A culverin was initially an ancestor of the hand-held

arquebus An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier. Although the term ''arquebus'', derived from the Dutch word ''Haakbus ...

, but later was used to describe a type of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

. The term is derived from the French "''couleuvrine''" (from ''couleuvre'' "grass snake", following the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''colubrinus'' "of the nature of a snake".) From its origin as a hand-held weapon it was adapted for use as

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

by the French in the

15th century The 15th century was the century which spans the Julian dates from 1 January 1401 ( MCDI) to 31 December 1500 ( MD). In Europe, the 15th century includes parts of the Late Middle Ages, the Early Renaissance, and the early modern period. ...

, and for naval use by the English in the 16th century. The culverin as an artillery piece had a long

smoothbore A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars. History Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without signi ...

barrel with a relatively long range and flat

trajectory A trajectory or flight path is the path that an object with mass in motion follows through space as a function of time. In classical mechanics, a trajectory is defined by Hamiltonian mechanics via canonical coordinates; hence, a complete tra ...

, using solid

round shot A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...

projectiles with high muzzle velocity.

Hand culverins

The hand culverin consisted of a simple smoothbore metal tube, closed at one end except for a small

touch hole A touch hole, also called a vent, is a small hole at the rear (breech) portion of the barrel of a muzzleloading gun or cannon. The hole provides external access of an ignition spark into the breech chamber of the barrel (where the combustion o ...

designed to allow ignition of the

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...

. The tube was attached to a wood or metal extension which could be held under the arm. It was loaded with gunpowder and lead bullets and fired by inserting a burning

slow match Slow match, also called match cord, is the slow-burning cord or twine fuse used by early gunpowder musketeers, artillerymen, and soldiers to ignite matchlock muskets, cannons, shells, and petards. Slow matches were most suitable for use aroun ...

into the touch hole. James IV of Scotland was an enthusiastic user of hand culverins in 1508. He held shooting matches in the great halls of Holyrood Palace and Stirling Castle, took a culverin to stalk deer in the park of

Falkland Palace Falkland Palace, in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a royal palace of the Scottish Kings. It was one of the favourite places of Mary, Queen of Scots, providing an escape from political and religious turmoil. Today it is under the stewardship of ...

, and shot at sea birds from a row boat off the

Isle of May The Isle of May is located in the north of the outer Firth of Forth, approximately off the coast of mainland Scotland. It is about long and wide. The island is owned and managed by NatureScot as a national nature reserve. There are now no ...

with his culverin. In addition to the arquebus, the culverin also evolved into the heavier breech-loading swivel gun weighing around , which required a

swivel A swivel is a connection that allows the connected object, such as a gun, chair, swivel caster, or an anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft ...

for support and aiming. This weapon was designed to use removable

mug A mug is a type of cup typically used for drinking hot drinks, such as coffee, hot chocolate, or tea. Mugs usually have handles and hold a larger amount of fluid than other types of cup. Typically, a mug holds approximately of liquid. A mug i ...

-shaped

chambers Chambers may refer to: Places Canada: *Chambers Township, Ontario United States: *Chambers County, Alabama * Chambers, Arizona, an unincorporated community in Apache County * Chambers, Nebraska * Chambers, West Virginia * Chambers Township, Hol ...

which were prefilled with gunpowder and projectiles to speed up reloading. Breech-loading swivel guns were often used on ships against enemy crew or boarders. Image:HandBombardWesternEurope1390-1400.jpg, "Hand

bombard __NOTOC__ Bombard may refer to the act of carrying out a bombardment. It may also refer to: Individuals *Alain Bombard (1924–2005), French biologist, physician and politician; known for crossing the Atlantic on a small boat with no water or food ...

", or early culverin, 1390–1400 Image:HandCulverinWithSmallCannonsEurope15thCentury.jpg, Hand culverin (middle) with two small cannons, Europe, 15th century Image:EarlyCoulevrines.jpg, Early culverins (15th century): a hand culverin (top), and a culverin with removable chamber (bottom) Image:40KgWroughtIronMurderer1410France.jpg, "Murderer", France, 1410 Image:Culverin with side flash-pans.jpg, Culverin with side flash-pans Image:Early culverin and hand culverin with bent stock.jpg, Above: Early culverin, below: Hand culverin with bent stock

Field culverins

Three types of culverin artillery pieces were used, distinguished by their size: the "culverin extraordinary", the "ordinary", and the "least-sized". There were also smaller versions, including the "bastard culverin" (), shot and the "

demi-culverin The demi-culverin was a medium cannon similar to but slightly larger than a saker and smaller than a regular culverin developed in the late 16th century. Barrels of demi-culverins were typically about long, had a calibre of and could weigh up t ...

" or "culverin-moyen" (), shot. Overall, the culverin was a significant advance over earlier cannons. Since it fired iron round shot instead of stone projectiles and had a longer barrel to enable the gunpowder to fully burn and impart more force to the projectile, the culverin could fire the denser projectile to a relatively greater range and with a flatter

. A replica ''culverin extraordinary'' has achieved a muzzle velocity of 408 m/s, and a range over using only minimal elevation. This velocity and mass imply that the cannonball had a

kinetic energy In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its acc ...

of roughly when leaving the muzzle. In

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

, Brigadier General Michael Richards was appointed

Master-General of the Ordnance The Master-General of the Ordnance (MGO) was a very senior British military position from 1415 to 2013 (except 1855–1895 and 1939–1958) with some changes to the name, usually held by a serving general. The Master-General of the Ordnance was ...

in 1714 and he commissioned a Danish expert,

Albert Borgard Albert Borgard (Danish: ''Albrecht Borgaard'' or ''Borregaard''; 10 November 1659 – 7 February 1751) was a Danish artillery and engineer officer. Early career Albert Borgard was born in Holbæk, Jutland, on 10 November 1659 of unknown parents. ...

, to design a new artillery system. Borgard did away with the traditional nomenclature of culverins,

saker Saker may refer to: * Saker falcon (''Falco cherrug''), a species of falcon * Saker (cannon), a type of cannon * Saker Baptist College, an all-girls secondary school in Limbe, Cameroon * Grupo Saker-Ti, a Guatemalan writers group formed in 1947 * ...

s and

minion Places *Minions, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom People * Frank Minion (born 1929), American jazz and bop singer * Fred Minion, English professional footballer * Joseph Minion (born 1957), American film director and screenwriter *Marcus ...

s, and devised a new system based on the weight of shot that each gun used, from 4 to 64 pounds. Although Borgard's gun designs were quickly superseded, the practice of naming ordnance by weight of shot persisted in Britain into the 20th century.

References

External links

"Culverin (cannon)"
at the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

''
Specifications and pictures of a French culverin found in the Azores
{{Artillery of the Middle Ages Cannon Medieval artillery Muskets Renaissance-era weapons

Hand culverins

Field culverins

See also

References

External links