Kelly DeVries

Guns and Men in Medieval Europe,1 200-1 s00

Studies in Military History and Technology

ASHGATEVARIORUM

VII

CONTENTS

The Lack of a Western European MilitaryResponse to the Ottoman Invasions of EasternEurope from Nicopolis (1396) to Moh6cs (1526)Journal of Military History 63 (1999)

GUNS

VIII The Forgotten Battle of Bevershoutsveld,3 May, 1382: Technological Innovation andMilitary SignificanceArmies, Chivalry and Warfare: Harlaxton MedievalStudies, VII, ed. Matthew Strickland. Stamford, 1998

IX The Use of Gunpowder Weaponry by and againstJoan of Arc during the Hundred Years WarWar and Society 14 (1996)

X Gunpowder Weapons at the Siege ofConstantinople, 1453War, Army and Society in the Eastern Mediterranean,7th-l6th Centuries, ed. Yaacoy Lev. Leiden. 1996

Gunpowder and Early Gunpowder WeaponsGunpowder: The History ofan International Technology,ed. Brenda Buchanan. Bath, 1996

The Technology of Gunpowder Weaponry inWestern Europe during the Hundred Years WarXXII. Kongre/3 der Internationalen Kommission fi)rMilittirgeschichte Acta 22: Von Crdcy bis MohdcsKriegswesen im sptiten Mittelalter (1346-1 526).V ienna,1997

XIII The Impact of Gunpowder Weaponry on SiegeWarfare in the Hundred Years WarThe Medieval City Under Siege, ed. Iry A. Corfisand Michael Ll/olf. lltoodbridge 1995

XIV The Effectiveness of Fifteenth-CenturyShipboard ArtilleryThe Mariner's Mirror 84 (1998)

XI

XII

s39-559

289-303

l - 1 5

343-362

t2t-135

285-298

227-244

389-399

XV

CONTENTS

L 1445 Reference to Shipboard Artillery'Tech,nologY

and Culture 3 I (l 990)

XVI Gunpowder Weaponry and the Rise of

the EarlY Modern State

llar in History 5 (1998)

XVII Military Surgical Practice and the Advent

of GunPowder WeaPonry

Canadian Bulletin of U"aicat History 7 (1990)

METHODOLOGY

XVIII Catapults are not Atomic Bombs: Towards

a Redefinition of 'Effectiveness' in Premodern

Military TechnologYWar in History 4 (1997)

v l l

8 1 8-829

t27-145

131-146

454-470

l-5

XIII

244

The angle bastion was, in the words of Sir John Hale: "The most significantof all architectural forms [which] evolved during the Renaissance."* t, .".ilysolved the problem ofdefending against dead zones along fortification waltsb!providing flanking fire from larger, more powerful weapon: aimed directlydown the sides of these walls. Guns could be now mounted so that anyoneattacking the fortification walls would have to pass through a cross fire from tlretwo adjacent bastions. It also was the foundation on which the sixteenth-cenfuwtrace italienne was built.77

Attempting to show that early gunpowder weapons were effective means ofbesieging fortifications in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is of course aproblem of relativity. Certainly in comparison with later gunpowder weaponryused in sieges this artillery was not effective. But in comparison with earliernon-gunpowder-weapon siege attempts, by focusing not only on the number andlength of sieges, but also on the attempts to thwart successful gunpowder bom-bardments by changes in fortification construction, the conclusion can only bethat guns had" by the end of the Middle Ages, completely altered siege warfarg.re

fortification drawings, predatmg Giorgro Martini's work, and thus not berng rnflugncl-d.i1rbut

possibly influencing, the latter work (p. 37). Most ott.t rtitioi*t, ;;Ttffig the extreoely

reliable Bertrand Gille, disagree with this dattng.76 Hale, "Bastion," p.466.77 On the trace italienne,see Hale, "Bastion," pp. 466-67,and Parker, pp' l 0-1 3' -,.^.7E This paper builds on a thesis contarned in my ,ta,*7i"iit,ii'frrinaogy Ceterba

rough: broadview press. 1992).

XIV

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FIFTEENTH-CENTURYSHIPBOARD ARTILLERY

he question asked in this art icle is simple. lVere f i f teenth-century shipboard

Eunpon'der $'eapons 'effect ivc'? The answer, however, is not so simple. I f we

t. ' ' 'ean that shipboard gunpowder weapons were effect ive only i f and when thev

srnk shrp', rhcn the rnswer must be no, for most historians bel ieve that the f irst

recorded sinking of a naval vessel by opposing shipboard guns did not occur unti l 1 5 1 3,1

with almost al l historians bel ieving that, even as late as the defeat of the Spanish Armada

in 1588, shipboard guns were incapable of doing large amounts of damage to an

opposing ship's hul l , thereby sinking the vessel.2 Such a dcfinit ion is confining and

misleading. More importantly, such a definit ion is based not on pre-modern, but on

modern cri teria.s Indeed, the fact that by 1500 nearly al l ships travel l ing through andfrom Europc were outf i t ted with gunpowder weapons indicates that the makers andoperarors of these guns s'ere not concerned with sinking other ships - such a conceptmav nor hale even occurred to them - but that the-v were more interested in protectingtheir r,essels and cargo from enemies and piraies, either through actual mil i tar l :enBagement or int imidation. In mil i tar l ' si tuations, these gunpowder weapons wereused as anti-personnel devices or for bombarding coastal fort i f icat ions, not for sinkingopposing ships.

That there is a need to ask this question has become apparent by the appearance o{two.art icles publ ished in the same issue of Tbe Mariner's Mirror (Augusr 1996): N.A.M.Rodger's 'The Development of Broadside Gunnery, 1450- 1 850' anJGeoffrey Parker's'The

Dreadnought Rcvolut ion of Tudor England;,a as well as by the persisient bel ieftnat the Nli l i tar l Revolut ion required 'Victory at Sea' brought about by gunpowderweapons.5 To these authors it is only in the sixteenth centu.y tf,at there wai '"'rerrtl,ltio.ttn nava l . \ 'a r l ' a re . q i rh the invent ion o f the immense ly expcns ivc sh ip -o f - rhe- l ine . wh ichdeieated i ts foes bv art i l lery broadsides instead of

' ramming or boarding'.6 \(hi le the

broadside indeed mighr have been a sixteenth-centu.y innoriation,T as mi[ht ha.re beenthe' immensel\ .xpeisiue ship-of-the-l irr" ' , grr.rpo*d.r weapons

"pp.r. o".r bo"rd ships

ntarly,ts 'o.. .nt,-, i i . , pr ior to that date, dei"eloping a.rd e,rol,r ing^in technology and(actrcal use th.oughout the intervening time. fo firia the period if g.."r.r. his"torical

ProBression for shipboard guns, i t is th"is evolut io.r"ry p.r iod, princi ial ly the f i f teenthttn:: . t , on n'hich *e shoujd focus, and nor rhe sixreenrh ccnrury.

