Gunpowder Artillery History and Development
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Recent papers in Gunpowder Artillery History and Development
To affirm his political regime, Pandolfo Petrucci (1452-1512) took advantage of the potentialities given by the Camera del Comune. It had been the arsenal of the city of Siena for a long time, but Pandolfo changed its organization and... more
ТОЛЬКО ОЗНАКОМИТЕЛЬНЫЙ ФРАГМЕНТ, электронная версия не распространяется. Роджер Бэкон: алхимия, астрология, магия и медицина (сборник) / М. М. Пэттисон Мьюр, Г. С. Редгроув, Л. Торндайк, Э. Т. Уитингтон, Г. У. Л. Хайм / Пер. с англ. и... more
ABSTRACT in English (résumé en français plus bas): "Artillery and the art of the 'petite guerre': a long progression" In 1744, for the first time in France, some pieces of artillery are associated to a unit of light troops from its... more
This paper studies steel built-up guns made in Josiah Vavasseur's London Ordnance Works in 1880s that were sold to China and used in coastal forts and warships. It uses the Vavasseur album in the collection of Southwark Local History... more
The quest for saltpeter, the 'inestimable treasure' of Tudor and Stuart monarchs, crucial for the production of gunpowder, is the subject of David Cressy's work, which spans the reign of the first Tudor, Henry VII, to the industrialised... more
Commissioned review for The Historian, journal of the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society. Complete, forthcoming.
Theme One: Waterloo Artillery Lt-Col Townend RA gives an informative introduction to the Artillery at Waterloo. Waterloo is one of the most written about battles but the role of the artillery is still poorly understood and controversial.... more
This research will describe the first major operation launched by an Italian army against a heavily fortified city after the assimilation of the French style artillery into the warfare of the Peninsula. The paper will examine, in... more
Some documents from the Friuli area, dating back to 1336, attesting the use of firearms in Venzone and the preparation of black powder, were quickly forgotten immediately after their publication, not finding feedback, even today, even in... more
This work will revolve around the analysis of the so-called "Duncan Guns", a total of 4 bronze cannons from Italy and Spain cast in the 18th century. The objective of this will be to carry out an in-depth study of the foundry marks, as... more
y B. Joel, “Death Be Not Proud: A Denouement of How one Man and his Death Made One Small Island Become More Detrimental to England Than All the Forces of her Enemies, A Story of Isaac Van Dam of Statia". Gunpowder and the American... more
Scholars who study craft books and books of secrets in the Middle Ages can engage on internal debates about the modes of transmission or interpretations of numerous facets of these important treatises, but they can all agree on two... more
In 2001 The Arms and Armour Society sponsored a translation of Das Feuerwerkbuch. (FWB) This manuscript contains the earliest (Western) references to gunpowder. The editorial comment of the translation contained the unsubstantiated... more
It took up to two hundred years to progress from the first confirmed appearance of gunpowder weapons in Europe and the Middle East to the first new fortifications wholly designed according to geometric principles and based on the use of... more
The guns of the coast artillery were built to match those carried by the warships of the era. Mortars have long been an essential part of defense. The article focuses on the different types of french mortars, 17th c. to mid 19th c., and... more
The paper discusses the availability and use of mortars in Ireland in the 17th century, noting their seeming absence prior to the 1640s. The use of mortars in the siege of Londonderry in 1689 is analysed.
This article offers a study and edition of a collection of Middle English recipes for gunpowder from the early fifteenth century in London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 101. These are entirely unknown outside of their descriptions in a few... more
The battles fought between the Genoese and the Venetians in the lagoon of Chioggia, between 1379 and 1380, marked a turning point for naval warfare. Namely, these battles saw for the first time a massive use of embarked artillery, in a... more
In 1459, the manuscript called Thott 290 2° (now stored in Copenhagen) was completed at the request Hans Talhoffer. Most of its teachings related to the myriad forms of fighting that were the trade of a fencing master. However, modern... more
Since the seminal works of Needham and Partington, accounts of saltpetre have been dominated by historical writers with scant attempts to verify the technical details. This paper seeks to follow the progress of saltpetre production from... more
Mid-term research paper for AP Chemistry on the science behind a combustion light gas gun (CLGG). This is NOT AN OFFICIAL SCHOLARLY DOCUMENT!
