160 DANA— NOTES ON CANNON. [April 20, 



of Ghent, who took the field 5.000 strong with 200 " ribaudequins." 

 The latter were heavy built push-carts — Napoleon calls them 

 " wheel-barrows/' bearing in front two or three, sometimes more, 

 of the small cannon of the day, with an ugly fringe of bristling 

 lances projecting beyond. These disagreeable field-pieces were 

 trundled along in front of the line of battle. The efifect of two lines 

 of *' ribaudequins '" meeting and neutralizing each other must have 

 given rise to some curious tactics in battle. In this case the 5,000 

 of Ghent formed themselves into a dense mass and with " ribaude- 

 quins " in front, drove off 40,000 men of Bruges. 



At the battle of Roosebeke, November 27, 1382, where the Flem- 

 ings were cut to pieces by the French and their leader Philip van 

 Arteveld killed, Froissart states that the battle began by " a can- 

 nonade with bars of iron and quarrels headed with brass." 



This battle did not end the war, and a curious picture of the 

 ineffectiveness of the smaller cannon of the day is given by Lieut, 

 Gen. Sir Henry Brackenbury, in his account of the siege of Ypres 

 by the English and Flemings. The siege lasted from the eighth of 

 June. 1383, to the eighth of August. During that time a steady 

 cannonade was maintained, but apart from interfering with the 

 sleep of the good burghers of Ypres, not a soul was one whit the 

 worse. Two guns were advantageously posted in front of one of 

 the gates, and kept up a steady fire, in all 450 shots. When the 

 siege was raised those of Ypres were forced to admit that the gate 

 in question was in need of immediate repairs. ]\Iuch danger to the 

 inhabitants was avoided by a thoughtful device; the besiegers con- 

 siderately heralded by a trumpet blast each discharge; this enabled 

 promenaders to step aside and avoid any possible annoyance from 

 intruding cannon balls. 



Another curious picture of by-gone days is given us in the 

 "Issue Roll of the Exchequer for 1384," in which the amount of 

 payments for the hire of cannon and cannoniers is given, making it 

 plain that private individuals often owned one or more cannons 

 which they hired out like cabs. 



Viollet le Due mentions this same custom on the continent; he 

 says that during the middle ages the engines of war were made by 

 non-military workmen, and the same rule prevailed after the intro- 



