Stone box
Stone rifles were the first guns from the 14th and 15th centuries to fire stone bullets with gunpowder charges . The stone rifles were used at the same time as the older Blide throwing technique and represented a technical advance compared to it, but were more expensive to manufacture rifle and ammunition and more difficult to transport. The bullet diameters of the guns range from 12 cm to 80 cm ( Pumhart von Steyr ).
terminology
In the middle of the 15th century, siege guns could be classified as follows:
- Main rifles (stone rifles)
- Emergency rifles
- Quarter rifles
- Bombard
- mortar
The heavy and medium-weight stone rifles were grouped under the term main rifles . Emergency rifles had long barrels in a medium caliber and fired iron balls, while the quarter rifles fired iron balls weighing a quarter of the weight of a main rifle stone.
construction
Smaller stone rifles were cast from bronze at the beginning of the 15th century, the heavy siege guns were often wrought iron bar ring guns .
These unique pieces were given names that identified them, such as the " Mons Meg " or the " Dulle Griet ", which is on display in Ghent today.
The division into chamber and flight is characteristic of stone rifles . The chamber was filled with black powder and usually had a much greater wall thickness than the flight that received the stone ball. This dichotomy was not only optical, but was mostly designed as a screwing device to dismantle the guns, which weighed tons, for transport purposes.
Around 1400, the stone boxes, which were mainly made of iron, can be divided into three types:
| designation | Ball diameter |
|---|---|
| Light stone cans | approx. 12-20 cm |
| Heavy stone cans | approx. 25-45 cm |
| Giant guns | approx. 50-80 cm |
Charging process and use
The shooting process was complex. The ball had to be pissed off and shoved , i.e. H. the propellant charge was sealed and the bullet dammed in flight . It was fixed in flight with wedges and clay so that as few gases as possible flowed past the relatively uneven stone ball. Firing more than one shot a day was still so unusual in 1437 that a gunsmith in Metz, who this year fired three shots at three different targets in just one day and hit all targets, made a pilgrimage to Rome, because he said, to be in league with the devil.
Stone rifles were difficult to use and dangerous for the gun crews; guns often burst when fired, with the flying iron parts injuring or killing the men. The value of stone cans was high, however, as there was no city wall or castle wall that could withstand the projectiles weighing up to 340 kg.
The guns were expensive to buy, which is why not every city or army could afford a stone rifle. Often stone cans were given to warring parties. Often cities surrendered when an army showed up with a stone rifle without a single shot being fired. Thus, from May 1449 to August 1450 , French troops under Charles VII were able to conquer over seventy English bases in Normandy with the help of stone rifles , since the setting up of the guns was enough threat. The cities surrendered in rows without a shot having to be fired.
Giant guns
In the late medieval siege war, stone cans with a bullet diameter of at least 50 cm are called giant artillery pieces. This used mainly in the 15th century bombards were either wrought-iron bar ring or guns, based on the technique of bells cast in bronze casting made. Preserved examples of the former, older design include the Pumhart from Steyr , the Mons Meg and the Dulle Griet from Gent . In contrast, the Faule Mette von Braunschweig and the Faule Grete von Marienburg were made using the bronze casting process.
At the beginning of the development of the gun there was an effort to increase the effectiveness of the projectiles. For this purpose, gun masters initially used stronger powder charges. However, the increased internal pressure often burst the existing structures, which often led to fatal accidents among the gun crews. At the same time, it was found that the stone balls shattered instead of penetrating the fortification walls due to the higher projectile speed. That is why one went over to increasing the mass of the projectiles and thus of the entire gun, a development path at the end of which there were giant guns like the Pumhart, which fired bullets weighing up to 690 kg. In addition to greater penetration, other factors such as prestige and deterrent effects also played an important role in the construction of such guns.
In spite of all the top technical performance, the military impact of the giant bombs was overall rather moderate and was out of proportion to the financial and logistical effort required. For the cost of a single giant gun, two to three main rifles could be produced, the smaller calibers of which (up to 40 cm) were completely sufficient to shake the medieval masonry, especially when their firepower was bundled. Main rifles, due to their lower weight and higher rate of fire, had a disproportionately greater destructive effect, as they were easier to move and allowed simultaneous fire on several wall sections. In addition, the transition from stone to iron projectiles, whose specific gravity is three times higher, made the use of oversized gun barrels superfluous. So z. B. the caliber of a stone 50- pound ball from 28 by 18 cm for an iron ball with the same bullet weight.
As early as the second half of the 15th century, the further development of the siege artillery began with the main rifles, and since that time bombards have only appeared sporadically in the extensive Burgundian arsenals.
literature
- Volker Schmidtchen : Bombards, fortifications, gunsmiths: From the first wall breakers of the late Middle Ages to the siege artillery of the Renaissance . Droste, Düsseldorf 1977, ISBN 3-7700-0471-X .
- Robert Douglas Smith, Kelly DeVries: The artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy, 1363-1477 . Boydell, Woodbridge 2005, ISBN 1-84383-162-7 (English).
- Rudolf Eschelbach : The fire gun of the Middle Ages (1350-1550) . In: History of Technology . tape 39 , no. 4 , 1972, p. 257-279 .
- Volker Schmidtchen : giant guns of the 15th century. Technical top performances of their time . In: History of Technology . tape 44 , no. 2 , 1977, ISSN 0040-117X , p. 153-173 (1977a).
- Volker Schmidtchen : giant guns of the 15th century. Technical top performances of their time . In: History of Technology . tape 44 , no. 3 , 1977, ISSN 0040-117X , p. 213-237 (1977b).
- Bernhard Rathgen: The Gun in the Middle Ages , VDI-Verlag, Berlin, 1928. ( online at archive.org )