296 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
Froissart mentions that at the attack on the “ chatel de Sturmelin" in 
Scotland in this year “ Les Seigneurs d’ Escosse se haterent tellement et 
contraignirent ceux de la dite garnison, par assauts d’engins et de canons, 
que par force les convint rendre aux Escots; &c . 331 
He also states that when Charles de Blois was besieging Hainebon in the 
same year, the Countess of Montfort, who was defending the place, “ faisoit 
apporter bombardes et pots plein de chaux vive pour jeter sur les assail- 
lans ; 332 but in neither of these instances does he give us any clue to the size 
of these cannon. 
It was probably either in this or the following year that Petrarch writes in 
his dialogue “ De remediis utriusque fortune.” 
ec I wonder that thou hast not also brazen globes, which are cast forth by the 
force of flame with a horrible sound of thunder. Was not the wrath of an 
immortal god thundering from heaven sufficient, that the small being man,—oh, 
cruelty joined to pride—must even thunder on earth ! Human rage has en¬ 
deavoured to imitate the thunder which cannot be imitated (as Virgil says,)—and 
that which is wont to be sent from the clouds, is now thrown from an infernal 
instrument of wood, which some think was invented by Archimedes when Marcellas 
besieged Syracuse; but he, to protect the liberty of his fellow citizens and to avert 
or put off the destruction of his country, devised what you are using to crush under 
the yoke or to exterminate a free people. This plague was only lately so rare as to 
be looked on as a great miracle; now, so easily taught the very worst matters are 
human minds, it has become as common as any other kind of weapon.” * * 3 
It has been a disputed question whether the “ flammis injectis ” applies to 
the manner of propelling the brazen globes, or whether the latter were a 
kind of shell; but the latter interpretation, in the author’s judgment, 
cannot be sustained. 
Here we have cannon mentioned as in common use at the time of this 
dialogue being written. That date we will venture to call 1344; which 
year is also fixed upon by the Emperor Napoleon. It certainly cannot have 
been later, as Petrarch dedicates the treatise to Azzo da Correggio, Prince of 
Parma; and Azzo ceased to be Prince of Parma in 1344, when he sold his 
principality to Obizzo, Marquis d’Este. 4 It may have been written earlier; 
at all events, Petrarch did not know the name of the inventor of these in¬ 
struments only lately become so common. 
The word “ ligneo 33 is in some editions written “ igneo.” If the latter 
is correct, it merely applies to the method of propelling with flame. If 
* Liv. I. ch. 159. 
a Ibid. 173. 
3 Mirum, nisi et glandes eeneas, quae flammis inject-is horrisono tonitru jaeiuntur. Non erat 
satis de coelo tonantis ira Dei immortalis, nisi homuncio (o crudelitas juncta superbieo!) de terra 
©tiam tonuisset: non imitabile fulmen (ut Maro ait) liumana rabies imitata est, et quod e nubibus 
mitti solet, ligneo quidem, sed tartareo mittitur instrumento, quod ab Archimede inventum quidam 
putant, eo tempore, quo Mareellus Sjracusas obsidebat; verum ille hoc, ut suorum civiurn libertatem 
tueretur, excogitavit, patriseque excidium vel averteret, vel diiferret; quo vos, ut liberos populos 
vel jugo, vel excidio prematis, utimini. Erat hsec pestis nuper rara, ut cum ingenti miraculo 
eerneretur; nunc, ut rerum pessimarum dociles sunt animi, ita communis est, ut unum quodlibet 
genus armorum.—De remediis utrius que fortunes. Genevas, 1645, p. 303. 
4 Muratori—Antiquitates Italici mediae eevi. tom. 2, p. 514. 
