A Beautiful Mid-14th Century Handgonne

[Matchlock]

The first little Steinbüchse was sold Christie's Rome, June 18, 1975.
It only measures 23 cm overall, no further measurements provided. And it, too, is made of wound band iron.
As it is very small, with a relatively little touchhole, there is a high probability for it to be of very early date (ca. 1350). All beginnings, whether in nature or technology, are small, and this is especially true for earliest firearms.

Next follows another, later Steinbüchse, ca. 1450, telling from its reinforcement rings and its general shape, of wrought iron, is in the Army Museum Bukarest, Romania. I doubt whether the stone ball shown next to it would actually fit the bore of this specimen. I estimate its length to be ca. 40 cm.

The third is a fragment of a larger ship cannon of ca. 1400 and made of iron staves and hoops (German Stabring-Geschütz), preserved in the museum at Maldon, Essex. Although it was found in an early 16th century shipwreck, together with stone balls and remnants of its original elm wood carriage, it is some 100 years older than that ship. The relic demonstrates its special way of construction, as well as another similar Stabring-Geschütz in the Musée de l'Armée Paris does, which is shown here next in line.

Next follows a series of 6 images depicting the cannon courtyard at the Musée de l'Armée Paris and details of a very special Steinbüchse, ca. 1380, which may even retain its original stock of characteristic Gothic form with stepped folded edges. I estimate its overall length to measure about 1 meter. In one of the pics it is seen together with an early 15th century breech loading cannon, its breech now missing.

Please cf. my former thread on early breech loading.

To be continued!

Best,
Michael

[fernando]

Thank you so much for the great pictures, Michl,
Plenty material to study ... once more .
It'e precisely because of this, together with the sharing images of your collection and all the data you provide, that we need you around still for many years to contemplate us with all that early weapons pedagogy.
Not the slightest doubt that you are one of the (if not the) main props of this forum.
Yes, i would surelly love to get personaly acquainted to your highly selected collection.
Talking about cats, meet my last acquisition. For almost a week she was astray, crossing the road in panic; don't know where she came from.
Picture taken before urgent care; conjunctivitis eye drops, bronchitis tablets, flu antibiothic, parasite killer and blood tests.
You know pets; one week out in the streets and they catch the whole desease packet. So good our daughter is a pet Vet ... that helps a lot
Her name (the cat) is Rita and she says hello to you all.
Fernando
.

[Matchlock]

Hi 'Nando and welcome, sweet lovely Rita!

Thank you so much for taking care of that little smooth as silk lady. Hers is certainly the most beautiful and heart warming picture I've ever seen on the forum ...
I'm sure she is in the best of hands with you and your Vet daughter!

Thanks again and best,
Michl

[Matchlock]

The first Steinbüchse most probably Swiss, ca. 1420-30 (dating criteria: various reinforcement rings, large touchhole, and the cross of Switzerland - cross of Saint George - struck near the muzzle), sold Sotheby's London, Dec 8, 1988, Lot 276, for GBP 5,000. Length overall 34.2 cm, barrel (Flug) 11,3 cm long, bore ca. 6 cm, breech length 22.9 cm. The ring was clearly for suspension purposes but all kinds of speculations are allowed. Please see catalog description attached.

Please note the punched decoration of circles in the wrought iron surface; you will find almost the same arrangement on the breech of a similar but somewhat bigger Steinbüchse to be posted here soon.

Please also note the second to last illustration of a mounted knightly king firing a tiller handgun with various balls leaving the muzzle (ca. 1440)! We know of other instances in contemporary illuminated manuscripts illustrating the same phenomenon of either several caliber fitting balls or a larger amount of shot being fired from mid-14th to early-15th centrury handgonnes. That makes sense because the relatively short barrels were not apt to fire with the exactitude required.

Last not least please note the earliest small rectangularly bent igniting irons of that period of time. As I stated before, there is only one single specimen of that characteristic form known to have survived, and it is in my collection; see last attachment, the upperrmost of four.

To be cont'd ...

Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

Attached, among more historical sources of illustration, please find some pictures of earliest balls for handgonnes from my collection, comprising one singular stone ball, diameter ca. 3.6 cm, bearing an old paper strip stating that this ball was found while plowing a field near Regensburg in 1879. The others are of iron or heavily oxidized lead, some consist of cast iron and are covered by a thick layer of lead (probably to save the inner walls of bronze of brass barrels from abrasion), and one is even of brass.

One of the two bigger stone balls was for a larger piece of ordnance, the other being a stone hand grenade with a fuse of some sort of dried grass, the inner tube filled with a mixture of powder and adhesive the burning time of which must have been defined. Thus the thing could be ignited and just dropped from the wall to explode among the raiders below.

Best,
Michael

[Spiridonov]

Thanks! Have attantion, the person hold the loading beaker in his hand

[Spiridonov]

Michael, do you have X-rays of any handgonnes?

[Matchlock]

First more of the two stone balls and the stone hand grenade in my collection.

Next a small stone gun (German Steinbüchse) retaining its original oaken carriage (German Lafette); the wood, on the basis of the South German oak chronology, is datable to ca. 1460 or later - who would have assumed such a comparatively 'late' date?! Note the fixation by means of two iron clamps which is also shown on contemporary illustrations. This type of carriage, as seen in several 15th sentury documents, was originally fixed pivotable on a large round wooden base which sometimes even had a quadrant for more exact adjustment (see following posts).

This Steinbüchse, preserved in The Museum of Weißenburg, Bavaria, measures 61.3 cm overall, barrel length 31.6 cm overall, length of ball chamber (Flug) 26.0 cm, caliber at muzzle 5.6 cm, narrowing to the rear.

m

[Matchlock]

More:

The upper three, including a sectional drawing, of two Steinbüchsen in the Historic Museum Berne, Switzerland; the carriages are late 19th century replacements when these pieces were still in the famous collection of Robert Forrer who then handed everything down to the Museum, which 'gratefully' has not been exhibiting anything since WW II.

Alexander, I am afraid that have no X-radiography of such handgonnes but I do hope the sectional drawing and detailed photography will do. I some of the photos you can even see the banded iron coming off in thin layers as a consequence or rust and the great age of these pieces.

Now on it goes with the beautiful and completely preserved Weißenburg gun.
Note the fixation of the barrel by two pivoted iron clamps which can also be seen in early 15th century illustrations attached.
Please also note that the touchhole is larger now and has moved definitely forward of the rear end of the breech - also a criterion for dating the piece to the second half of the 15th century. Please bear in mind that there usually is a remarkable delay in the development of time-proven forms and techniques in rural areas as compared with the big leading city centers.

m