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The former word “ gunnis,” elsewhere spelt “ gonnes,” and finally guns, 
appears to be derived from the “ mangona 33 or “ mangonel 33 which was one 
of those engines of war throwing stones, pots or barrels of flaming matter, 
or putrid carcasses, by means of counterweights 1 , and from which on one 
occasion the Earl of Derby returned a messenger into the town of Auberoche 
in 1345. 
The word “ gonne 33 indeed seems to have been used in place of 
“ mangonel” to denote these engines in more than one instance. 2 
The etymology of the term “ bombard 33 is somewhat doubtful. It has 
generally been ascribed to the Greek /36/xpos. Yalturius, writing in the 
middle of the fifteenth century, says :— 
“ Hoc aiitem nomen Bombarda apud idoneos latinse linguae scriptores nusquam 
invenio, quamquam hujusmodi nominis impositio a sonitu tracta mihi nequaquam 
videatur absurda. Quid enim est Bombarda quam bombus sive bombizatio 
ardens ?” 3 
At all events this is the first distinctive word coined to give the new 
weapon a suitable name. It held its ground in Erance and Italy for a long 
time; but did not apparently find favour in England, in which country only 
the word “ gun 33 was adopted. 
This year 1346, is fruitful in matters of interest on our subject. In 
September, the consuls of the town of Tournay, having heard that one 
Peter of Bruges was skilled in making certain engines called “ connoiles 33 to 
be let off in a good town, if it should be besieged, desired him to make one, 
promising that if he made it well, and they approved it, he should have an 
order for more. Upon this Peter made one, and by desire of the consuls, 
proceeded to prove it, that they might learn how to use it. Peter took his 
cannon outside the gate “ Noire aux Champs,” inserted in it a quarrel 
(cannon arrow), which had at the end a piece of lead weighing about 2 lb., 
and fired it off. He laid it so that it pointed against a door and a wall. 
But, according to the narrator, it made such a cruel noise that the arrow 
passed out of the town, contrary to the expectation of Peter and the specta¬ 
tors, who could not tell what had become of it, and struck on the head a 
fuller who was near a monastery, and killed him. When Peter heard of this, 
he threw himself into a sanctuary. The consuls deliberated over the affair: 
and considering that it was entirely by their order that Peter had fired the 
gun, and that he was not known to have any spite against the fuller, held him 
blameless in the matter, and decided that it was a case of misfortune, and a 
sad pity. 
The original document is as follows:— 
“ Comme li consauls de le ville euist ordene par ancun raport que on leur en fist, 
que Pieres de Bruges, potiers destain, savoit faire aucuns engiens appielles con- 
1 This early artillery is ably discussed by the Emperor Napoleon III., in his Etudes, &c. One 
or two illustrations of the mangonel are also given in a very interesting popular sketch of the 
history of our “ Engines of War, and how we got to make them,” by Captain Jervis-White-Jervis, 
R.A. 
2 Mr Burtt in Archeeological Journal, vol. 19, p. 69. 
3 De re militari Lib. xi. There is a very good copy of this work, ed. Paris 1532, in the R.A. Library 
at Woolwich. 
