Mons Meg
The Mons Meg is a giant Scottish artillery piece (stone rifle) from the first half of the 15th century that is now on display in Edinburgh Castle .
history
The first unequivocally verifiable war use of the stone box took place in 1489 during the siege of Dumbarton Castle . In 1558 she gave the salute at the wedding of Maria Stuart with the Dauphin of France. The last shot was fired by the Mons Meg in 1681 on the occasion of the birthday of the future King James II. It was probably irreparably damaged due to an excessive powder charge.
According to information from the 15th century, with a powder charge of 47.6 kg and a firing angle of 45 °, the cannon could fire an iron ball 1287.5 m and a stone ball 2621.6 m.
The Mons Meg is one of a series of Ries Enge shooters that were used in the 15th century in siege warfare, including the rod ring guns Pumhart von Steyr and Dulle Griet Ghent and manufactured in cast bronze Lazy Mette of Brunswick , Lazy Grete of Marienburg and Grose Bochse to count are.
technical description
- Type of gun: main rifle
- Gun class: giant guns (stone rifles)
- Type: wrought iron bar ring gun
- Total length: 406 cm
- Chamber length: 126 cm
- Weight: 6.6 t
- Ball diameter: 50 cm
- Ball mass: 175 kg
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Volker Schmidtchen: giant guns of the 15th century. Technical top performances of their time . In: History of Technology . tape 44 , no. 2 , 1977, p. 167 .
- ↑ Volker Schmidtchen: giant guns of the 15th century. Technical top performances of their time . In: History of Technology . tape 44 , no. 2 , 1977, p. 166 f .
literature
- Volker Schmidtchen : giant guns of the 15th century. Technical top performances of their time . In: History of Technology . tape 44 , no. 2 , 1977, p. 153-173 .
- Charles J. Foulkes: Inventory and survey of the armories of the Tower of London . Mons Meg, S. 473-475 ( [1] ).
Web links
- Data sheet on the Royal Armories Leeds website