Ancient Cannon at Ghent, called Mad Margaret, 18 feet long, 3 feet in diameter, having a chamber for the charge, but without either trunnions or cascable. It is made of several bars of iron laid by each other, like the staves of a cask, and held together by iron hoops. Supposed by Dr. Meyrick to be about the age of Edward IV. Old piece of Ordnance found in Godwin Sands, length 7 feet 10 inches. See Archæologia, v. 149. CHAPTER XIX. MILITARY ENGINES.-FIRE ARMS. Projectile Machines. The construction of offensive engines employed by the early Ancients seems to be no further understood, than that there were three leading principles, which conferred the impelling power, viz. the cross-bow, the sling, and the recoil of twisted ropes. The first seems to have sent forwards darts and combustible arrows in a proper direction; the second was the balista kind, soon to be described; the third acted like the boy's bow, made of a bone, which by the insertion of a wooden lever in a twisted string ejects a cherry stone. The Roman machines were adopted under various appellations, in the Middle Age; and very ingenious hypotheses of the construction of them have been given; but they are far too complex for the mechanical knowledge of the Ancients. As Dr. Meyrick, however, had the good fortune to meet with actual delineations of the leading kinds in an ancient manuscript 2, when they were in contemporary use, the authenticity sought has been at last to a certain extent acquired. The Balista seems only to have been a large beam, rather crooked, resting at about two thirds of its length, on a forked support; if of three legs, then called trepied. See the Plate, fig. 1*. At the long end was a great pear-shaped bag, tied to the beam by a stout rope. At the short end was a large box full of stones. The long end being suddenly released, slung upon the enemy the contents of the bag, through * EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE OF MILITARY ENGINES, &C.-Fig. 1. The Trepied, from Dr. Meyrick. -Fig. 2. The Onager, from ditto.-Fig. 3. The Belfrey, with pavisours, &c. from Grose.-Fig. 4. The Cat, &c. from ditto.-Fig. 5. Battering Rams, from ditto.-Fig. 6. Stirruped Cross Bow, from Meyrick.-Fig. 7. Matchlock Musket, from Grose.-Fig. 8. Wheel-lock ditto, from ditto. * Brit. Mus. Roy. Libr. 16. See in particular Grose's Military Antiq. vol. i. ch. xii. p. 366, seq. being jerked up by the great weight of the stone box. The Onager threw a like bag of stones, but there was no stone-box, the beam being impelled by its position between twisted ropes always inclined to recoil. See Plate, p. 815, fig. 2. Besides stones, were also used balls of earth, probably baked pelotes, corrupted into pellets and bullets 1. It will be sufficient therefore to enumerate shortly the machines, though it is to be recollected, that ancient authors are perpetually confounding the appellations. The Arbalest is described in 1342, as a large cross-bow, furnished with a hundred gogions or balls, and grapple to draw it up. The Balista is said to be a Phenician invention for throwing huge stones, confounded sometimes with the Catapult, which threw darts, a Syrian contrivance, conveyed to the Syracusans, whence it was brought into Greece by Philip of Macedon. Accounts of the construction vary, but the cross-bow principle of action seems the most probable. The Scorpio was a smaller kind of catapult. In the Middle Ages, besides the Balista, Catapult, Onager, and Scorpion, Grose enumerates 3 the Mangona, and its diminutive Mangonel, the Trebuchet, the Petrary, the Robinet and Mate-griffon, the Bricolle, Beugles or Bibles, the Espringal, the Matafunda; the War-wolf and Engine-a-verge (unknown). Of these in order. The Mangona or Mangonel, was similar to the Balista. Grose makes Mangona a generic term for all machines, and Mangonel a diminutive for the smaller. Indeed we find some, of which the woodwork could be carried in a cart 4. The Trebuchet or Trip-getis, for throwing stones, seems to have been the same as the Trepied, before mentioned, though Dr. Meyrick says 5 the term Trebuchet, appears to imply a Military Engine, which ejected its ammunition from a trap-door, trebocchetto. The Petiary, Matafunda, Bugles or Bibles, Couillart, and War-wolf (in one sense) were machines for ejecting stones. The Bricolle shot darts, called Carreaux or Quarrels; the Espringal, Grose says 6, was calculated for throwing large darts, called Muchetta; and sometimes viretons, i. e. arrows with the feathers put diagonally so as to occasion them to turn in the air, but it was not limited to darts; " for in 1342 the gates and towers of Norwich were furnished with thirty espringolds for casting great stones, and to every espringold a hundred gogions or balls fastened up in a box, with ropes and other accoutrements belonging to them;" a very important passage, because it illustrates the construction before given. The Robinet and Mate-griffon (i. e. destroyer of the Greeks) threw both darts and stones. The chief projectile machine was, however, the Cross-bow, or Manu-balista, supposed to be of Sicilian and Cretan origin, and introduced into Europe by the Crusades. It was known in England, at least for use in the chase, as early as the time of the Conquest. Its application to warlike uses (not its introduction) by Richard I. is well supported, and was thus used in Italy in 1139.9. A Legionary Soldier appears on an ancient Seal endeavouring to bend the Arcubalist with his foot; but Dr. Meyrick does not think this sufficient to prove