Were cannons used???

Discussion of topics concerning life in the middle ages around the world, including architecture, history, and warfare.
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Andrew_sension
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Were cannons used???

Post by Andrew_sension »

were cannons used in the medivel times???
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Formendacil
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Post by Formendacil »

Technically, yes.

Cannons (in Europe) were first used in the 1300s (I think. It might have been the 1400s.)

The Middle Ages lasted from the fall of the western Roman Empire, circa 500, until the beginning of the Renaissance, say when Columbus discovered America, 1492.

The High Middle Ages, the time period associated with Castles and Knights and Crusades and all that was basically between 1200 and 1500.

I think the numbers speak for themselves.

And if I'm wrong, I'm confident TTK or someone will correct me.
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Andrew_sension
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Post by Andrew_sension »

k cause im a bit afraid to use any of my cannons, just incase im using them in the wrong time
:D
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Post by Formendacil »

TECHNICALLY they are in the right time.

That doesn't mean that we like to see them, or that they were in common usage, or that if you put them in a MOC, half of us won't roast you alive.
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Post by TwoTonic Knight »

This pops up from time to time. Cannons appear in the 1300's (my usual early citing of them in a field battle is Crecy 1346, not because it was the first, but because most people are familiar with the great victory of the longbow). They were not decisive on the battlefield pretty much through the 1400's though they did appear more and more often. However, they were increasingly dominant in sieges and spelled the eventual end of the high-walled medieval castle.

The end of the Middle Ages is an iffy thing that really depends on the specific country in question more than an arbitrary catch-all date, but one commonly used date is 1453 for both the end of the 100 years war and the fall of Constantinople to cannon. Other dates are 1400, 1450, 1487 (end of the War of the Roses, which was primarily a medieval war), 1492 (Columbus), and 1500. I'm sure there are other dates cited depending on the historian.

The armored knight was more persistent and lasted well into the 1500's despite the escalating use of firearms, which also started in the 1300's (look in MOC for my thread on handguns).
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Post by doctorsparkles »

I'm trying to remember a similar thread and a comment somebody made (I'm way too lazy to find it)... I think this pretty much sums it up: Cannons existed, but they don't really fit the romanticized notions that most of our creations are based upon. I use them sometimes anyway... not for the sake of historical accuracy, but to add some variety to my army.
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Post by Legomaat »

The canon was invented somewhere around the end of 1300, but was at that time more a curiosity than a real weapon. Slowly, but steadily they became more powerful. But they had to be dragged too close to their target to be effective, while the good old trebuchet could be used from a greater distance, well out of range from the arrows of the defenders.
During that century, more castles fell because of starvation and diseases than by artillery.
Great strides, however, were made during the fifteenth century. At the siege of Constantinople in 1453 the Turks used a gun which cast shot 600 lbs. in weight! And when the troops of Charles VIII marched through Italy, the French artillery reduced fortress after fortress to rubble.
At that time, buildings designed especially for the use of guns were constructed. From the early years of the sixteenth century, however, there is a complete disseverance of military and domestic work; the hall and its appendages develop into the palace, or mansion house, and the military works into a fort 8)
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kajo163
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Post by kajo163 »

The gun powder was brought to Europe from China in the early 1300's and joined such important technical news as the compass.

It was used for artillery from the 1300-1400s
Both cannons and primitive handguns! I do'nt think thay thought of putting the cannons on wheels before the 1500s though.
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Post by TwoTonic Knight »

kajo163 wrote:The gun powder was brought to Europe from China in the early 1300's and joined such important technical news as the compass.

It was used for artillery from the 1300-1400s
Both cannons and primitive handguns! I do'nt think thay thought of putting the cannons on wheels before the 1500s though.
There are numerous examples of cannons permanently mounted on wheels (as in transported to the site and fired while still mounted on the wheeled carriage/limber) dating from the later 1400's. There may be earlier examples, I'm just not familiar with them.
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