," 5, scho.lars who study late medieval gunpowder weapons believe that they began

.]lPj.tt on board ships shortly after thef b"grn to b. ,rs.d on land.8 There are some

il i l i l , : indicare that this b"i i" f i , based ,r ion fact, although in many cases early'"*tn,n-..ttturv

references ro gunpowder *eapons o.r Eo"rd shiis are either

$:f:':ot. or refer to guns carried aJcargo.e The earliest trustworthy ,o,-,... ,o indicate-"ot a SunPor'd.. *"^pon was used in a"military capacity on boa.d a ship is an accounr

XIV

390

XIV

391EFFECTI\IENLSS O1] 15th-CENTURY SHIPBOARD ARTILLERY

for u'ork done bet*'een lrlarch 1317 and Septcrnbcr 1318 on a large EnglishAll Hallo'--'s cog. one of thc pieces of equip-".'t nervl-' placed o;;;:jii]J.thti*::

i,."'i:::fli: lili:::lfi l::i::a:x'::1fii1 '',+9' l'lL','j' Yi'i. p",*d'-'r il;f:'

l t ' l : ' ,o t

'191 l t : o t ' - t l : t , ' ' ' n : '1 '0 , c la r i f v tha t th is was aweapon_ro bc used on board the ship an.d not to. bc unloaded for land.r.. . ano,l . . i

tenable fourteenth-ccnturl ' rcference to shipboard art i l lerf is found irJ."" E.oirr.rr] ,contemporarv account of the batt le of La Rochcl le fought in i 372 between ,h. E;; ir iand French navies. In that batt le Froissart reports-.that arnong the French forces wereI l l b e r i a n r p r e s u m a b l r c , r r t i l r a n t g a l l e ' s s h i i l r i i r c d ' p i c r r e s ' , ' p l o m m e e s d . p l ; ; iand 'barr iaus de f icr ' from.their gunpo*-der-* 'eapons.l l Another for.r. .nrh-..n,u.yrc{erence to shipboard art i l lerv r i .hich should also be noted comes from the accountso1 Jean de vienne, the adrriral of France rcsponsible for rebui lding the French nauuafter i ts defcat at the batt le of Sluys in 1 3"10. Bv 1377 , according ro these sources, Vienn'ehad 35 ships ready for act ion, al l 'v, i th the most impro'ed gun5'.12 Two years later,according to Thomas \Walsingham's contemporary chronicle, a French and Iberian f leeithreatening thc.Norrnan harbour of St Malo attack.ed the English ships protectingitwith gunshot; the harbour did not fal i and no Fingl ish vcssels were reported to hiuebeen damaged.l3 Final l ,v, in 1387, at the batt le of Dunkirk, when a large number ofEnglish ships, principal lv gal levs, attacked a smaller Flemish f leet, thev were driven off,rnost notablr ' 6v thc Jan Buuc,whtch was armed n' i th threc cannon.14Thus there isstrong evidence to aff irn-r that br- the end of the fourteenth century there was someeffort to place guns on board ships.

From this t ime on and throughout the f i f teenth centur\ ' , gunpowder weapons beganto increase unti l nearly cverv archival and narrat ive account of ships, cargo and warshipsal ike includes a refcrencc to them. In France, for example, an early f i f teenth-century'arms contract ' instructs the port of La Rochelle to cquip 40 French vessels each with

four culverins and two vcuglaires complete with pou.der and bal ls;15 guns were also

found on board ships f ighting in the batt les of Harf lcur and o{ the Seine in 741'6.16ln

Italy, ships are known to htu. been equipped wit l ' r guns by the Lombard tVars of the

1 '120s and 1430s.17 In Eng land, s ta r t ing f rom the re ign o f Henry IV (1399-1413) , a lmost

a l l , ra rshrp , o i c .c r r ' , i ' r . , * . . . .qu ipp .d t ' i th qJnpo*der weaponry '18 Henry V 's

rrassive f lagship, thc Grac'e Diru, i^i i forr-gu., 'b"tterr ' , the Triniy koyole had f ive

guns, and r"he Ho/igost had seven.re Another , '"essel in the shipping " i .o,rntr,

the Holy

bhost of the To--r i , is shon,n to har.e increased i ts arscnal f .o* t*o cannon in 1416 to

s ix cannon in I {22 . r : And whcn rhe Fng l ish , f , ip U io i ,gor in " r . rp ,u r .d

and p lundered

hr rhe French in l -1 17 . one o f rhe i tems taken * . , , I ^nnon. : l ln Burgundy ' PerhaPsthe po l i t i ca l enr i t v most in tc rcs ted in acqu i r ing gunpouder s /eaPons dur ing the ear ty

f i l t e e n t h c e n t u r \ . g r n r . p p . " , o n b o r r i t h i p i 6 . i h . t l q o t a n d e x i s t t h e r e . i n g r e a t

numbers *i th nou.i t . .hnnlngv bv the 141Osi2 Final lv, cven in the Scandinavian lanos

shipboard gunpo*der weapons appeared f,'.q".;;i;il;;;;dl;;f the fifteenth

century.23Also, by the 14'1Cs i t seerns that al lships oPerating in the Nlediterrane*'b" ' .1?:| l | i l :

and round 'sh ips , \ \ ' c re cqu ipped r , i rh gunr . Th is o ls , pcr iod o f g rear : : : : i l " ld - ,

s ta tes Iv ing in and around th is in te rcont inenta l sea . In the west ' ,h . Ib : : t ^ t ^?r : : ' : , ; i l , t

of Aragon, Casti le and Portugal \ \ 'ere active in defending their cargo vesset:

I ]FFECTI\/ENESS OF I5th-CENTURY SHIPBOARD ARTILLERY

i n a . g . . r ; n c s l a n d r . r r r J t r a d i n g p a r r n e r s . S o r o o s e r c r l r c F r c n c h ( n h e n n o t f i g h r i . g

