Osprey - Weapon 03 - Medieval Handgonnes. The First Black Powder Infantry Weapons.pdf

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MEDIEVAL
HANDGONNES
The first black powder infantry weapons
SEAN M
C
LACHLAN
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
weapon
MEDIEVAL
HANDGONNES
SEAN McLACHLAN
Series Editor Martin Pegler
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
First published
in
Great Britain
in
2010
by
Osprey Publishing,
Midland House, West Way, Botley, Oxford, OX2 0PH, UK
44-02
23rd Street, Suite 219, Long Island City,
NY 11101,
USA
E-mail:
info@ospreypublishing.com
© 2010 Osprey Publishing Ltd.
All rights reserved. Apart from any fair
dealing
for the purpose
of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988,
no part of this
publication may
be
reproduced, stored
in
a retrieval system, or
transmitted
in
any form or
by
any means, electronic, electrical,
chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise,
without
the prior
written
permission of the copyright
owner. Enquiries should
be
addressed to the Publishers.
A CIP catalogue record for this
book is
available from the British
Library.
Print ISBN: 978
1
84908
155
9
PDF ebook ISBN: 978
1
84908
156
6
Sean McLachlan
has
asserted
his/her
right under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act,
1988,
to
be identified
as the Author of
this Work.
Page
layout by
Ben Salvesen
Battlescene artwork
by
Gerry and Sam Embleton
Index
by
Alan Thatcher
Typeset
in
Sabon and Univers
Originated
by
PDQ Digital Media Solutions
Printed
in
China through World Print Ltd
Artist’s note
Readers may care to note that the original paintings from
which
the colour plates
in
this
book were
prepared are available for
private sale. All reproduction copyright
whatsoever is
retained
by
the Publishers. All enquiries should
be
addressed to:
www.gerryembleton.com
The Publishers regret that they can enter
into
no correspondence
upon this matter.
Dedication
For Almudena, my
wife,
and Julián, my son.
Acknowledgements
My research on this subject
was
made possible through the
advice and
help
of
dozens
of
historians,
archaeologists, museum
curators, and re-enactors. I
would
especially
like
to thank
historian
Kelly DeVries for
his insights into 14th-
and
15th-
century technology, Gerry Embleton for much useful material,
Swiss re-enactor Ulrich Bretscher for
his
first-hand
knowledge
of
firing early
handgonnes,
The Middelaldercentret
in
Denmark for
information
on their gunpowder experiments, and the Company
of the Wolfe Argent for providing the excellent firing sequences
found
in
this
book.
Special thanks go to Professor Bert Hall of
the University of Toronto for enlightening me as to the uses of
urine from a
wine-drinking
man.
Editor’s note
Occasional references are made
in
this
book
to the pre-decimal
British currency of pounds, shillings and pence. For those
unfamiliar
with
the system,
12
old pence (12d) made one shilling
(1s), and 20 shillings made one old pound (£1). The conversion to
decimal
currency
was
made on the
basis
of one shilling equalling
five new pence, and
with 100
new pence
in
the pound.
The following
will help in
converting other measurements
between
metric and
imperial:
10 11 12 13 14
10
9 8 7 6 5
4
3 2
1
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1
mile =
1.6km
1lb
= 0.45kg
1
yard = 0.9m
1ft
= 0.3m
1in
= 25.4mm
100fps
= 30.48m/s
Cover
illustration
from the Swiss Amtliche Berner Chronik of
1483, by
Diebold Schilling. (Burgerbibliothek Bern, Mss.h.h.l.1,
p.347). Handgonne photographs (top) courtesy Royal
Armouries, and Danish
National
Museum of Military History.
Title page
image
used
with
permission of the British Library
(Royal
14
E IV f.23)
Osprey Publishing
is
supporting the Woodland Trust, the UK’s
leading woodland
conservation charity,
by
funding the
dedication
of trees.
www.ospreypublishing.com
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
DEVELOPMENT
The gunpowder revolution
4
7
28
60
77
78
80
USE
Firearms on the medieval battlefield
IMPACT
A turning point in history
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
INTRODUCTION
This book covers the development of hand-held black powder weapons
from their earliest beginnings in the mid-14th century through their
development over the next 150 years. These simple weapons, lit by a slow
match held in the hand for want of a trigger and lock, went through a
rapid development and a variety of styles before being replaced by the
matchlock
arquebus
in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
Pre-matchlock handgonnes have been much maligned by historians,
many of whom dismiss them as inaccurate, primitive contraptions that
did little other than scare the enemy and endanger the user; however, an
examination of medieval chronicles and the experiences of modern
experimental archaeologists and re-enactors show otherwise. Early
handgonnes, while slow to reload and inaccurate at long range, had
superior penetrative power compared to bows and crossbows, and proved
their worth time and again on the battlefield. The fact that they spread so
quickly – within a century of their invention they were considered a vital
part of every European army, and within another century they had started
to displace the crossbow – shows they were a valuable addition to the
arsenal of the medieval soldier.
It is not known exactly when hand-held black powder weapons were
first used, nor when the handgonne was later replaced by the matchlock.
Although the first matchlock arquebuses appeared as early as the first
quarter of the 15th century, pre-matchlock handgonnes did not
immediately disappear, and in some places continued to be used well into
the 16th century. It is difficult to identify from some contemporary
chronicles and images whether the firearms being illustrated have
matchlocks or not. Artwork from even very late in the 15th century shows
the matchlock had not come into universal use, and it may have been a
minority elite weapon within a larger group of handgonnes. Thus some
engagements, such as the battles of the Swiss–Burgundian
Wars
of the
4
OPPOSITE
A man firing a large handgonne of
the socketed variety from Konrad
Kyeser’s
Bellifortis,
1405. Unlike
the other image reproduced from
the same book (see page 29), this
man is lighting his own weapon.
He appears to use a bent piece
of iron. While modern re-enactors
have found that hot irons tend
to bend because of the gonne’s
recoil, this one looks sufficiently
thick to withstand it.
(Niedersächsische Staats- und
Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen)
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

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