ANCIENT CANNON IN EUROPE. 
PART II. 
FROM a . d . 1351 TO a.d. 1400. 
BY 
Lieut. HENRY BRACKENBURY, R.A., E.S.A. 
ASSISTANT INSTEUCTOE IN AETILLEEY, EOYAL MILITAEY ACADEMY. 
In a former paper 1 we traced tlie history of cannon as far as the close 
of the first half of the fourteenth century, up to which period trustworthy 
evidence of their employment was comparatively rare. We now enter upon 
a time, when, in every European nation, the great power of gunpowder began 
to leave its mark on the systems of warfare, and to bring about such changes, 
that almost every chronicler has some tale to tell of the wondrous effects of 
cannon. 
During the first portion of the half century of which it is proposed to treat 
in this paper, the cannon in use throughout Europe were but little changed 
from those already discussed; but, towards the close of the fourteenth 
century, a great advance was made in the application of artillery, and we 
obtain evidence of cannon throwing balls heavier than those fired from any 
gun now in our service, and of far greater calibre than any piece which we 
now employ. 
This great stride in the manufacture of cannon seems to have been made 
by most of the nations of the west of Europe at about the same time ; but to 
mark more accurately the progress of various countries, we will deal separately 
with the artillery of Erance, England, Belgium, and Italy; selecting these 
nations as representing the chief actors of the fourteenth century in the great 
European theatre of war. 2 
1 Vide Yol. IY. p. 287. 
2 Germany, though doubtless possessing many interesting records of the early history of cannon, 
must he left without notice. To search through the entire field of German historical literature in 
hopes of finding some stray reference which might lead to information from contemporary sources, 
would he a labour beyond the author’s power; and the book from which he had hoped to derive 
assistance affords none. 
Herr Moritz Meyer’s Hccndbuch der Technologic fur Artillerie Offizieren , which has been generally 
accepted in Germany as the text book for the early history of cannon, and which in its French form 
[yol. V.] 1 