that it was the Stirrup Cross-bow, the Balista grossa ad stapham, certainly mentioned in 1299. Five years earlier, mention is made of turni balisterii, or the arbaleste a tour, that drawn up by a Turn; and in 1320, of the Balista grossa de molinellis, or one wound by a moulinet or windlass (see the Plate, p. 815, fig. 6.), and the Balista grossa de arganellis, i. e. one furnished with tubes for ejecting the Greek fire 10. The Crossbows used in the reign of Henry VII. were of two kinds; the Latch, with its wide and thick bender for quarrels, and the Prodd for bullets. The stock of the former was short and straight, not much exceeding two feet, and the bow was bent by the moulinet or windlass. The Prodd was lighter. One in Mr. Meyrick's Collection is carved very splendidly, and has many Greek and Roman medals inserted in the stock. It is three feet eight inches long; and at the distance of two feet five inches, takes a curve equal in cord to the space required to string the bow. The Stone-bow was the Prodd; probably the Slurbowe was furnished with a barrel through a slit, in which the string slided, when the trigger was pulled. Three kinds are mentioned by Du Cange as used in 1511, viz. the balista calcibus fulcita subingenio, strung by props, under the lever; the balista fulcita suis utilibus vel utensilibus et tractibus, strung by its own utensils and apparatus. The last, if not the one with the moulinet, was a Latch, which had an iron bar within its stock, so as to render unnecessary the removal of the apparatus. The stock of this is longer, but that with the moulinet is shorter than those of the reign of Henry VII. That with subingenio Dr. Meyrick takes to be the Prodd 2. In the time of Elizabeth the Cross-bow, called the Latch, had the windlass let into its stock, to save the trouble of putting it on and off; but as this necessarily rendered the handle weaker, it was soon succeeded by the more convenient invention of the pied de chevre3, or goat's foot lever 4. The crossbow now disused for war was preferred for the chase, because it made no noise in the discharge, and could be managed with greater accuracy than the long-bow. The Arganelle, which had been rendered unnecessary by the invention of gunpowder, nevertheless suggested the barrelled cross-bow (probably the slurbow) for shooting bolts; but the prodd was found as useful for ejecting bullets as the barrelled cross-bow; and therefore continued in use for the purpose of killing deer, rooks and rabbits. The Prodd appropriated to the chase was considerably reduced in size for the convenience of carrying it on horseback 5. Variously formed quarrels, called raillons, traits, viretons, &c. (i. e. short arrows) were used, and carried in a case, called Caexcita 6. Besides mounted cross-bowmen, there were others named Crennequiniers, from their shooting through the crenelles of castle walls; Crennequins also signified arbalestes a pie. In a letter remissory, dated 1420, it is said, " lequel Haquinet a chevauchie tendu crenequins et arbalestes a croc," i. e. which Haquinet rode along with crenequins bent, and arbalestes on the hook. By the former the large arbalest, called by the English latch, is meant, and by the latter the prodd, which was bent by a hook, that was caught underneath by the trigger. The crenequin, or arbaleste a pie, was the large stirruped cross-bow; by the croc or crook is meant the hook, into which the trigger caught, and these crooks were of use, not only in bending the bow, but also in shooting. In illuminated manuscripts the cross-bowmen are represented with large heartshaped pavises hanging at their backs, and a case of quarrels at their right hips, or attended by a pavisor, whose duty it was to ward off the missile weapons of the enemy. This large cross-bow, being a complicated, and consequently expensive weapon, was often carried by the sons of knights, who were attended by one of their father's retainers, to carry the pavise. Hence in Spain, during the reign of its king James I. a crossbowman was regarded as on a level with a knight9. Henry VII. discouraged the cross • Id. ii. 279, 280. Meyrick, ii. 226. 5 Id. iii. 49. • Id. ii. pl. xliv. p. 129, 152. 3 Engraved by Dr. Meyrick. pl. lxvi. 4 Id. iii. p. 46. 9 Id. 127. bow, in order to promote archery; and in the next reign it was suppressed, as a weapon of war 1. Battering Ram. Pliny makes Epeus the inventor, during the siege of Troy; but as it is not mentioned in Homer, nor any Greek writer, Vitruvius and Tertullian are rather to be accredited. They make it the invention of Pephasmenon, a Tyrian, in the army of Carthage, during the siege of Cadiz. There were three kinds of rams; one suspended, see the Plate, p. 815, fig. 5; the second running upon rollers, see the Plate, fig. 3; the third carried by the men, who worked it, see the Plate, fig. 5. At Haguenau and Morviedro, the ancient Saguntum, are the remains of two rams. The first is topped with a strong head of iron, square and of one piece; but that at Saguntum, which consists of three pieces, has a ram's head, and is similar to one on the arch of Severus 3. The ram was used in the Middle Ages; and Sir Christopher Wren, in throwing down old walls, found no machine equal to it, particularly in disjointing the stones. The momentum of one, 28 inches diameter, 180 feet long, with a head of a ton and a half weighing 41,112lbs. and worked by a thousand men, is only equal to a point-blank shot from a thirty-six pounder 4. ČOVERED MACHINES. The Musculus or Testudo, probably the