Hi all
Found this lovely picture in a german manuscript "Kriegsbuch" (Codex Palatini germanici 126,1496 Heidelberg)
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/cpg126/0070
The top one has a kind of trigger mechanism with a glowing rope for igniting the blackpowder (swe-luntlås). This seems to be a rather large gun, I base this on its masiveness and the stance seen below. has anybody more information on simmilar guns? painings, finds, other discussions? I have a friend who probaly would like to build somethin simmilar, any hint or reference would be of great value.

The whole manuscript is full of interesting pictures, of cannons and well a lot of siege stuff but mostly construction/enginering machines.
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/sammlung2/we...d=PAGE0118

I just have to show this picture http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/cpg126/0079 - like a knigth taking swiming lessions! :D

The links to a whole lot of other german manuscripts
http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/helios/digi/handschriften.html

Well thats it..
/Kim

http://www.historicenterprises.com/images/pro...ct_133.jpg like one of these no? Late 15th Century Matchlock Handgonne Circa 1465-1520

No not really, but matchlock var the word I was looking for! Chuck the link you provided is probably verry simmilar to the smaler handgone. This handgone seems to have an exteral fireing mechanism, oposed to most machloch I have seen which semms to have an internal ( inside the wodden part). Also it is cast frome broze and have a large hock normaly seen on earlier hackbuts (ca 1400) More like nr 2 and 4 in this pic
[ Linked Image ]
or possibly
[ Linked Image ]
Bronze handgonne barrel, late 1400's, royal armouries (XII, 959)
Pictures from this homepage: http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~dispater/handgonnes.htm
The second picture seems most interesting, rather large (I´m guessing here) and a louch hole at the side of the barrel.
Cant find pictures of this gun thoug, anyone know a good place wit pictures from Royal armories?
Well thanks for the reply....keep looking.
/Kim

sorry, not sure i follow.

the link i posted is like the first picture you posted.


the gonnes in the second post are indeed different. they are earlier hand gonnes. most attach to a wooden shaft and the shooter used a lite fuse in his other hand and manually lit the gunpowder

Thanks a lot Jean for that post, you wrote what I was trying to write and gave me some interesting insights. I did a search of wallgun on google but found mostly from 17th to 18th century and nothing on this forum. This semms to be a rather rare weapon, has anyone seen other weapons mounted on tripods or similar mounts?

There are accounts that indicate two man teams for 'hand gunnes' fairly common, especially in the early years. i found in the hussite accounts the tended to be in two man teams per wagon which adds perhaps to this. Not suer if it helps but There is a book on the Hussites by Fudge that containes a number of excerts from primary sources regarding them out but really guns are listed as a very small part of their accounts, the war fail and wagons seem dominant in the accounts of their battles.

Randall

Found this on Hermann-historica and it seems to most interesting as it has a simmilar construction: http://www.hermann-historica.de/auktion/hhm47...at47_2.txt
Radal thanks for the info, but I have had no time/effort to look it up. What do you eterans think about Hermann-historica as acurate information? I´ve heard from someone it wasn´t that reliable.. however this is all I have found so far..

It looks good by what I know. I think brass guns were in use for a long time, especially on board ships as well.

RPM

I've seen some similar gonnes in the Antique Arms Museum in San Marino.

I'll see if A. I've got pics of them (I took a lot, of everything) and B. If they're clear (autofocus sometimes focused on glass).

They were "wallguns" used from the ramparts of the three towers and various small forts defending the republic.