Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol is a cannon built in 1544 in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

by Jan Tolhuys, before

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

came to the throne. The gun was presented to

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

Maximiliaan van Egmond Maximiliaan of Egmont (1509 – 24 December1548) was Count of Buren and Leerdam, and Stadtholder of Friesland (succeeding George Schenck) from 1540 until 1548. He was the son of Floris van Egmont whom he succeeded as count after his father's dea ...

, Count of

Buren Buren () is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Betuwe region of the Netherlands. Buren has 27,168 inhabitants as of 1 January 2022. Geography Buren is located in Gelderland, a province of the Netherlands. It is pa ...

and

Stadtholder In the Low Countries, a stadtholder ( ) was a steward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and ...

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

, as a gift for his young daughter Elizabeth. The cannon measures in length and fired 4.75 inch (121 mm) calibre cannonballs. The cannon is decorated with engravings of fruit, flowers,

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German, as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

s, and figures symbolizing

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

Victory The term victory (from ) originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes a strategic vi ...

and Fame. There is also a Tudor coat of arms which includes a verse in Dutch, which translates in English as ''Break, tear every wall and rampart, Am I called, Across mountain and valley, pierces my ball, By me stricken''. Between 1613 and 1622 the gun was used and was found to be capable of firing a 10 lb (4.5 kg) ball a distance of 2000 yards (1.8 km). Before the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

it guarded the

cliffs of Dover The White Cliffs of Dover are the region of English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliff face, which reaches a height of , owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint, depos ...

and propaganda of the time claimed it could fire a ball seven miles. Some even said its shot could reach France if the gun was properly maintained though this is an exaggeration; tests done in the 1970s with similar basilisks have a more realistic range of 1200 yards with a ball. In 1644 King Charles I's forces in Cornwall reported capturing from the

Earl of Essex Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...

'49 Peeces of faire Brasse Ordnance (taken then and the day before) among which was the great Basilisco of Dover ...'. This cannon has since been identified as Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol. Later that year the gun saw action at the siege of

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

where it was recaptured by the

Roundheads Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...

and used at the Siege of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

."Dover Castle" by R. Allen Brown (Her Majesty's Stationery Office, HMSO 1974 The cannon can be seen at

Dover Castle Dover Castle is a medieval castle in Dover, Kent, England and is Grade I listed. It was founded in the 11th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. Some writers say it is the ...

on a replacement carriage made in the 18th century from captured French guns. A copy of the cannon is displayed in

, Netherlands, next to the museum of the Dutch royal family.

References

External links

https://web.archive.org/web/20070810092050/http://riv.co.nz/rnza/shrapnel/qepp/qepp1.htm
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090218073622/http://www.burenenoranje.nl/ Museum Buren en Oranje(in Dutch). {{DEFAULTSORT:Queen Artillery of the United Kingdom Large-calibre artillery Individual cannons