~Field cannon to keep up with army, 1380.~
As early as 1380 it is said the French were able to procure for the invasion of Italy, a great number of brass cannon, mounted on carriages, and drawn by horses, instead of oxen; these pieces threw balls of from 40lbs. to 60lbs. in weight and could always keep pace with the army. (Plate 18, fig. 1, 3, and 4.)
A cannon taken at the siege of Dien in 1546, by John de Castro, and now in Lisbon, is 20 feet 7in. in length, 6 feet 3in. in diameter in the middle, and threw a ball of 100lbs. A Hindostani inscription on it states that it was cast in 1400.
~Red-hot iron balls used at Cherbourg, 1418.~
Bolts and quarrels were shot from cannon in the reign of Henry V.; these were succeeded by stones, as he ordered in 1418, “labourers to make 7,000 stones for the guns of different sorts from the quarries of Maidstone.” We learn from Elam’s life of Henry V., that when an English army, commanded by the Duke of Gloucester, besieged Cherbourg in 1418, the besieged discharged _red-hot_ balls of _iron_ from their cannon into the English camp, to burn the huts. So much time elapsed between the loading and discharging the great guns, that the besieged had sufficient time to repair at their leisure, the breaches made by the enormous stones, &c., thrown from them.
Five wrought-iron bombards are preserved in the “Musée de l’Artillerie,” at Paris; which were, it is said, abandoned by the English, at the town of Meaux, in 1422.
About the middle of the fifteenth century, the ancient method of constructing cannon was exchanged for that of casting. A hard or mixed metal was invented called “font metal” or bronze, and cannon were then cast in one piece, and instead of fanciful names, they began to be indicated by the weight of their ball, as at present.
At the siege of Constantinople, by Mahomet II., stones were thrown weighing 1,200lbs.! The cannon employed could not be discharged more than three or four times a day. This siege was distinguished by the re-union of ancient and modern artillery; the small arms of the Christians discharged five, or even ten balls at the same time, as large as walnuts; and one piece made for the Turks, by Urban, a Dane, cast a stone bullet weighing 600lbs., which could be discharged seven times a day, but it ultimately burst. This gun was cast of brass at Adrianople, of stupendous and almost incredible magnitude; twelve palms is assigned to the bore. A vacant space before the palace was chosen for the first experiment, but to prevent the sudden and mischievous effects of astonishment and fear, a proclamation was issued that the cannon would be discharged on the following day. The explosion was felt or heard in a circuit of 100 furlongs, the ball was driven above a mile and buried itself a fathom in the ground. A carriage of thirty waggons was linked together to carry the gun along, and drawn by a team of sixty oxen; 200 men on both sides were stationed to poise or sustain the rolling weight, 250 workmen marched before it to smooth the way, and repair the bridges, and near two months were employed in a laborious journey of 150 miles. This enormous gun was flanked by two of almost equal magnitude, and fourteen batteries, mounting 130 guns, were brought to bear upon the place. The cannon were intermingled with machines for throwing stones and darts.