ANTIQUITY OF THE INVENTION OF GUN-POWDER. 73 



Ddimmortalis , homuncio? O credulitas jun6ta fuberhiae. Z)eHiftoncal fafls 

 terra elium tonuijfet : Nov. iimnutabilefidmea ut Maro ait hamana ^^^ inventidnof 

 rabies imviitatu eft, et quod e nubibus mittijblet, iigneo (]uidem> gunpowder, and 

 fed tartareo mittitur inftruinenlo. Erat, haec pejiis niiper raru ut *" " "' ^^^' 

 cum ingenti miraculo cerneretur, nunc ut rerum peJJiiHurmn do- 

 ciles fuiit animif ita communis eft ut unum quodlibet genus ar- 

 mor wn. 



We fliall be lefs furprlfed that cannons and guns were made 

 of wood; even in the 15th century guns were bound with 

 iron hoops. 



In the year 1365, Margraff Frederick, of Meiflen, at- 

 tempted to florm the town and caftle of Einben with flings, 

 battering rams, and other machines, then made ufe of in be- 

 fieging towns. Rolhe, who mentions this in his Chronicle 

 of Tliuringen, farther relates that the Duke Albert was in 

 pofleflion of a gun which he himfelf ufed at the (iege, for 

 fliooting into the works of the enemy. It was, fay this author, 

 the lirft gun ever feen in that country. 



In another document is ftated, that anno Domini, millefimo 

 tricentefimo fexagefimo , confiftorium urbis Lubecenfis in toto com- 

 buftum eft, per negligentiem illorum qui pulveras pro bombardis 

 parabant. The fame fire is mentioned by Herman Corner, 

 a native of Lubeck. His words, as taken from the Chronicle 

 of Lubeck, are as follows : Confiftorium urbis Lubecenfis incen- 

 fum eft, et combuftum per negligentiam illorum qui pidveres pro 

 bombarbis, five petraries parabant, fecundum Clironicani Lube- 

 cenfem. Cu7n enim praediSias paraffent locabant eos in quodam 

 loco confiftoris non caute cuftoditos ab igne. Pidveres ergoperincu- 

 riam node accenfi, domum ip/am fuccenderunt, ad antequam ex- 

 tinguipotuijfent, eum in cineres redegerunt. Confequently gun- 

 powder muft have been prepared already at Lubeck about the 

 year 1360. 



In the year 1359, a war broke out between the kings of 

 (paftile and Arragonia; in which the latter made ufe of a 

 large gun, with which he did much damage to the veflels of 

 the king of Caftile ; for he fliot down with it the mafts and 

 rigging, and killed many men by only two fliots. 



Peter Divacus commemorates, that in the year 1356 the 

 inhabitants of Lyons in Brabant purchafed 12 guns (bombar- 

 ,dae) which were called thundering guns, or blunderbuffes, 

 ab liorrendo fragore. 



