»f2 ANXmuiTY OF THE INVENTION OF GUN-POWDEH.. 



HiftoricaUaa$ If we confider that guns, powder, and lead, are here 

 todeterminethe I J j^ j^ obvious that bv the word pulvis, gun-powder 



firil invention of & ' , „ , . , „. /i i 



gunpowder, and mufl be underflood ; and by patelhs, guns mult be meant. 

 lu ufc in war. p^of^ jhefg documents we are led to believe that guns and 

 gun-powder were known already before the year 1378. And 

 it is more than probable that they were not purchafed that 

 year, but had probably been ufed before that time. For gung 

 were too expenfive for tingle individuals and fmall towns at 

 that time ; and on that account, the place in which I met 

 with the faid documents was very probably provided with 

 guns many years after the invention of them. That this muft 

 have been the cafe becomes obvious from the following ob- 

 fervation : Achilles Gefner, the Hiftorian of Auglburg, who 

 wrote a Latin Chronicle at the beginning of the 16th century, 

 fays,* " Three large cannons were call at Augfburg in the 

 *' year 1378, the largeft of which difcharged a ball of 127 

 '• pounds ; the fecond a ball of 70 pounds, and the third a 

 " ball of 50 pounds, at a diftance of 1000 paces." 



Herman Corner, who lived at the end of the 14th century, 

 relates that the inhabitants of Lubec affifted the Emperor 

 Charles, who befieged the cafUe of Dannenberg, with 600 

 armatis cum duabus machinis. Bomhardae enim pro tunc non 

 erant ita communes, uti nunc funt : From hence it is evident 

 that the 600 machines were nothing but bombardae, or guns. 



Another remarkable document the author of this paper met 

 with was the fentence of death of Nicolaus the Bold, who 

 fupplied the enemy with two barrels of gun-powder, in the 

 year 1372. In this fentence it is clearly exprefTed, that the 

 gun-powder was made up of faltpetre and fulphur. In the 

 fame year, the Corporation of Augfburg ordered to have caft, 

 twenty cannons of metal, at the great expence of fifty pence, 

 Thefe cannons were intended to be ufed againft their neigh- 

 bours, the Bavarians. 



Petrarch, born 1304-, ftates, in his work f publilhed 1374. 



Gav. Habeo machinas, ingentia faxa torquentes, 



Ral. Saxa torquere furio/wn ejl. 



Gav. Habeo machinas et balUfias mimneras. 



Rai,. Mirum nifi et glandes Aeneas, quae fiammis ejedis hor' 

 rifon -one tru jacuntur, Non erat fates de coelo tonantes ira 

 * Annales Aiiglburgenfes. 

 •f De Remediis utriulque fortunae. 



4 Dei 