,n. i , , . , t t English) arl t l the Nloroccans. In the east, the Ottomans, Venetianlg"rrg,," J,. ' , , . . Br z.antines (unri l 1'+53) and Knights Hospital ler fought among

,h.,r i ,r . i . ' iol control of Asia Minor, the Balkan peninsula, and nearby islands. In thi

cenrr.r l \ [e.] i terranean, the Ital ian city-states and duchies competed against cach other

rn, l oq.r i . ' r the Nl.rnrluk.ships of Egypt. Gunpowder u'caponr t .r^a b"g"" ro appear so

f requ i , , : . ' . ' nboard l l cd i te l raneanvesse ls tha tby thc la t tc rha l fo f the i i f t . " . r ,h .n t r rythci h;. . . bcgun to replacc the tradit ional non-gunporvder rveapons - bow, crossbow,

sl ing, inr catapult u'hich had been used on ships ior rnanv centuries. l+ju.. , . i . . t , . .n oi gunpon-der \ \ :eapon use conti .ucd throughout the rest of the

i i i teenrir.eitur-\ ' . Indeecl, so prevalent had shipboard guns become br- 150O that eventhe ships oi discoverv used bv Christopher Colurnbus and othcrs $'ere outi i rred wirhth,: \r-c.rp.r:rs. l i \ lorcover, bv the end of the f i f teenth cenrur\-) the number of guns placeclon boarcl shrps had increased grcatlv..For example, in 1179 the English ships GeorgeHoi;art i nd Edi; 'ard Hor; 'ard, both owned bv Sir John Howard, contained l6bomberds' i th 72 charrbers, and 15 bombards q. i th 64 chambcrs, respectiveiy. In 14g5rheGrdce Dieuhad 21 guns n-i th 89 chambers, the Marrin Garsiahad3o suns with g5chambers, the -r lar1'of the Touer had 48 guns nith 110 charnbers, and rhe Goaernorhad /0 suns -*'ith 205 chambers-. Finally, in 1197 the So"sereign is recorded as }raving111 guns :n t l ' {19 chambcrs , n ' i th the Regent ha ' ing 181 guns and 453 chambers .26

The r 'r istence ol gunpowder $/eapons on so rr lan\. ships and in such increasingnu.mbe's br the end of the f i f teenth cenrurv rnust certainlv be proof of thei ieffect ivenissl placing such r. 'eapons on board r irere ships, o.hetle. state or privatclyon ncd, n . i \ sue h Jn expcrrsir.e endeavour that those l 'hc, Lwned these vessels musr har,,ebcl ie'e. l in rheir protectir . .e effect ir .eness. But this is not the onlv evidence of t l ,reettect i !eness oi i i f tecnth-centurv gunpo\\:der u'eaponr1 . proof of effect iveness can also

?: j""",9 r 'exemiuing thc actions i .r - i i .h th.s. *.rp,r, .r , were used during thar centuryand earl ier.

Ian FrieL's corrrnent, 'unti l u,cl l into the f i f teenth cenrury (and perhaps later), gunsremainedrf l inr ired irnportance i ' sea warfare'2/ can only b. ' ,r" l id"t.d i i *" .o-p"..these coni l icrs tu rhosc in t l ' re modern age. Naval batt les ihroughout the Middle Agesnere fen. i ' nunrber, n irh onlr- th. --ort infrequent dest.rr. i io.r of vessels. In therour teent l r ' r ' d i i i t ccn th centur ies th is d id no , .h"ng . , even q , - i th the add i t ion o fJrrrPDoarc :uirp6nclcv \\ 'cxponr\-. And *.hi le i t can be iaid rvith relat ive certaintv that

i l l j , l t i ' r ' ' t u ' c J . r r r l r c r r a r a l b . r t r l e o r S l u r , . n ' h i c h i n i r i a t e d t h e H u n d r e d y e a r s \ w a r ,u(splte thc .r.s\crt irrns br Geoffre'parker and others of such use,:s nearly everv other

, i . k rcnxr :c r r re r r r o1 ' th i , . o .n f l i c t san the use or ' sh ipboard guns aga insr oppos ing sh ips

I.3;-1i )o,crpecred. * 'as i t ro use gunpowd.t o,. .ponr-in t*r i . l .otr i i . ts be1*ee.,

f ; i l : : : i" rr ' .rnce rhar by c 1.110, when Cl.rr ist inc dc pisan r.vrore her mil i tary manual

i r " ,n ' ( l ' l i l ' d ,a rmes c t dc che iL t lene. shc adv ises 'g rccr inq 'a t rack ing sh ips w i rh s6or

o,h;:""". t l n t t ' l t .rs n e l l .rs .shot from non-gunpowdcr art i l l l rv.2e I" th*" l , tedit .rranean,

,no,*-1"" .1d\ ent r)t piract ' and Islamic-Christ ian warfare led to more navali i i i , t . .n,r.

gunf ir .e berrr.ecn vessels was also frequenr.

rr, i j i^ ' .- t j nr.st be.aclrnirtccl that l i t t le seems to have rcsurted f iom the use of theseI -"aru gLrns' at leasr .rgainst opposing ships. At r-a Rochelle in 1372, for exarnple,

XIV

J92

XTV

. . ' -' 5 : : !

EFFECTIVENESS OF 1 5Ih-CENTURY SHIPBOARD ARTILLERY

. l

E:

swivel-mounted guns.

Fie. L The Varwick Roll (British Library rnanusctipt Julian E IV art 6) depicts.a .. '

:ili; ii;;;ff;;;J r;;;;;; battre *iih ,*o .n,',ir *."po,', mounted on the hull

"i irrJ rrrr iu.tl# t.rt). Although not depicted clearly' these may be t

EFFECTIVENESS OF lsth-CENTURY SHIPBOARD ARTILLERY 3e3

.h. details of the battle; instead there is only the mention of casualty figures.st And at

,u. .i.*. of Constantinople by Mehmed II in 1453, it was not the {iring of guns from

.il" fuiLirtt ships which caused damage against Byzantine and allied vessels; rather it

*r, tnl.t1-"d'r i"rg" ..n.tott set in the coastal fortress of Rumeli Hissar and along the

,t,o..r of the Bosphoros Strait which destroyed his oPPonents' ships, eventually

neutraliring the naval threat to the siege'12

yer, as seen above, guns continued to be placed on board ships in more and more

numbers during the cenrury, and they continued to be used in naval engagements. Vhy?

