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Old 20th June 2012, 12:23 PM   #1
Matchlock
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Default Unusual Small Crossbow

I found this older French site

http://www.webarcherie.com/forum/ind...lete-ancienne/


The crossbow seems to be quite small and possibly belonged to a well-known group of 16th c., mostly North Italian, crossbows which characteristically have steel tillers and were presumably used by assassinators, carried hidden beneath a cloak.
Of course it could also be a trap crossbow installed in the open.

They threw steel bolts and, like our sample in discussion, were equiped with a bow-'string' consisting of three steel links.

The tiller of this crossbow however seems to be of wood, with lateral iron reinforcements; the rear end terminates in a scroll pointing downward, which is also often the cas with the said Italian crossbows.
It is accompanied by a goat's foot sapnner.



Any inputs?


So-called 'assassin's' crossbows in the Musée de l'Armée Paris and the Doges' Palace Venice attached lelow, one of them signed in full by the maker and dated 1562.


Best,
Michael
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Last edited by Matchlock; 20th June 2012 at 03:39 PM.
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Old 20th June 2012, 12:44 PM   #2
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Hi Michael,

Do you remember Eric's:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15016
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Old 20th June 2012, 12:50 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Atlantia
Hi Michael,

Do you remember Eric's:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15016

Brilliant, Gene,

Thanks a lot!

I rembered posting in it and was searching for that but did not succeed!

Best,
m

Last edited by Matchlock; 20th June 2012 at 01:36 PM.
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Old 20th June 2012, 01:24 PM   #4
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You're welcome Michael.

All the best
Gene
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Old 20th June 2012, 01:40 PM   #5
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Like the guy who originally posted this I am wondering about the use of the blunderbuss-like mouthed opening of the bolt housing, which also seems to have been equiped with a sort of bead foresight ?!

Any thoughts?
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Old 20th June 2012, 03:53 PM   #6
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Resembling a cable thrower device ?

.
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Old 20th June 2012, 04:15 PM   #7
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Good idea, 'Nando,

I too gathered something like that with my rusted French; it does not seem to make much sense to me though - aiming for throwing a cable from such a short 'barrel'? Wouldn't it unfurl anyway in the air?!

Best,
Michl
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Old 20th June 2012, 05:10 PM   #8
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Red face If my humble french doesn't betray me

The 'barrel' would be the 'deposit/drum' for the rope hank; the orifice to tie the end of the rope.
Such was the suggestion given by the original person; that this could be a fishing crossbow. The interpreation of the member quoted in the (here) posted images is a bit 'distorted'.
I have lurked into this forum; several members giving wings to their imagination, like suggesting an incendiary crossbow, boar hunting crossbow and so on. One of them even made a draft on how it should have worked. The idea of a fishing crossbow with a rope (string) seems to be the more consensual (to them).

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Old 20th June 2012, 06:55 PM   #9
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Wow, 'Nando,


What a fascinating interpretation!

Thank you so much for enlightening my dense mind!
I am not ashamed to admit that I did not include that option.

On the other hand, I know nothing on fishing.

I remember seeing records on the employment of incendiary arrows with matchlock muskets as late as the second half of the 16th c. though, the illustration of ca. 1570-80 probably of Spanish origin (attached) - a combination of devices which classic weaponry tends to confine to the earliest days of European firearms.


Well, you left me baffled if not flabbergasted.


Best,
Michl
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Old 20th June 2012, 07:10 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Matchlock
... What a fascinating interpretation! ... Well, you left me baffled if not flabbergasted.
Oh, i feel compensated just by learning the flabbergast term ... something i would never realize it existed .
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Old 20th June 2012, 10:33 PM   #11
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Is it just me, but......those hexagonal bolt heads look extremely out of place ....

Kind Regards David
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Old 21st June 2012, 02:11 PM   #12
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Hi David,


They seems strange indeed and troubled me too at first; somehow 'out of period' (or rather of what we expect to be 'period').

On the other hand, quadratic bolt heads were in use since at least the 15th c. as a small Gothic alcove gun, preserved in virtually 'untouched condition' in my collection, shows.

Similar devices are depicted in Philip Mönch's Kriegsbuch (Book of War Techniqes), 1496, fol. 32r.


Best,
Michael
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Old 21st June 2012, 02:51 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by katana
Is it just me, but......those hexagonal bolt heads look extremely out of place ....

Kind Regards David
Touché, David .
This model might well be an early one, but those bolts denounce a reproduction never earlier than mid XIX century ... right ?
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