A Multiple Barreled Polish Organ Gun, ca. 1700

Matchlock · 1st October 2010, 01:38 AM

Hi Jim,

Thank you so much for your brilliant comment and I do hope to adequately respond, as it was exactly the question I had been hoping for.

Short (Landsknecht/mercenaries') arquebuses were in use from ca. 1450 (without locks) to ca. 1560 (with either match- or wheel-locks. Their overall lengths used to vary between ca. 80 and 100 cm, their barrels measuring about 60-75 cm in average, and they were ca. 4 kg in weight.

The term caliver, as is commonly agreed on in general by the leading experts - not just myself

but e.g. the Royal Armouries Leeds - actually goes back to Jacob de Gheyn's ultimate work Wapenhandelighe van Roers, Musquetten ende Spiessen (A Treatise on the Handling of Weapons such as Calivers, Muskets and Pikes), first published in the Netherlands in 1608 (and which I proudly own

). Actually it means a lighter musket of smaller caliber and defines the musketeer as characteristically equipped with a matchlock musket of ca. 8-9 kg and an overall length of ca. 160-170 cm at around 1600, of ca. 18-20 mm caliber, plus a musket rest and leather bandoleer (usually comprising 6-14 wooden powder measures and a bullet pouch, and sometimes colloquially called the twelve apostles), and a sword. Doubtlessly that's where the term caliber originated from.

In contrast, a caliver is defined as a much shorter and lighter weighing matchlock gun of an average length of ca. 140 cm, reduced caliver of ca. 14-16 mm and weighing about 4 kg, and the caliver man wore a Schützenhäubel (pear shaped helmet - grrr, got to look up the correct English term in auction sales catalogs as the web is not helpful at all), a rapier and a flat curved powder flask attached to a leather frog comprising a bullet pouch.

Forgive me to call it a night, it's almost 3 a.m. in Bavaria and very late even for a nightowl like me. More following tomorrow ...

And everybody interested in learning more about the subject, please revisit my former threads

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...echt+harquebus

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...echt+harquebus

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...echt+harquebus

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...echt+harquebus

and

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...tchlock+musket

Thanks and good night,
and with all my very best wishes to out there on route 66 from a dead tired
Michael

1st October 2010, 01:38 AM	#3
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	Hi Jim, Thank you so much for your brilliant comment and I do hope to adequately respond, as it was exactly the question I had been hoping for. Short (Landsknecht/mercenaries') arquebuses were in use from ca. 1450 (without locks) to ca. 1560 (with either match- or wheel-locks. Their overall lengths used to vary between ca. 80 and 100 cm, their barrels measuring about 60-75 cm in average, and they were ca. 4 kg in weight. The term caliver, as is commonly agreed on in general by the leading experts - not just myself but e.g. the Royal Armouries Leeds - actually goes back to Jacob de Gheyn's ultimate work Wapenhandelighe van Roers, Musquetten ende Spiessen (A Treatise on the Handling of Weapons such as Calivers, Muskets and Pikes), first published in the Netherlands in 1608 (and which I proudly own ). Actually it means a lighter musket of smaller caliber and defines the musketeer as characteristically equipped with a matchlock musket of ca. 8-9 kg and an overall length of ca. 160-170 cm at around 1600, of ca. 18-20 mm caliber, plus a musket rest and leather bandoleer (usually comprising 6-14 wooden powder measures and a bullet pouch, and sometimes colloquially called the twelve apostles), and a sword. Doubtlessly that's where the term caliber originated from. In contrast, a caliver is defined as a much shorter and lighter weighing matchlock gun of an average length of ca. 140 cm, reduced caliver of ca. 14-16 mm and weighing about 4 kg, and the caliver man wore a Schützenhäubel (pear shaped helmet - grrr, got to look up the correct English term in auction sales catalogs as the web is not helpful at all), a rapier and a flat curved powder flask attached to a leather frog comprising a bullet pouch. Forgive me to call it a night, it's almost 3 a.m. in Bavaria and very late even for a nightowl like me. More following tomorrow ... And everybody interested in learning more about the subject, please revisit my former threads http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...echt+harquebus http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...echt+harquebus http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...echt+harquebus http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...echt+harquebus and http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...tchlock+musket Thanks and good night, and with all my very best wishes to out there on route 66 from a dead tired Michael Last edited by Matchlock; 1st October 2010 at 05:01 PM.