Following the Battle of Crecy we’ll be moving out across the European continent to track down the minimal references we have for the use of artillery over the next few episodes.
Heading on from Crecy, Edward III decided Calais would be a really useful beachhead town to have in his control. The “ribauldequin” used at Crecy were later used at the Siege of Calais also in 1346. Again placed into position and let have their way with walls. During the following half century or so the majority of pieces were cast in bronze rather than iron. The material has more easily worked and cast as well as having more “give” in that it was more likely to stretch under pressure rather than crack. Not to a noticeable amount but more as a result of trial and error, one assumes the errors were observed from afar. Remembering the death of St Barabara’s father with a lightning strike and the sudden failure of a gun being not dissimilar. Bronze pieces tended to fail less than iron and were somewhat easier to build from a manufacturing standpoint. The VHS of its age, so to speak.
Bombards continued to grow in size. But as is typical for this period, the word was applied to pieces from less than a metre in length to pieces several times that length and weighing up to 20 tonnes. Aas you can imagine, ammunition, cannon balls were not standardised either. For the majority of the period under review, the larger bombards relied primarily upon stone ammunition. The larger types overcame this issue by using a tapered barrel. Thus allowing various sized rounds to be loaded.
Larger Bombards
An interesting example of this type of weapon is the Faule Mette which I’m informed means lazy mette alluding to its rare usage. This was not a wheeled weapon and had to be dug into its firing position. Designed for siege work rather than as a field piece, it could take rounds from 670mm to 800mm, weighing between 320 and 425 kg and using between 25 and 35 kgs of black powder. Effects could vary, obviously. You can see from the pic on the website the unusual design, to modern eyes anyway. Faule Mette was the property of the German city of Brunswick; it was cast by the gunfounder Henning Bussenschutte on the central market square Kohlmarkt in Brunswick in 1411. Lazy may well have fitted this monster as in 1787 it was melted down and recast into several smaller field guns. In its 366 years it was fired in anger 12 times.
Another example of this type of piece is Mons Meg. A medieval bombard in the collection of the Royal Armouries, but on loan to Historic Scotland and located at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.[1] It has a barrel diameter of 20 inches (510 mm). As you can see from the pic over on the website, she fired stone balls. Built in 1449 on the Orders of Philip the Good and sent to James II of Scotland in1454. Employed in sieges until the mid 16th century when she was retired to ceremonial work before failing in 1680. Of interest only as another example of this type of piece.
During the entire Hundred Years War period, across the three areas of Eurasia, the Chinese, the Islamic and Christendom, artillery evolved into many shapes and sizes as the technology was tested. I’ve included a video from the Royal Armoury showing a field piece from the period or just after.
The video runs through the process of loading and firing. The powder chamber in the breech is a separate piece of barrel which is loaded and installed. There were apparently more than one such chamber with each weapon to maintain a steady supply of “loaded” powder. The round was inserted from the muzzle and rammed home with wadding. On the top of the powder chamber is an opening across which is spread black powder. This is ignited with a “slow match” that is a taper which maintains a fire but which burns slowly. The burning black powder ignites the powder change and the weapon discharges. Have a look on the website, the academic looking chap gives a good commentary and the slow mo is worth a squiz.
During this period trunnions became more common, especially for field pieces and this is a key development both for aiming the weapon and for the metallurgy of construction. There’s an interesting Chinese example from 1377, again over at the website, with dual trunnions, that is two on each side of the barrel. Experimentation as a hallmark of the era.
As can be imagined, after the use of artillery at Crecy by the English, the French were keen to acquire some themselves. By 1375 at the siege of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, on the upper end of the Contentin Peninsula in Normandy, the French brought to the field a substantial gun line of 32 pieces. Still firing stone balls, they were, nonetheless, an import factor in the siege. The first time in the west that gunpowder artillery had brought down a fortification.
By the early 1400s cannon were considered essential for defence. To that end towns started to store gunpowder in magazines for times of trouble. They also appointed local master gunners to take charge of the weapons and their use when under siege. Their use was particularly suited to these static conditions. They could be “dug in” so to speak on turrets. Given the troubles of moving both unwheeled guns and the somewhat dangerous early black powder during the English raids and French counter raids, quite often these events happened without artillery support.
Gunnery was, as we have seen a part of pitched battle, see Crecy in the last episode, the last battle of the Hundred Year’s War was the Battle of Castillon 17th July 1453. This Battle occurred just after the Fall of Constantinople to Ottomans on the 29th of May 1453. Indeed the French use of gunnery at Castillon was a major reason for their victory just as three months earlier Mehmed II had used huge guns to batter the never before breached Walls of Constantinople. We will return to Constantinople in a later episode but just remember, from the Battle of Crecy to 1453 was a period of great experimentation and development in the arts and sciences of artillery.
The basic areas of gunnery, siege, coastal, heavy, medium, field and mortars all came into being. What we will see as we travel across Europe, the Islamic lands and back to China in the coming episodes is a series of developments in usage, metallurgy and ammunition.
As a taste of other parts of Europe let’s look at the Basques, especially the Kingdom of Navarre which played a part as a sideshow to the Hundred Year’s War, attracting both Edward the Black Prince, Edward III’s son and heir as well as his younger brother John of Gaunt to adventures in the area. We call them adventures because they failed to bring any significant results for the English and were horrendously expensive.
The Basque Kingdom of Navarre, had in its service a Moorish “master gunner” who’s designation was “artillery garrison master” in 1367. At the same time the Moors of Toledo had a reputation as armourers and repairers of artillery. This is a line of enquiry we will be following from the other end of the mediterranean south through the levant and west across North Africa to Spain in later episodes. The areas of interaction between Christendom and the Islamic world make for some odd bedfellows indeed.
We’ll call that a day for this episode. If I’ve made a mistake drop me a line at pod@firemissionbattery.com, email is in the show notes as well. Don’t forget to check the website for pics and the video.
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Links
email: pod@firemissionbattery.com
Website: www.firemissionbattery.com
Episode 4 https://firemissionbattery.com/ep4/
Siege of Calais
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Calais_(1346%E2%80%931347)
How were mediaeval guns loaded and fired?