p.rh"pr because they were not being used as anti-ship devices, as their later, early

,od.in cousins would. They were used instead as anti-Personnel weapons. Evidence

for this claim is hard to find, as most narrative sources describing naval events during

this period are less concerned with anti-personnel than with anti-ship action and results,

unless it is simply to record the numbers dead, as at the battle of Harfleur mentioned

above. However, there are two letters reporting naval engagements at which guns were

used which indicate that these weapons, together with the more traditionai non-

gunpowder weapons, were quite effective. The first, written by Archbishop Leonard

if Chior, describes a naval engagement between the Turks and Byzantines in the

Bosphoros during the siege of Constantinople:

Battle was joined; they [the Turks] fired their cannon, they shot their arrows and fought likedemons. On the other side our ships ... fought back ... The catapults threw their terrible missiles,and from the high decks of the ships a shower of proiectiles fell upon the closely-packed Turkishvessels. The Emperor's ship defended itself nobly... the cannon roared, the air filled with loudcries and the snapping of the oars of the galleys, while one Turk after another fell wounded.33

A second letter, written by the commander of the Italian round ships at the battle ofZonchio in 1,499, Alvise Marcello, concentrates on the effects of the Turkish guns usedagainst his vessels; in general, he laments the physical and psychological stress whichthese guns placed on his crew, and in particular he laments the fact that stones firedfrom them killed two of his staff and even oenetrated into his cabin.la

Also, although on rarer occasions, shipboard guns were used as anti-fortificationweapons, as indicated in the account ofJean de \flaurin when in 1445 a Burgundianship attacked the Turkish fortification of Giurgevo until its main gun, a bombard,became overheated and burst.ls

Finally, it should be noted that by the end of the century, a change in tactics beganto aPPear in ship-to-ship conflicts, a nes/ racric where attacking the hulls of ships byguns began to be practised. This can be seen at the battle of Zonchio in 1499, whereseveral Turkish and Venetian ships were severely damaged or destroyed - MerinoSanuto reports that one large Vene'tian round ship wa, ,rrrik by Turkish gunfire, whilethree Tuikish uerr.ls -ei consumed by fire^when their gunpowdJr was lit byannonballs fired from Venetian ships.36 And it can be r..n i.r Vasco da Gama's

ln8a8ement with I ndian ships off the cbast of Calicur in l50 1 , when he purposely aimed]s Eunpowder weapons below the waterlines of the opposing ships,^sinting ihree oftnem with the first ten salrros he fired.37 (If these

"u.nrrli. t-I, ,rri there is no reason

to,_doubt them, then ar rhe very least an earlier date for the first sinking of a ship byBuntire must be recognised.)

if-:j=:

Jean Froissarr gives no indication of the effect of the Iberian naval guns lq"itt'ships, while in rh..onr...,f,ll;;:;?"-"i' of the I7e *:itk:l114::lji'::l:;ffiil;i;;;;;;;*;;s'at st Malo and of Flemish ships defendingther

against English vessels at fi""r.it[;" tigz,th"" 1t':ir"t]Xt f,-?k^.:j

H*:";t',|i,'ffi;";;'h;;;;;;,"'v roo,..'''o At the battle of Harfl eur' f ougk rn

was the English ,t ip, *rtiii JJ.;;;J with sunpowder weapons' !::,^:lit",rtii-"r.ty ?.f."t ti',. French fleet after

"rr etitem"ly lengthy ""t:-"-1:: *",

rhipr;p;."; to have had no benefit whatsoever from these weaPons' rr

-.'.rrio., of ,.,y damage to any ships' hulls can be found in the original sources

XIV

394

XIV

395EFFECTIVENESS OF 15Ih-CENTURY SHIPBOARD ARTILLERY EFFECTIVENESS OF 1 5Ih-CENTURY SHIPBOARD ART]LLERY

Fig. 3. Isaac van Meeckeren ship, c.14lO-80.

The n..rt technological change, occurring in the f irst half of the f i f teenth century,was a nrove to larger shipboard gunpowder weapons. But with thcse came newtechnological problerns. For one, the loading of these larger weapons presentedproblenrs on board ships not encountered in the loading of land gunpowder art i l ler l ' .Land qunporvder \ ! 'eapons were loaded with bal ls in the barrel and powder in thebreech, S*ir e1 quns could have been loaded in the same way. But larger guns mountedmore f irnrlv on the sides of ships, as shown in the'Warwick Roll i l lustrat ion of a largefour-mastecl ship, drawn c.1485, could not have been so easi ly loaded (Fig.2). Thusthere s' ;rs the invention of large shipboard guns which could be loaded with both theball and t1.re pov.der from the i."r; i. well, these guns had removable chambers whichrvere inte-rchangeable between al l similarly sized guns, a feature not found irr guns usedo n l a n d . i -

^. At the same t ime, hand-held gunpowder weapons began appearing on board ships.Obviouslv these al lowed fo. -or" -tbi le gunfire,

" l tho"gh th.y.onlJb. directed only

against opposing personnel with l i t t le ."p-"bi l i ,y of damJging their vessels.alVith the placement of larger guns on board ships, i t was quickly discovered that the

normal nruunting procedures of these weapons had also become inadequate. Vhen the' tzc o f ' l ' pboard gunpowder weapons incrcased. so too d id the i r we igh t , and th is .toupled r. i th an increased u,.eight of larger project i les as well as an increased recoi l ,rntanl thrt i t soon became rr. ."rrrry to-stt ingthen the ship's hul l or to develop anot tc r f l , l l l \ e means 6 f m6u. t i . . r l - ,o . , , . . ' 12 T l - , " f i ' s t response seems to have becn tospread rr ' . - ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; : , ; ; in. r- ' , r r ' , " i in th. . , , , r . , . For exampte, on rhe-ude)'ergir.

rhich. as menrioned above, u'as equipped with 141 gunpowder weapons,(v rarge ;uns .r 'ere placed on the hul l in the middle of the ship with 11 more placed on

