216 
THE MASTER-GUNNERS OP ENGLAND. 
SUCCESSION LIST OF THE MASTER-GUNNERS OF ENGLAND. 
Reign. 
Date of 
Appt. 
Name. 
War Services, See. 
Ed. II. 
1307-1327 
... 
Not 
traced. 
1319. Siege of Berwick Castle, which was 
successfully defended by Robert Bruce (Robert 
de Brils), who had engines (catapultae, bal- 
listae, spring-aides or springals, and bowes ; 
but no cannon (machinae vel. Yibrelia). 
John Crab, a Fleming, was in command of the 
Engines 1 Three years later (1322) the Scotch 
obtained cannon by capture from the English 
in the battle of Leylade. 
A.D. 1322. Battle of Leylade, Northum¬ 
berland, in which Ed. II. lost his ordnance, 
which was conveyed by the Scotch into Berwick 
^and other fortified cities. 
Ed. III. 
1327-1377 
... 
John Pary 
or Parry. 
f 1333. Battle of Halidon Hill, and capitu¬ 
lation of Berwick Castle. 
1338. His Majesty, with his Army and Artil¬ 
lery, crossed over into Flanders, preparatory 
to invasion of France ; and took into pay the 
Flemings—who henceforth controlled the 
Artillery. 
1340. Siege of Ghent and Tournay. After 
10 weeks assault, a truce was concluded and 
the army, with its great and small ordnance, 
withdrew to Ghent. 
1346. Battle of Cre^y, near Flanders—the 
first remarkable occasion in Europe in which 
gunpowder artillery was employed in the 
held. Mezeray (Rapin’s History of England) 
say3 that “ King Ed. struck terror into the 
French army with five or six pieces of cannon, 
it being the first time they had seen such 
^thundering machines.” 
1 John Barbour, Archdoacon of Aberdeen (born 1320), writing of the siege of Berwick by 
Ed. II. (1319), and of Robert Bruce’s famous defence, gives these words on page 68 in his life of 
Bruce (metrical). Colonel Cleaveland, It.A. ( Memoirs , p. 2), ascribes this event to the siege by 
Ed. III., when Robert Bruce was dead. (I fell into a similar error on p. 9 of “ The Master- 
Ghmner of England ”). 
“ Jhone Crab, a Elemyng, alsua had he 
That was off so gret sutelt6 
To ordane and make apparaiil 
For to defend and till assaill 
Castell off Wer, or than Cyt6, 
That nane sleyars mycht fund yn be. 
He gert engyns, ana cranys, ma, 
And perwayit gret fyr alsua ; 
Sprynfalds, and schot, on fer maners 
That to defend castells affers. 
He purwayit intill full gret wane ; 
But gynnys for crakys had he nane 
For in Scotland yeit than bot wene 
The use of thaim had not been sane.” 
E.B.— As the Scotch obtained cannon three years afterwards, John Crab is thus the transition 
Master-Gunner who bridges the gulph between the two dispensations. “The first instructors 
(magistri) of Gunpowder Artillery in England were also Flemings,” vide “ The Master-Gunner 
of England,” Vol. XIV., Ho. 3, “Proceedings,” R.A.I. 
