Gunpowder Artillery In The Middle Ages
Artillery in the Middle Ages primarily consisted of the introduction of the cannon, large tubular firearms designed to fire a heavy projectile over a long distance. They were used in China, Europe and the Middle East during the period.
Although gunpowder was known in Europe during the High Middle Ages, it was not until the Late Middle Ages that cannons were widely developed. The first cannons in Europe were probably used in Iberia, during the Islamic wars against the Christians in the 13th century; their use was also first documented in the Middle East around this time. English cannons first appeared in 1327, and later saw more general use during the Hundred Years' War, when primitive cannons were engaged at the Battle of Crécy in 1346. By the end of the 14th century, the use of cannons was also recorded in Russia, Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire.
The earliest medieval cannon, the pot-de-fer, had bulbous, vase-like shape, and was used more for psychological effect than for causing physical damage. The later culverin was transitional between the handgun and the full cannon, and was used as an anti-personnel weapon. During the 15th century, cannon advanced significantly, so that bombards were effective siege engines. Towards the end of the period, cannon gradually replaced siege engines—among other forms of aging weaponry—on the battlefield.
The Middle English word Canon was derived from the Old Italian word cannone, meaning large tube, which came from Latin canna, meaning cane or reed. The Latinised word canon has been used for a gun since 1326 in Italy, and since 1418 in English. The word Bombardum, or "bombard", was earliest term used for "cannon", but from 1430 it came to refer only to the largest weapons.
Read more about Gunpowder Artillery In The Middle Ages: Early Use in China and East Asia, Use in The Islamic World, Use in Europe, Advances in The Late Middle Ages, Cannon At The End of The Middle Ages
Famous quotes containing the words gunpowder, artillery, middle and/or ages:
“Genius as an explosive power beats gunpowder hollow; and if knowledge, which should give that power guidance, is wanting, the chances are not small that the rocket will simply run amuck among friends and foes.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“We now demand the light artillery of the intellect; we need the curt, the condensed, the pointed, the readily diffused—in place of the verbose, the detailed, the voluminous, the inaccessible. On the other hand, the lightness of the artillery should not degenerate into pop-gunnery—by which term we may designate the character of the greater portion of the newspaper press—their sole legitimate object being the discussion of ephemeral matters in an ephemeral manner.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)
“In the middle years of childhood, it is more important to keep alive and glowing the interest in finding out and to support this interest with skills and techniques related to the process of finding out than to specify any particular piece of subject matter as inviolate.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)
“So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say. But to sacrifice a hair of the head of your vision, a shade of its colour, in deference to some Headmaster with a silver pot in his hand or to some professor with a measuring-rod up his sleeve, is the most abject treachery, and the sacrifice or wealth and chastity, which used to be said to be the greatest of human disasters, a mere flea-bite in comparison.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)