Hand Cannon ?

[Matchlock]

This is the only known piece of period artwork depicting a German three-barreled handgonne or, strictly speaking, arquebus: the stock painted green and mounted with a snap-tinderlock that could of course only ignite the pan of the barrel mounted to the right; the other two barrels are equipped with central touch holes denoting that they were designed to be ignited manually. A piece of tinder is shown fixed between the jaws of the snapping serpentine cocked ready to fire.

Watercolor by Jörg Kölderer, ca. 1507, from one of the armory inventories of Maximilian I, who became ' Elected Roman Emperor' in 1508.

Please note that this is the earliest (!) known period representation of a 'Germanic' multi-barreled arquebus or short 'long gun' while most of the types discussed above are claimed to be '15th century' or earlier!
Four-barreled guns are depicted as well, most interestingly with the barrels pointing both forward and to the rear.

It is true that the very same book depicts other three- and four-barreled guns as well (attached at bottom) but they look completely different from the ones discussed in this thread.


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