GUNPOWDER. 181 



to prove that the French had, and used, cannon in the year 1338. 

 The charge in the Treasurer of War's Account in the above 

 year was as follows : " To Henry de Faumachon for powder 

 and other things necessary for the cannons which were before 

 Puy Guillaume" N. B. Puy Guillaume was a castle in Au- 

 vergne. It is to be remarked that neither Froissart nor any one 

 of the many historians who have described the battle of Cressy 

 has noticed the employment of the artillery there, except Vilani, 

 an Italian author. 



The use of guns in Spain, Anno 134?3, is proof sufficient 

 either that Schwartz was not the inventor of gunpowder, or that 

 Kircher and others are mistaken in fixing his discovery so late as 

 the year 13545. There is reason, notwithstanding, to believe 

 that both gunpowder and guns were known in Germany, at least 

 forty years before the period assigned by the Spanish historian 

 for their first introduction into Spain. In the Armory at Am- 

 berg in Bavaria, there is a piece of ordnance, on which is 

 inscribed the year 1303. This is the earliest account I have 

 yet met with of the certain use of gunpowder in war ; and it 

 seems probable enough, as the Pope and the Duke of Bavaria 

 are thought to have been the first Princes who made saltpetre 

 in Europe. It ought not, however, says Dr. Watson, to be 

 concealed from the reader, that Camerarius quotes a Danish 

 historian as relating, that Christopher, King of the Danes, was 

 killed in battle by the stroke of a gun, A. D. 1280. Upon 

 examining the passage quoted, it is only said that Christopher, 

 the son of King Waldemar, was killed in the beginning of an 

 engagement by a gun, a warlike instrument then lately discov- 

 ered. Now it appears, that Waldemar, Christopher's father, 

 did not succeed to the crown of Denmark until 1332, and that 

 his son was killed in a naval engagement several years afterwards, 

 probably about the time stated by Munster for the earliest use 

 of gunpowder in Denmark. 



Q 