It-I

II

\r :-\.1 -:-:-':!:r"ffsfl l:Rfr T{' ' i l . r

Fig. 2. \ffartick Roll, c.1485-

But i t is perhaps in studying the changing technologv of . these shipboard guns

throughout the f i f teenth ce"i". i , f-r", th. 6.r ievi i .n.. 3i,h. ir- effect i 'zeness can be

found and an evolut ion i , . . .og'nired' gunmakers .r ' rJ op..rro., became increasingly

interested in improving their shipboard guns, to'-t"'niry- tr,r'ing new technological

procedures "nd

inventions in an e{fort to develop more effect ive weaPons._1

In the fourteenth and early fifteenth cenruri.r, t;i;;;;;; g"rr.r,tJo"U,"dlytt:T::l

their landed counterparts, being primit ive and small with removable.h"-b:t: ' - l i t i l l i

n::m ::1'l * : ffiil::;;:l li : ru ) ';:!'",'k ::: i; lni ; ru ::,?il"$ili:''The f i rs t technoJogical change wa' the addir ion ot a s* i 'e l to the base

" t ' lT l l f l iand then thc mounririg of this #eapon to rhe side of the huli or castle or, in the casc-

a gal lev. the mount ing of i t on the bow or s tern ' This qunpowdtt * t^pt" ' r i i i i ; . . r , ,

" in-t., of different"names during thc late Middie Ages but todai calle{-1

ll.u.nr..ntnwas to become the primarv gunpov"der weaPon of ships into rhe early s(

cenlurv.- '

I

i ' ' '

XIV

396 EFFECTIVENESS OF l5Ih.CENTURY SHIPBOARD ARTILLERY

the stern castle; the remaining- guns, presumably port pieces, were mounred on the rwodecks of both the stern and aft castles.a3

Bur rh is was mcre lv a rcmporar \ ' . so lu r ion to the prob lem o f mount ing sh ipboardguns, and beiore the c.enrury had. cnded gunporrs had begun to appear. cr.dit .a to. llong time to a French shipwright named Descharges in i501, the itr"..trion of ti,lgunporr is now,bel ieved to have ]ppeared in the,f i f teenth century as yer anotherexperimental technology associated with shipboard gunpowder weapons (fk. fyiiGunports in turn led ro furtherchanges in the.construction of.ships - cl inker bui l tvessels could not take the strain of added gundecks - and in their design - a flat transomstern, better adapted to hold cannon, replaced the traditional rounded one - and thevmay even have led to the decline and eventual replacement of the galley, with its limitelcapability of housing guns, with the larger, better armed sailing ship as the mainMediterranean vessel.as Finally, gunports undoubtedly also led to the broadside, thesixteenth century's 'revolutionary' means of defeating the world's ships.

\Without quesrion the broadside altered the style of naval warfare throughout theperiod of the great sailing ships. But it did not spring fully grown from the head of Zeus(or in this case Poseidon). I t was instead developed through a process of technologicaland tactical evolution which began with the advent of gunpowder weapons on land,and then progressed through the placement of these guns on board ships, their use innaval engagements as anti-personnel weapons, their increase in size and numbers, andfinally their changes in technology, separate from similar v!'eapons used on land. Vere

they effective in the fifteenth centurv? By pre-modern criteria they were the very

definit ion of the word.

References

1 N.A.M. Rodger, 'The Development of

B roads ide Gunnc ry , 1450 -1650 ' , M .M . , 82(1996), 303, and Richard \W. Unge r, The Sbip inMedieral Economl,, 50A- 1 600 (N{ontreal, 1980),234. Freder ic C. Lane ( 'Naval Act ions and FleetOrgan i za t i on , 1 499 - 1 502 ' , i n Rena i ssanceVenice, ed. J.R. Hale (Totowa, 1973), 153 con-tends that thc f i rs t s inking of a ship by an oppos-ing ship 's gunf i re was in 1499 when a Venet ianround ship of 400 tons was sunk by a Turkishvessel at thc battle of Zonchio. Horvever, thisassert ion seems not to have been acknowledgedor accepted br- the above authors.

2 Sce Rodger, 301-2; Gi l l ian Hutchinson,Medieval Ships and Shipping (London, 1994),149; M.\il. Prynne, 'Henry Y's Grace Dieu',M.M.,54 (1968), 125; and L.G. Carr Laughton,'Hul l Project ion ' , M.M.,26 O94A), 56.

3 A cr i t ic ism of using modern cr i ter ia todiscuss the cffcctiueness of pre-modern militarvtechnology is found in Kel ly DcVr ies, 'Catap-ul tsAre Not Atomic Bombs: Towards a Redef in ition of "Effcctiveness" in Premodern MilitaryTechnology' , War in History 4 (1997),475-91.

XIV

EFFECTIVENESS OF 15Ih-CENTURY SHIPBOARD ARTILLERY 397

4 Rodeer ' 'DeveloDmcnt of Broadside Gun-

ncrv'. 3O I -)4. and Ceoifrev Parker,'The Dread-noigLtReuoluion of Tudor England', M.M'82(1e96),269-304.

5 'Victon ar Sea' is rhe title of Geoffrey

Parker's chopie, o, rbe subject n Tl.te.M1!1taU,R cp o I u t i on :' M i/ i t ary I n n oaarion and tbe Rise ol

t h c td/ c s t, I 5 A0 - t s 0'A ( Cambrid ge, I 988)' thougn

ll :a,mj 5 :l " :' ; ; ;:,i";l;: :' ;:i ;";,';:':rEr ro ' o ron Exoans ion ' I 100 - t 700 (London '

I eo5i Recent lrticlcs .upportTb[:'*:'^:,fif

S :', tl",l':*:: l"l'i tlrl;i, oe rspec,ive', v:-

i:i' ̂l *"ii lj"Wir; ". I,":?ly' l;:J,iill,,i: #$'r'"T4[ii: i-'t'tit'll ^y,p iir.'r"?:'-*t*l:::fS:

ifi;#;t#!,fwY[l

p A h , n . r rm , l 6 t h Ccn tu r v Nava l Tac t i c s and

Cu . . , , , I n t t ' r na t l ona l Jou rna l o f N ' au t i ca l A r -

d t t , . . - , t t nd L nde r - a te r Exp lo ra r r cn , 17( l 9 s \ . l - - l i ''

D T l - quo te i s f r om Pa rke r , ' l n Dc fense o f

flls .\ t i li r ary R er o lution', 338.

7 I{otlger's articlc claims, however, that the

broa. ls i , lc n rs not an innovat ion of the s ixteenth

cenrurr . l .ut of a later per iod.

