Subject:
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Re: Cannons?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.castle
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Date:
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Wed, 14 Nov 2001 13:54:21 GMT
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Viewed:
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758 times
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Adam,
I've been intersted in late medieval warfare for a while, and hope I can
give you some useful guidelines.
In lugnet.castle, Adam Murtha writes:
> This is probably a stupid question, but when did cannons come into use?
> Would a ship in the 'castle' era have cannons?
If I recall correctly, cannons in Europe first came into play in the 14th
century. I read that the first use of "guns" against footsoldiers (in
Europe) was at the Battle of Crecy in 1348 or thereabouts. They consisted of
several tubes each firing an individual arrow like projectile called a
"garro". They seemed to have little effect on the French, except perhaps by
frightening their horses and contributing to the general panic of battle.
The first cannons were much less effective than catapults, and notoriously
dangerous to operate. In the beginning they might be directed at gateways,
but as they developed, they became powerful enough the bring down even the
thickest walls.
By the end of the Hundred Year's war in France (1415 to the 1450s), cannons
were an important part of siege warfare (by both besiegers and beseiged).
The English commander at some big siege (Orleans?) was killed by cannonfire.
One of the last battles of the war was also primarily decided by artillery,
again being used by the French in defense.
I've seen contemporary piture of ships from the 15th century depicting guns
on ships, but it isn't quite clear if these are true cannons, or the smaller
anti personel weapons operated by a single man.
If you choose to use cannons in a medieval or fantasy setting, you may want
to build your own much bulkier gun carraiges. The earliest gun carriages
didn't even have wheels.
hope this helps
Magnus
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Cannons?
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| This is probably a stupid question, but when did cannons come into use? Would a ship in the 'castle' era have cannons? (23 years ago, 14-Nov-01, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.pirates)
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