Superguns - Late Middle Ages

Late Middle Ages

In the context of late medieval siege warfare the term superguns is sometimes applied to stone-firing bombards with a ball diameter of more than 50 cm. These superguns were either manufactured by forging together longitudinal iron bars, held in place by iron rings, or cast in bronze with techniques generally similar to bellfounding. Known examples include the Pumhart von Steyr, Dulle Griet and Mons Meg (all iron) as well as the cast-bronze Faule Mette, Faule Grete and Dardanelles Gun.

At the beginning of the development of superguns was the desire to increase the effect of the projectiles. To this end, master gunners first simply used larger powder loads. These, however, exerted larger pressure on the existing cannon and could make it burst, causing the death of the irreplaceable gunner with his crew (and even kings). In addition, it was observed that, due to their higher velocity, stone balls were shattered by the impact on the walls rather than smashing them. Thus, the mass of the cannon balls and, consequently, of the ordnance too continually increased, finally culminating in giant cannon like the Pumhart von Steyr which fired a 690 kg ball. Apart from the anticipated improvement in penetrating power, other factors such as prestige and a potential deterrent effect also played an important role.

For all their manufacturing quality the superguns were only moderately successful. Their military effectiveness turned out to be out of all proportion to their overwhelming logistical demands and financial costs. For the cost of a single supergun, two or three large bombards with a reasonably smaller caliber (in German Hauptbüchse) could be produced whose firepower was enough to shatter any medieval wall, in particular when it was concentrated in a battery. Due to their less bulky dimensions and higher rate of fire, these artillery pieces could be more flexibly deployed and caused more destruction in any given length of time. Furthermore, the transition from stone to smaller, but much more devastating iron balls meant that super-sized bores became unnecessary. The caliber of a 50 pound ball, for example, could be reduced from 28 to 18 cm when using an iron projectile instead.

Thus, as early as the second half of the 15th century, further development in siege technology concentrated on the Hauptbüchse, and bombards largely disappeared from the leading artillery arsenal of the dukes of Burgundy.

At about the same time super-sized bombards were phased out in Western Europe, the technology was transmitted to the Ottoman army by Orban, a Hungarian gunfounder, on the occasion of the Siege of Constantinople in 1453. The extant Dardanelles Gun, cast by the Ottoman gunfounder Ali several years later, is assumed to have followed closely the outline of Orban's guns. A similar super-sized bombard was employed by the Ottoman navy aboard a carrack of possibly Venetian design at the Battle of Zonchio in 1499.

In India, there is a forge-welded Iron Cannon in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. This cannon was built during the reign of Raghunatha Nayak (1600 - 1645 AD), and it is said to be one of the largest cannons in the world. Artillery was used by Indian armies predominantly for defending against besieging armies.