S Scc Cipolla, 25-6; Parker, The Military,

Re"-oi ; , : i r tn.8+; Phi l ippe Contamine, War in the

1l jJ1i1; .1, .4as, r rans. Michael Jones (London,

198+), l :6; Paul Henrard, 'Documents pour

serv i r i I 'h js to i rc de l 'ar t i l ler ie en Belgique. Lesfonder,rs t l 'er t i l ler ie ' , Annales de I 'academied'arc l : ia logic de Belgique,45 (1889), 240; SirCharle ' ()nren, A Hitory of the Art oJ'\Yar intbe .11: , i ' i iL .1gcs (London, 192+), I I , 215 T.F.Tour. I r i rerrms in England in thc FourteenthCenturr'. Inglish Historical Repieu 26 (1911),669 - l 3 ; A l cxande r N I cKcc , ' Thc I n f l uence o fBr i t ish Nevr l Strategy on Ship Design: 1400-1850' , in Gc'orge F. Bass, ed. , A f { is tory of Sea-

faring ilt:td on Under.cater Archaeologl (NewYork, t l12). 229-30; and Spencer Ttcker, Arm-ing thc [!e'tt: LI..l. Na'u1, Ordnance in the illuz-z le-Lo. i , l i t te l : r r (Annapol is , 1989), 2-1.

9 Scc Kclh DeVries, 'A 1.1.15 Refcrcnce toShipborrcl Artillen', Technologl, and Cuhure,31 (199C) , S l3 -21 . See a l so t he vo lum inous re -cords oi *unpowder weapon shipments in A.Mcr l i r r - r I rz , l i r ' . ed. , Documenrs r , : lat i t 's au c losdes g . t | , , . d , Rouc t t , 2 r o l s , Cu l l c c r i on de docu -ments in. ;J i ts sur l 'h is to i re de Francc. Sect ion dephi lo iogic c ' t d 'h isto i re jusqu' i 1610, vols I I and12 (Par is. I 9/7- t i ) .

, , lJ l ' r I . r1t1. Thc Cood \h ip: Ships, Ship-

outtdt,tr .t'.,1 TtchnologJ in !- ngland, I Z0O_ t t 20{oa l t r n ru r . . l , ' 951 , 152 . Th i : comc : f r o tn a docu_men t r v \ i . l r \ \ . r . i ound bv Mr F r i c l i n t hc pub l i cn e c o r d O i r i . c r l l a l r 2 a i 2 T t : t o m r k n o o l c d g ett has e: t . rpcd prr , \ iou5 nor ice.

, ̂ . - t t

,J ."n } : ro issart , Cbroniques, in Ken.yn dei" l f " f

, : l : . t ,1. . Ocutres de i rot :s, t r t lBrusscl : .t ^oov ) , \ T l l . t l l - . { 0 . On rhe p rub lems w i rh t h i sl ' J . t t t n . , ' , , l JeV r i cs . ' , q i ++s Rc f c rence rou r rPDoa r d , \ r t i l l e r r , . , g2 l .

o ^ - , 1 , I ( , unJ i n W i l l i a rn La i r d C lowcs , I bc' \ 0 )a / . \ . r : . t . l ondon . l g9? ) , l , l g6 .

. , - l J , Th , , 1113 ' Wa l s i ngham, H r ro r ra 4ng l il f .TX! t r r ' Ri levrLonion. ls6 l ) . r .+os_b.See- . " " utoq cs. J. -10.1.

a," l+, , \ I f , , .quer. ed. . Crontqu, ,s de Franchc.4 cnglct,,,r.

di Flnrdrl"r. de L,lc ,t ,rp"rioli

ment de Tournal (Mons, 1938), 111 4. See alsoJacques Paviot, La politique navale des ducs deBourgogne I 3 84/ 1 482 (Lille, 1995), 48-9.

15 Contamine, 206.16 Friel, 151-2, and Kelly DeYrtes,Medieoal

M ilitary T e chno lo gy (Peterborou gh, 1 992), 1 49.I / See Frederic C .Lane, Venice: A Maritime

Republic (Baltimore, 1973), nA. Some modernhistor ians disagree wi th Lane's date for theplacemcnt of guns on board Venet ian ships.They contend that a latcr, post- 1 440 date is moreaccurate. See Fernand Braudel, The Structures ofEaerl,day Life: The Limis of the Possible, tani.Sian Reynolds (New York, 1979),389;R.C. An-dc r : on . Oa red F igh t i ng . !Dps i l ondon . l 9o2 t ,58 -9 i P . Pad i ; e l d , Cuns a t Sca rLondon , 1973 ) .19; and J.H. Parry, Tbe Age of Reconnaissance:Discooery, Exp/oration and Sett/ement 1450 to1 550 (London, 1963), 117 .

l 8 Fo r sh i ps du r i ng Hen ry lV ' s r e i gn . seeA ian Moo re , 'Accoun rs and I n ren ro r i es o f JohnStar lyng, CIe rk of the King's Ships to Henrv IV' ,l " l . M,, 4 (19 1 4) , 2a-6, 1 67 -7 3. F r ie l (p. 1 s3) d is-agrees wi th th is, indicat ing that Henry V's f lect'had

onlv fifteen gun armed ships out of an ef,fect ive toral of about th i r tv ' , but h is calculat ionsadd non-warships to those c lear ly bui l t for war;evcn then he notes that the bal l inger Roose alsohad two qun ' . As we l l , I acque , Pa r i o t has f oundrha t du r i i g t he s " . . p . i i od ' n " r r l v e r e r y wa rs l r i pand non-warship of ihe Burgundian fleet."..ieigunpowder weapons. These inciuded bal l ingers,barger, br igant ines. busscr. carracks, carauelr ,galeasses, gal le1.s, hulks, naves, and ple i tes. ScePaviot, la politique navale des ducs de Bour-gogne,283-102.

19 On the Grace Dieu sce W.J. CarpenterTurner, 'The

Building of the Gracedieu, Valen-tine and Falconer at Southampton, 1416142A',M.M., +A (954),55-72. \ f lh i le the Gracedieu isrecordcd as having iour guns (rhree of which arei r s red ' s i ne

camera ' ) on I Ap r i l I 4 l 8 ( p .03 ) , aninventory ofship 's goods maie in F"b."ary i+ZOl ists only ' three guns and three gun chambers '(p.69). On the Trinity Royale and the Holigost,bui i t dur ing the re ign of Henry IV, see Fr ie l ,p.153. See also Hutchinson, pp.156-8 and thenumcrous original records found in S. Rose, cd.,Tbc. Navy of the Lancastrian Kings: Accountsand Inve.ntories of \Yilliam Soper, Keeper ctf theKing's Sbips, 1422-1427 (London, 1982).

