Gunpowder Technology in the Fifteenth Century
Gunpowder Technology in the Fifteenth Century

Author: Axel Müller

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2024-01-16

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 1783277319

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The first full edition and English translation of the RA I.34 Firework Book. Produced from the early fifteenth century onwards, Firework Books are, broadly speaking, manuals on how to use gunpowder, witnessing a major development in warfare. Surviving in a corpus of some 65, each text has different content and components, but core elements are present throughout. An important example is a manuscript in the collection of the Royal Armouries (RA I.34), written in Early New High German, and (unlike many other manuscripts) still in what appears to be its original format and binding; it also, unusually, contains a number of illustrations. This volume provides the first full edition and English translation of the material, with a detailed analysis of its content and context. It positions the Firework Books at a crucial stage in the development of gunpowder artillery, offering an unparalleled insight into fifteenth-century gunpowder technology at a critical juncture of military and technological change at the end of the Middle Ages.

Royal and Urban Gunpowder Weapons in Late Medieval England
Royal and Urban Gunpowder Weapons in Late Medieval England

Author: Dan Spencer

Publisher: Armour and Weapons

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781783274574

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First comprehensive study of English artillery in the late Middle Ages, bringing out its full impact on areas beyond the military. One of the most important technological developments of the Middle Ages was the adoption of gunpowder weapons in medieval Europe. From the fourteenth century onwards, this new technology was to eventually transform the conduct ofwarfare beyond all recognition with important implications for European and global history. Guns came to be used in all aspects of military operations, with kings, nobles and burgesses all spending large sums of money on these prestigious weapons. The growing effectiveness of gunpowder artillery prompted major changes in the design of fortifications, the composition of armies, the management of logistics and administrative systems. This book is the first full-length study of the unique English experience of gunpowder weapons, tracing their development from their introduction in the reign of Edward III to the end of the fifteenth century. The rich records of the English Exchequer and urban accounts are used to explore their role in campaigns, in sieges, on the battlefield, at sea and their role in the defence of towns, royal castles and the fortifications of the Pale of Calais. It provides a comprehensive framework for the speed of technological advances and the factors responsible for these changes, as well as an in-depth discussion of individual gun types. DAN SPENCER obtained his PhD from the University of Southampton.

Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe
Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe

Author: Bert S. Hall

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

Published: 2002-01-01

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780801869945

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Winner of the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize from the Canadian Historical Association Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe explores the history of gunpowder in Europe from the thirteenth century, when it was first imported from China, to the sixteenth century, as firearms became central to the conduct of war. Bridging the fields of military history and the history of technology—and challenging past assumptions about Europe's "gunpowder revolution"—Hall discovers a complex and fascinating story. Military inventors faced a host of challenges, he finds, from Europe's lack of naturally occurring saltpeter—one of gunpowder's major components—to the limitations of smooth-bore firearms. Manufacturing cheap, reliable gunpowder proved a difficult feat, as did making firearms that had reasonably predictable performance characteristics. Hall details the efforts of armorers across Europe as they experimented with a variety of gunpowder recipes and gunsmithing techniques, and he examines the integration of new weapons into the existing structure of European warfare.

Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe
Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe

Author: Bert S. Hall

Publisher: Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13:

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From the 13th century, when it was first imported from China, to the 16th century, as firearms became central to the conduct of war, Hall chronicles the remarkable history of gunpowder in Europe. In this complex--and fascinating--book, Hall details the efforts of armorers across Europe as they experimented with a variety of gunpowder recipes and gunsmithing techniques. 25 illustrations.

Gunpowder & Galleys
Gunpowder & Galleys

Author: John Francis Guilmartin

Publisher: US Naval Institute Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13:

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Lauded as one of the finest books in the field of naval history, this comprehensive account of sixteenth century galley warfare includes detailed descriptions of all major actions in the Mediterranean and around the Arabian peninsula. First published in 1974 and recently revised the work is packed with technological insights into the strategy and tactics of galley warfare between the Ottoman Empire and its Spanish and Portuguese opponents. Among the many facets author John Guilmartin discusses are how the strategic considerations in gallery warfare are substantially different from those in campaigns involving galleons or ships of the line, why the 1571 victory at Lepanto failed to have any-long term strategic consequences, and how the arquebus and musket proved more suitable for action aboard ship than the crossbow or Turkish composite bow. This updated edition also includes new research into the orders of battle and ballistics, gunnery, and cannon founding.

Gunpowder and Firearms
Gunpowder and Firearms

Author: Iqtidar Alam Khan

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13:

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This Book Is An Important Contribution To The History Of War Technology And Changing Perspectives On State Formation In Pre-Modern India. It Will Interest The Historian Of Medieval India And Scholars And Students Interested Is Issues Of State Formation And Military History.

An Outline of the History and Development of Hand Firearms, From the Earliest Period to About the End of the Fifteenth Century (Classic Reprint)
An Outline of the History and Development of Hand Firearms, From the Earliest Period to About the End of the Fifteenth Century (Classic Reprint)

Author: Robert Coltman Clephan

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2018-01-13

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13: 9780428973995

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Excerpt from An Outline of the History and Development of Hand Firearms, From the Earliest Period to About the End of the Fifteenth Century Lated powder had been abandoned for a season, the reason for which is unknown, and resumed at a later period. Possibly the cause of this lies in the structural weakness of the earlier hand-guns. That this was the case with ordnance is tolerably certain, and caused by the imperfect welding together of the strips of iron of which the cannon were composed, rather than from any deficiency in the tensile strength of the iron. In Codex germ. 600, at Munich, a ms. Dating probably towards the end of the second half of the fourteenth century, which will be more particularly referred to later on in these pages, two kinds of gunpowder are mentioned one described as schlecht. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Guns for the Sultan
Guns for the Sultan

Author: Gábor Ágoston

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2005-03-24

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 9780521843133

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Gabor Agoston's book contributes to an emerging strand of military history, that examines organised violence as a challenge to early modern states, their societies and economies. His is the first to examine the weapons technology and armaments industries of the Ottoman Empire, the only Islamic empire that threatened Europe on its own territory in the age of the Gunpowder Revolution. Based on extensive research in the Turkish archives, the book affords much insight regarding the early success and subsequent failure of an Islamic empire against European adversaries. It demonstrates Ottoman flexibility and the existence of an early modern arms market and information exchange across the cultural divide, as well as Ottoman self-sufficiency in weapons and arms production well into the eighteenth century. Challenging the sweeping statements of Eurocentric and Orientalist scholarship, the book disputes the notion of Islamic conservatism, the Ottomans' supposed technological inferiority and the alleged insufficiencies in production capacity. This is a provocative, intelligent and penetrating analysis, which successfully contends traditional perceptions of Ottoman and Islamic history.