wood was replaced with a roll of cowhide. Leather cannons were not uncommon in the Middle Ages and were found everywhere - from the Czech Republic to Tibet. Even in the 17th century, the Swedish (the most advanced in Europe) army was armed with light guns of a similar device. The cannons, made from rolls of leather, could only fire buckshot and turned out to be very dangerous to use. The barrel was quickly burning out, and the gun could explode at any minute.

Giant Bombards

Attempts to make a cannon, the weight of which would be calculated not in pounds, but in tons, were first made at the end of the 14th century. In most cases they were unsuccessful. Huge trunks, forged from iron strips and hoops, inevitably burst at the first shot. So the first success of siege artillery - the destruction of Castle Tannenberg by an iron 790-mm cannon in 1399 - was rightly perceived by contemporaries as an accident. In order not to tempt fate, the miracle gun was abandoned “at the scene of the crime.”

Nevertheless, a start had been made. Fire artillery demonstrated the ability to solve problems that were in principle impossible for throwing machines. Until now, stone throwers only threw incendiary shells over the wall, or (much less often) tried to knock down the gates of the fortress.

The wall - stone, brick and even wood - had to be either undermined or loosened with battering rams. In this case, the rams first had to be pulled point-blank towards the wall, after filling up the ditches. And even after that, the wall-breaking machines needed considerable time to crush the barrier.

The problem of casting huge trunks from bronze was solved already at the beginning of the 15th century. Iron giant bombards were replaced by bronze ones. Their reliability also left much to be desired. Due to the lack of suitable drilling machines, the barrels continued to be cast with a ready-made internal cavity and could withstand only a few shots.

A cannon with a caliber of 152 millimeters could well have replaced the most powerful throwing machine of the Middle Ages. But even 300-mm siege weapons were considered “frivolous” in the 15th century. Typically, 400-millimeter bombards were used to destroy fortifications. The most powerful European guns had a caliber of 630 millimeters and a weight of 13.5 tons. But even they looked like pitiful dwarfs in comparison with the 100-ton Turkish monsters with a caliber of 890 to 1220 millimeters. The cannonball alone could weigh up to 2 tons.

It is not surprising that by the middle of the 15th century, throwing machines and battering rams finally became a thing of history. A large enough cannon could decide the outcome of a siege with a single shot.

At the bombard position, it was installed in a structure made of logs and brickwork. Despite the fact that the cannonball's flight range could reach 2-2.5 kilometers, the position was established only a few tens of meters from the wall. This made it possible to make maximum use of the energy of the shot, but all work, naturally, had to be carried out under the cover of huge wooden shields.

Stone cores were also made here, under the walls of the besieged fortress. To increase their weight, they were bound with iron and also wrapped with ropes to fit more tightly into the trunk.

Then it was time to charge. First, cakes made from gunpowder pulp were sent into the barrel. Then - the core, which was strengthened in the trunk with wooden wedges. This, of course, increased the likelihood of an explosion, but at the same time it made it possible to significantly increase the force of the shot. The gunpowder in the cakes burned slowly, and the unfortified core would fly out of the short barrel before the oxygen released by the saltpeter had time to fully react with the fuel.

The procedure for preparing a bombard loaded from the breech to fire turned out to be much more complicated. And in the 15th century there were an overwhelming majority of them, since it was much easier to make a mold for casting a pipe open at both ends. The breech-loading bombard consisted of two parts: a barrel and a charging chamber. The chamber was a prototype of the cartridge case and was a cup, the outer diameter of which corresponded to the inner diameter of the barrel. The correspondence, however, was very relative - in practice, it was often possible to stick a finger into the gap. Before firing, the chamber was filled with powder pulp and inserted into the breech of the barrel. After this, the gap was covered with clay, the chamber was propped up with brickwork and walled up. This was of little use: when fired, a significant part of the powder gases still escaped through the cracks between the barrel and the chamber, scattering stones and reducing the energy of the shot. With this method of loading, the projectile, of course, was inserted into the barrel without wedges.

The installation of the giant bombard usually took several days; Charging took 2-4 hours. But sooner or later all the difficulties were behind us. The bombard's shield began to slowly rise. Seeing this, the besieged hastily left the wall, and sometimes even the neighborhoods adjacent to the wall. The besiegers, however, also hid wherever they could. The gunner himself retreated to cover. The shot was fired using a long fuse.

If the wall did not collapse with one shot, the cannon could be loaded again. But this required at least one more day. The “carriage” of brick and logs was so shaken by the monstrous recoil of the gun that it had to be repaired.

Artillery of the Middle Ages

By the middle of the 15th century, fire artillery had finally become an integral element of the weapons of fortresses and field armies. By this time, guns had improved and became more diverse.

Mortars(from the Arabic word “mozhzhah”, that is, “bang”) in the 15th century they acquired an elongated barrel with a ignition hole. Now it consisted of a conical part in which the charge was placed, and a cylindrical part that directed the movement of the projectile. The fire could thus be fired more accurately and further - the aimed shooting distance increased to 250-400 meters. The aiming problem was solved thanks to carriages that appeared in the middle of the century, which made it possible to change the angle of the barrel. The calibers of mortars during this period still remained small - 152-173 millimeters.

The shells for the mortars were brandskugels (“fireballs”) - stone cores wrapped in several layers of fabric soaked in resin and saltpeter.

A very common type of fortress artillery of the Middle Ages was intended for firing at infantry falconets(Russian name - “mattresses”). The strange name of these guns came from the Turkic word “tyufeng”, which meant approximately the same as the Arabic “mozhzhah”.

The caliber of the “mattresses” was smaller than that of the bombards - from 50 to 80 millimeters. An iron, copper or leather cannon was attached to a block and weighed from 80 to 150 kilograms. An effective shot with buckshot made from chopped lead or nails could be fired at 100-150 meters.

A field gun of the 15th century could hit infantry with stone grapeshot or cannonballs. But the grapeshot was effective at a distance of no more than 100 meters, and the pebbles bounced off the armor and shields. The cannonball could fly about 700 meters, and the armor, naturally, did not protect from its impact. But was there a high probability that the cannonball would accurately hit a moving target?

As it turned out, it was quite large. In the 15th century, field cannons began to fire ricochets. The cannonball, released parallel to the ground, hit the ground at a low angle, bounced off and thus made several jumps without rising higher than human height. The bombard could fire ricochets only at a third of the maximum distance, that is, at 200-250 meters. However, from that moment until the mid-19th century, this method of shooting became the main one for artillery. It was not difficult to hit the center of the battle with cannonballs bouncing along the ground, and each shot caused numerous casualties.

* * *

The period from the 7th to the 15th centuries can be described as the “childhood” of artillery. Studying the technical characteristics of the guns of this era, one can only be surprised that such primitive and clumsy pipes could inflict any damage on the enemy at all. But foundry furnaces and machines were gradually improved, and gunpowder manufacturing technologies were improved. The 15th century was replaced by the 16th century, during which artillery was able to win the right to be called the “god of war.”

However, this is a completely different story.