, 20 rilr'J. Crp-enter Turner, 'The Building ofthe Holy Ghost of the Touer,1414-1416, and"hcrSubsequent History ' , M.M., K (1954),274,279.

XIV

398 EFFECTIVENESS OF 15Ih-CENTURY SHIPBOARD ARTILLERY

XIV

EFFECTIVENESS OF 15th-CENTURY SHIPBOARD ARTILLERY 3ee

2l Fr ie l , p.151. This s 'as one of i ts sevencannon. \Why the others were not captured is notexplaincd in the or ig inal account.

22 See DeVries, ' A 1445 Refcrence to Ship-board Art i l icry ' . 822-9; Joscph Carnier . L ar-t i l ler ie des ducs de Bourgogne d 'apr is Lesdocumcnts consero6s aux archites de Ia C6te-d 'Or (Par is, 1895), 161-2; C.G. Roelofsen,'L 'evolut ion de la f lot te "Bouguignonne" auxXVc ct XVIe s ibcles: quelqucs remarques surl ' in t roduct ion du canon dans la guerre mar i t imeet son influence' , Publication du centre Europdend'6tudes Bourguignonnes (XIVe-XVIe s.), 26(1986), 88-9; Charles de IaRonciere,Histoire dela marine franqarie, vol. II: La guerre de cent ans.RevoLution maritime (Paris, 19OO), 494; Paviot,La politique na'oale des ducs de Bourgogne,4S-9,28j-302; Jacques Paviot , 'Les navires du duc deBourgogne Phi l ippe ie Bon (r 'ers 1440-1' {65) ' , inAtti del iJ cont)egno internazionale di studicolombiani:

'Navi e navigazione nei secoli XV eXVI ' (Genoa, 1 990), I , 1 67-95; and Jacques Pav-io\ ed., Portugal et Bourgogna au XVe siicle:Recueil de documents extraits des archives bour-guignonnes (L isbon and Par is, 1995), 279 (No.te6).

23 This is at testcd to bv the large number ofgunpowder n 'eapons dug up in the harbours ofStockholm and Visby. As the Visby harbour andthe part of the Stockholm harbour where theseweapons wcre discovered were c losed by s i l t bythc cnd of the f i f teenth centurv, thc date of thesef inds is indisputable. They' can now be found ondisplav in the Got land Fornsal Museum in Visb,vand thc Mcdel t idsmuseet in Stockholm.

2+ See C ipo l l a , Z6 -81 ; Rodge r , 3a2 -3 ;Roelofsen, 90 2; Lane, 'Naval Act ions and FleetOrganization, 149915A2', 146-73; Paviot, Lapolitique naoale des dwcs de Bourgogne, 108-10,I 28 , l 3O- l r John F . Gu i lma r t i n J r ,

' f h c Ea r l yProvision of Artillerv Armament on Mediterra-nean 'War Gal levs ' , M.M., 59 (1973), 257-8A;No6l Fourquin, 'Les galbres du Moyen-Age' , inA. Zysberg, ed., Quand

'ooguaient les galires(Par is, 1990), 84-5; Car la Rahn Phi l l ips,

'The

Caravcl and the Gallcon', in Cogs, Caratek andGallcons: The Sailing Ship (London, 199a),94-5;Djurdj ica Petrovic, 'F i re-arms in thc Balkans onthe Eve of and after the Ottoman Conquests ofthc Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries', in VJ.Parry and M.E. Yapp, cds,War, Technology andSociety in the MiddLe Easr (London, 1975),177;and Douglas H.P. Braid, 'Ordnance and Empire:Portugal in the Fi f teenth and Sixteenth Centurv ' ,

J.ournal of th.e Ordnance Societlt, 4 (1992), 55_66.On rhe r_eplacemcnr of t radi t ion. l vr" .pon, f , " ,guns see Kons tam, p .21 .

25 A 1495 account of the Niza found in theLibro de Armadas indicates ttr^cn b om b a r d o s. S* n' g*. ri:'#il:K;T:ilSanta Cruz, and Other Carav-els

"r O"..rib.Jin

rhe Libro de Armadas and Other Sprnirh-n._cords.' , American Neptune,.53,(l9f:y, )f f_+e. S-e"also Braid, 55 66,and Roclofsen, g0-1.

26 Fr ie l , 153,2C4, and Hutchinson, 160.l / r r t e l . I ) J ,28 Parker, The Military Reoolution, g4.

Parker takes this from F.C. van Oo*"n .nii,l.Bosscher, 'Het taktisch gebruik van het zeil-schrp', M arineblad, 80 (1970), 1Ol5-20. On thebattle of Slu1,s see Kelly DeVries,'God, Admi-rals, Archerv, and Flemings: Perceptions of Vic-tory and Defeat at the Battle of Sluys, 1340',American N eptune, 55 (1 995), 22J -42.'

29 Christine de Pisan, Tbe Booh of Fayettesol Armcs and ol Cbyaalry", tr"nt. V. Ci*ton,ed. A.T.P. Byles, Early English Text Series (Lon-don , 1932 ) , 182 .

J0 Sec refs 12, 14, and 1 5 above.3 I See Friel. 1 5 1 -2. Friel's conclusion is that

'although some of the ships present at the Bartleof Harfleur had cannon, they do not feature inthc Cesta lHennci Quint f i 's account, perhaps asiqn of their rc lat ive unimportance compared* i th thar o[ more t radi t ionai weapons'(p.152).

32 See Kelly DeVries, 'Gunpowder V/eap-

onrv at the Siese of Constantinople' 1453',intilar, Army arisociety in the Easiern Mediter-,onrlon. 7tL- I6th Ceniuries, ed. Y. Lev (Leiden,

1995J. 159 60, and Simon Peppcr"Fonres ano

Flcct : The Defence of Venice' i Mainland Greek

Colonies in the Late Fj f teenth Century ' in DS'

Chambers. C.H. Clough, and M'E' Mal let t ' eds '

wfr, irti* ^nd Sociity in Renaissance Venice:

Essats in Honour of Ioin Hale (London' l9iJ)'

+o- t l The Turks did ihe .ame dur ing their anacx

on Lcpanro i n t 499- I 5oo (Pepper, p.49)' Seeatso

Hut.h inron (p. 163) for s imi l ; ; Engl ish tor t r r rce-

tions built td ur. gunpo*der weipons agarnst

s nrps.33 Leonard of Chios,'Letterto PoPgNijlgJ J L C U l l d l u u r . / < 2 .

