Artillery Development in Europe, 1326–1500
These four drawings show how European craftsmen and rulers collaborated to de
velop a formidable artillery out of the ineffective toy depicted in 1326 (a). The two
giant stone-throwing bombards, one of wrought iron (b) undone cast in bronze (c),
were superseded in the second half of the fifteenth century by mobile siege artillery (d)
that used denser iron cannonballs and accelerated them more rapidly by burning
corned powder. The result was a weapon that could demolish any existing
brent
(Brent)
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