8 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
gouverneur du grant canon qui fut fait a St Lo pour le fait de St Sauveur 
We have no further particulars of the size or method of manufacture of 
this cannon; but the archives of the empire 1 2 have preserved the most 
minute account of the charges for and material used in the manufacture 
of another great cannon weighing more than 2000 lb., constructed at Caen in 
the same year, and for the same siege, under the superintendence of Bernard 
de Montferrat, “ maistre des canons.-” 3 
On the 20th March, 1375, an order was received at Caen, from Jehan le 
Mercier, one of the king's councillors, for the manufacture of a “ grant canon 
de fer," and “ Bernart de Montferrat, maistre des canons" was instructed to 
superintend the arrangements. The 21st and two following days were spent 
in erecting three forges in the market place, and surrounding them with a 
wooden paling, to protect the smiths from interruption. On the 22nd, 
three master smiths, and one smith not designated as a master, but receiving 
the same pay, commenced to draw wages. They had eight workmen to 
assist them and a man to supply the forges with fuel, charcoal powdered 
through a sieve, and to blow the bellows. Three other smiths, with the same 
wages, worked on the 26th and 27th only, and were again employed with 
others for short terms towards the middle and end of April. They all con¬ 
tinued at work, with the exception of Sundays, and Monday the 23rd April, 
which must have been a. holiday, until the 3rd May inclusive, and on the 
3rd April, one Jehan Nicolle, a master smith, arrived from “ Sap," whence he 
had been brought at the public expense, because he was said to be the best 
workman in iron in all the country of Normandy. The entire manufacture 
of this cannon employed an average number of fifteen men for six weeks; 
and they appear to have sometimes worked at night; for there is an item 
“ pour chandelle pour ardre par nuyt quant on forgoit." 
In the manufacture of the cannon itself, 21101b. of wrought-iron, and 
200 lb. of steel were employed. Of the wrought-iron, 650 lb. went to form 
the “cuve." This “cuve" (probably the inner tube or barrel of the cannon, 
afterwards surrounded with rings) was made entirely of “fer d'Espengne 
plat," which cost §d. per lb.: while the remainder of the cannon was made 
of “Ter d'auge,” and “fer d’Espengne" of apparently inferior quality, as 
it cost less than 5 d. per lb. We are not told for what portion of the cannon 
the steel was used. The “ esseulx et chevilles 99 bolts and pins, necessary for 
fixing the cannon in its bed and making the bed itself, were made from 365 lb. 
of iron of both descriptions. The bars of the cannon were probably welded 
together, and then surrounded with circles of wrought-iron having rings 
attached to them, for we read of an anvil hired: “ le louage d’une bigorne 
en quoy les sercles, lians et agneaux du dit canon ont este drechiez et mis a 
point." 
The whole piece was bound entirely round with rope, of which nearly 
90 lb. were bought for this purpose, and was covered over all with a cow- 
1 B. R. orig. parch, cabinet genealogique serie des tit. orig. 
2 Archives de l’Empire. Registre cote KK. 350 et intitule au dos Comptes de la rangon du roi 
Jean, diocese de Bayeux, E°. 246, and F°. 254, et seq. 
3 The documents from which this description of the manufacture of cannon at Caen has been 
drawn, are printed entire by Napoleon in the Etudes, Yol. IY. Appendix, p. xviii. et seq. They 
occupy twenty-seven pages 4to. It is therefore impossible to reproduce them here. 