subsequent Sow, was a very low shed, long and very sharp roofed. It was used to advance to the wall, and overturn it by sap 5. The Pluteus was, according to Vegetius, a machine, covered with ozier work and hides, running upon three wheels, one in the middle, and two at the extremities 6. The Cat was a covered shed, occasionally fixed on wheels, and used for protecting soldiers employed in filling up the ditch, preparing the way for the moveable tower, or mining the wall. It was called a cat, because under it soldiers with their pickaxes tore up the ground like a cat tore its prey. Some of these cats had crenelles and chinks, from whence the archers could discharge their arrows. These were called castellated cats; sometimes under cover of this machine, the besiegers worked a small kind of ram. See the Plate, p. 815, fig. 4. Dr. Meyrick, from an ancient illumination, has engraved one of these, called the Chaschateil or Cat castle. It resembles in form a modern four-post bedstead upon wheels. A miner is working under it with a pick-axe. And to the same purpose the Vinea, another shed, was applied 9. These descriptions are amply sufficient for the Sow, Boar, and other engines of the same kind, however denominated. Wooden Towers. The Belfragium or Belfroi, was the tower with stories, moved up to the walls. A Cat, made of osier twigs and leather, and covered with planks, was used to protect those who filled up the ditches preparatory to wheeling upon them the Belfries; and when employed for this purpose, were called by the French Chats faux, false cats, and by the Italians Catafalco. From this, and the last-mentioned use of the Cat, was derived the French word Eschaufaux, an elevated floor, and subsequently the English word Scaffold. Elsewhere Dr. Meyrick says, the Catti Versatiles, were Chats faulx furnished with drawbridges 10. The chief belfries were called Brestachiæ or Brestaches. William de Breton says, he caused to be made double brestaches in seven different places. These were wooden castles, very highly for tified, surrounded with double quadrangular fosses, at a proportionate distance from each other, with drawbridges thrown across them, and he had not only these filled with armed men, but the interior surface of each foss, and thus he surrounded the besieged by his works. Such wooden castles were also called Bastiles 2. A very interesting print of a moveable Belfroi is given by Grose 3. It consists of a groundfloor occupied by a ram, and four upper stories by archers and cross-bowmen; the highest story rose above the walls, and from that directly below, a draw-bridge was let down, and rested upon the wall; see it copied in the Plate, p. 815, fig. 3. Some of these towers used by the early Ancients were of amazing magnitude, being with pyramids twenty, fifteen, or ten, stages or floors 4. In the time of Henry VIII. there was a kind of covered war-cart or waggon, filled with musketeers. The top and sides were pierced with loop-holes, and the horses were placed under cover beneath the waggon. Several of these were stationed in the centre of a square battalion of halberdiers 5.-Spiked Machines. The Prickly Cat, or Felis Echinata, was a beam, bristled with oaken teeth, which being hung at an embrazure, could be let down upon an enemy 6. For the same purpose was used the Fistuca Bellica or war-rammer, fitted with curved nails and hooks, and suspended by a chain, to draw up the enemy from below 7.-Chevaux-de-frize, (see p. 709.)—The Herse was an instrument used in fortification, composed of transverse pieces of wood, with spikes projecting from their points of intersection. It was similar to the Portcluse or Portcullis, and let down over the gates by a Moulinet, to serve as a second protection after the enemy had forced the portcullis and first gate. The word was derived from the French herise. Hurdles were often used instead of hearses to impede the march of Cavalry. When troops were drawn up in form of a hearse it was generally with their spears projecting from every possible direction 8. The Lyonnois, a machine invented at Lyons for defending a breach, consisted of an instrument with a head, like a treble fleur-de-lis, on wheels. Another ancient machine for defending a pass was formed of long pikes, the ends fixed in the ground, and the points passing through an axle on wheels, and leaning upon a chain between posts 9.-Caltraps. C. Caylus 10 has given one of bronze, which the Romans called Murex ferreus, Tribulus or Stimulus. Four points, thirteen inches long each, were connected with a globe in the centre, and so disposed, that fall in any way whatever, one spike remained perpendicular. They were used as a defence instead of ditches. In the Middle Age they were thrown on the ground, of a very small size, to obstruct the horse; and the form may be seen in numerous coats of arms in the plates at the end of Edmondson's Heraldry. Dr. Meyrick says ", that the word Galtraps seems to have sometimes signified Maules with spikes, and therefore the same as the holy water-sprinkle. Besides these, there were Missive Wheels, formed of mill-stones joined by an oaken axis, and let down upon the besiegers; Missive Chariots, rolling down an inclined plane, and retained by chains to discharge hot or cold stones 19. Hourdeys, for protecting the crenelles; Mantlets, for covering the besiegers; and possibly other contrivances, but of more rare occurrence. The engineers of the Roman army were stiled Mensores Machinarii 13. In the Middle Age, the machines were commonly made |