las V', in Tbe Siege of Constantinoptt'rt:' 'ri.';;":iil;,:;;:i5ir'oJ,i',|",i,i',.:"rtl'Y;j:"":,i;';"':!,ii,:,1,'i;';;;,";iz,s,!1;;';,fff:.| : H:"'.Tft I .iJ#.: i",r'J ii"s" oI

15 Jch:n de \ l ' rur in.?ecz ei l des crontqu.es.et

nncl:,.': ',,s tstories cle Ia Grnnt Bretatgne' ed. tW .- " ; f . l C n . I I a r d v ( L o n d o n . l S 9 l ) , V , 9 : - 6 .

i " . .1." D.v. i .s . 'A 1{+5 Reiercncc to Ship-

i o r r d i r i l l . t , ' . 327 -S . L i t t l e ac tua l damage ' vas

causcaj DI tncsc guns'j5 See Lane,

'Naval Act ions and Fleet Or-

g2nizar ion' . 1 52- ij ; H.E. Sranicv, ed. ,The Tbrec Vovages of

Vtsca i'r Gama (London, 1859), 168. See also

Konsum. 19' l2 'jE On the date, s ize, and funct ion of guns

used rn for t i f icat ions see Kei l t ' DeVries, 'The

Impacr o i Gunpowder tVeaponry on Siege Var-

iare in the Hundred Years Var ' , in I .A. Corf is

and \1. \\'olff, eds, The Medieval City Under

S;egc f\\'ood b rid ge, 1995), 227 -11.

l9 Robert D. Smith, 'Port Pieces: The Useof \ { ' rouqht- l ron Guns in the Sixteenth Cen-rurc' , Jorrnal o.f tbe Ordnance Society, 5 (1993),

1- lC rnd ' \ \ ' rought- i ron Swivel Guns' , in M.

Bound. cd., The ArchaeoLogl, of Ships of \Yar(Oxford. I 995), I 0+- I l . See also Frank Horvard,'Ear l r Ship Guns. P;rr r I : Bui l t -up Breech Load-e rs ' . . 11 . . 11 . .

- l l 93o r . + -19 5 j , and E : r l v Sh ip

Guns . P i r r [ I : Sn ' i r c l s ' , . 1 , 1 . , 11 . , 73 (1932 ) , +9 -55 .On rhe J i i i icu l t l of ident i iv ing ear lv guns bvthe i r e . r : r < . . r l one . . ce Robe r t D . Sm i rh , ' To

wards : \en Trpologv for Wrought I ron Ord-nancc ' . l r r c r ; r . t t i onaL Jou rna l o f \ au t i caLArchn; | .pt tnd L ' ' tder:atc, E.rp lor t t ion. 17(1988), j - 1 6. (See also Fig. 1.)

- lC S . . D . \ ' r i < . . . \ l r + i Rc le re r r cc r o Sh ipboard . - \ r t i l le r r ' ' . This Verwick Rol l i l lustrat ion. s l ounJ n B . r r i . h L i b r , r r r ma rusc r i p r Ju l i , r n EIV ar t 6. i . lSv. The technolc-gr ' , r i gur ipo. . 'de.veapons on l . rnt l is d iscussed in The Technologvo t Ug1 p ' r qJ ,1 \ \ ' ( r pon r \ i n \ \ ' c c r c rn Eu ropcourtnq the Hundrcd ) .ears \ \ , 'ar ' , rn XXIL Kon-gr.e l l c ler Intcrnat ionalen Kontniss ion t ' i i rll4ilitarseschrchte. Acta 22: Von Crecl, bis ,lto-b.a-cs K'1;q, ; ;p5s4 im Spr i ten l l i r te la l ' te" t lJ16-1J25r. iVinna, 1 998), i85-98.

.11 There are irequent referenccs to hand-held gunpowdcr weapons - coulevr ines ) . mainor hacquebutes - among thc l is ts of guns appear-ing on board ships dur ing the f i l teenth cenrurv.See DeVries, 'A 1445 Reference ro ShipboardArtillerv'; Paviot, Lapolitique ndaa/e cles ducs deBo u rgogne . l 8 l - 100 : r nd - \ .C . Jongkecs . 'A rmc -ment et act ion d 'une f lor te dc guerre: ]a contr ibut ion des comt6s mar i t imes i I 'arm6e g6n6raledes pavs de Par-Deg) en 1177', Publications ducen t re Eu ropeen d ' 6 tudes Bou rgu ignonnes( X IVe- XV I e s. ) , 26 (1986), 79-8a.

{ 2 H u r c h i n s o n . l o 0 - 1 , a n d I . H . P : r r y . T b eAge of Reconnaissance: Disco.oery, ExpLorationand Sett lement 1450 to 1550 (London, 1963),1 I 9-20.

4J Hutchinson, 160. For another cxample,the placement of guns on the Le1'de in 1-177, scc

Jongkees, 79-80.4- l Evidence for th is can be found, for exam-

p i c , i n r f i t t een t l r - cen tu r r F rench m . rnusc r i p ri l l um ina r i on o i hu l k . w i t h gunpo l t s p i c r c i nq rhcplanking of rhe bop's (Par is, Bib l iothdquc Na-t ionale \ {s. Fr .2829, i . 32r. ) and pcrhaps in a shipi l lusrrat ion of Isaac van t r {eeckercn, r : l -17C 3C,Co l l ec t i , , us r r t i s t i ques de ] 'Un i r . r s i t c de L i bgc .Inr ' . 10.- t1*) (Fig. 3) . For a reproduct ion ot th isi l luminat ion see Hutchinson, l6 I . On the inven-t i on o i gunpo r r s see F r i e l . l 5 - t - t r l R r ' Jgc r . j 0 l :

and C lo r ves , I , - 112 .45 See Fr ie l , 154-6; Rodger, 102- l ; and

Frederic C. Lane, Venetian Shtps and Shipbuild-ers of the Renaissance (Bal t imorc. 1931),27,31.On rhe problems associated v i th l : r rgc gunpo\ ' -der weapons mounted on gal levs see Gui lmart in,'The Ear lv Provis ion of Art i l lerv Armamcnt ontr ledi tcrranean Var Gal le ls ' , 259 -6C, 262-6.

Constant inople ' , 359 -60.

3'1 See lane, 'Naval Actions and

ganizat ion ' , 1 55.

Fleet Or