This paper gives an overview of the emergence and development of mobile light field artillery in selected European countries during the first half of the Thirty Years' War. In the final part of the paper, the importance of the collection... more
As far as Venice is concerned we still do not know whether the first artillery used were of iron or bronze. Bronze bombards, as regards the fifteenth century, are not known but this is due to the fact that the pieces made with this alloy,... more
Futur instrument de la construction étatique, l’artillerie n’est pas (encore), au début du XVe siècle, l’apanage du prince. Outre certains seigneurs, les villes des Pays-Bas disposent de parcs d’artillerie parfois impressionnants. Dans... more
This article examines technological developments in the production of weapons, especially firearms, during the Florentine Quattrocento, from the early conflicts against the Visconti (1423–1433) until the first years of the Pisan War... more
Sarezzo è oggi un industrioso comune della Val Trompia a una quindicina di chilometri a nord di Brescia, sulla statale che dal capoluogo conduce a Gardone. Disteso alla sinistra del fiume Mella, nel punto in cui vi confluisce il torrente... more
Although soundly defeated in the War of Austrian Succession by the brilliance of Frederick the Great and his Prussian Army, the army of Austria was the most significant of his opponents. Their campaign history has been expertly documented... more
Among the objects from Mughal India (1526-1858), a small group of luxury priming flasks stand out. Some of them can be traced to the seventeenth century in inventories of European royal collections. Some 85 such flasks have been... more
Il Museo d'Artiglieria di Torino è stato fondato negli anni 1842-43 sull'onda di quella rapida maturazione di idee, di interessi e di tecnologie che, nella prima metà del secolo XIX e soprattutto durante il regno di Carlo Alberto, ha... more
Much has been written about the sources and properties of saltpetre and charcoal but the third component of gunpowder, sulphur, has received scant attention. Although the 'modern' spelling of saltpeter and sulfur 1 are becoming more... more
"The strong links of Saxony with the Polish crown caused her to become the battleground for the competing powers of Austria, Prussia and Russia for centuries. Efficient artillery was essential but in the 1740s was neglected due to the... more
Gunpowder arrived in Europe from Asia in the 13th century. It was first used militarily by medieval armies in bombards, large gunpowder-fired siege guns. By the late 17th and 18th centuries gunpowder weapons were the dominant weapons used... more
Given the difficulty that archaeologists usually encounter in order to identify, contextualize and conveniently date the artifacts of military origin found in their excavations, a catalogue of some of them is offered, especially the... more
War has been the determining factor for the survival of empires and kingdoms for long. As the ages progressed from medieval to modern, technological and intellectual breakthroughs came to be acknowledged and accepted all over. Gunpowder... more
La ricerca esplora lo sviluppo militare dei paesi dell'Asia Orientale (Cina, Corea e Giappone) tra 1400 e 1800, mettendolo in relazione con il fenomeno coevo della Rivoluzione Militare in Europa in un'ottica di storia delle relazioni... more
108pp., 4to, fully illus., Four themes: a translation by Digby Smith of Bleckwenn’s important woirk on Prussian artillery of the Seven Years War, together with scale plans by Christian Rogge; Saxon & Piedmont quick fire guns; Battalion... more
Arguably the most important Western source on the early history of gunpowder technology is the late thirteenth century manuscript, Das Fuerwerkbuch. When it was translated into English in 2000, it contained a commentary on the chemistry... more
The artillery for the anti-Barbary defenses of Lavagna and the Eastern Ligurian Riviera in the 16th-17th century.
This article examines the technological development of artillery production in Florence during the last two decades of the fifteenth century, before and after the assimilation of the most efficient French ordnance into Italian warfare.... more
The Genoese galleys, both the Republic ones and those belonging to private ship-owners hired to the Spanish crown, at the battle of Lepanto amounted to 31 representing the third component, after Venice and Spain, of the Christian fleet.... more