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Early Gunpowder Artillery 1300-1600 Hardcover – October 1, 2003

by John Norris (Author)

3.9 3 ratings

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In the 300-year time span covered by this book, gunpowder artillery was developed from a novelty to a serious weapon of war. By 1600 the cannon was to be found in large numbers on the battlefield, on board ship and on defensive positions on buildings and city walls. Illustrated with contemporary and modern photographs of surviving and recreated weapons, Early Gunpowder Artillery 1300-1600 sheds light on these earliest ancestors of the modern cannon and field gun. Looking not only at the weapons themselves, but also at the men who made and used them, and the tactics with which they were deployed, this is the ideal introduction for anyone interested in medieval warfare.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crowood Pr; First Edition (October 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1861266154
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1861266156
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.32 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 0.5 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,435,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,080 in Conventional Weapons & Warfare History (Books)
- #6,516 in History of Technology
- #128,001 in Engineering (Books)

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3.9 3 ratings

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Quilt artist

Artillaary book

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2010

Verified Purchase

I was not intended for me, I was ordering for a friend. It arrived just fine

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Bookworm

Two editors of this book?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 12, 2019

Verified Purchase

They say football is a game of two halves - well, this seems to be a book of two halves as well. I only read other reviews of this book having already placed the order. I might have reconsidered had I read the reviews first. I would broadly agree with other reviewers, mainly that the production quality of this book is poor. Lots of the illustrations, photos etc., are duplicated, or are cropped but you realize it is the same photo used elsewhere uncropped. The editor could easily have cut a third of the photos that are repeated and improved the book, making it more compact. It's almost as if one person wrote the book and a different person was in charge of the illustrations and captions. On p.19 we are shown a line sketch of "artillery of the 14th century" with the added note "it could well be that this is an artist's impression created by someone who had not seen the actual weapon". Indeed - we see the exact same weapon, same pose used by the gunner, everything the same, in an illustration of a battle on p.85 from a medieval manuscript showing 'the siege of Ribodane c.1480'! Not only is the illustration therefore used twice, but 1480 is somehow considered to be in 'the 14th century' instead of the late 15th!! This is terribly sloppy and one finds this kind of error permeates the book. The 15th century in this text can refer variously to the 1400s or the 1500s, woodcuts that are clearly 16th century in style (i.e 1500s) are used to illustrate artillery supposedly in the 15th century (i.e 1400s). Any reader reasonably familiar already with the period will spot these regular errors and brush them off, but it makes the book unreliable overall in terms of historical accuracy. Even the text itself suffers a little from a feeling of 'copy and paste' and one finds phrases and paragraphs occasionally repeated. Along with a number of spelling errors this book could badly use some sharp editing and some new photos and then it would be turned into a reasonably fine product.

Having said all that, it does provide an interesting account of the development of gunpowder artillery during the 1200 - 1600 period, if taken with a pinch of salt. Wargamers and model-makers will find it quite useful for the photos and illustrations of various types of gunpowder weapon / cannons and so on, and there are some useful sections on nomenclature, tables comparing weights of cannon, range and so on, though they are limited in number. Wargamers especially would find more information of this kind useful when designing their own rules; and if there is ever a second edition of this book, a good edit, and some up to date data if available, on tests done on these weapons, would be welcome.