ANCIENT ARTILLERY: WITH SOME NOTE MONN O S S MEG1 19 .

I. ANCIENT ARTILLERY. WITH SOME NOTE MONON S S MEG. BY SIR JAMES BALFOUR PAUL, C.V.O., LL.D., F.S.A.ScoT. Artillery in the widest sense of the word—that is, offensive projectiles— is coeval with the beginnings of man: the first heing who picked up a ston thred ean wt witi h hostile inten t soma t e bird, beast r enemo , s ywa using artillery. Graduall e camh y o desirt e e greater forcd prean e- s missilescisiohi r ninventefo d ,an d bow arrowsd san , chipping flint heads for the latter, as we very well know. The sling was also an early piece of artillery, and was employed in its primitive form long after the Stone Age, witness the celebrated combat of David and Goliath. Later the sling was developed into a very formidable weapon in the shape of the catapultce d balistcee Romans—than th f o e former throwing dartsd an , the latter large stones, weighing, it is said, sometimes as much as three hundredweight. We are ignorant of their precise appearance, but there is little doubt tha Frence tth h trebuchet, use earln di y medieval timed san down to the middle of the fifteenth century, was a lineal descendant of the balista. It was a kind of sling, consisting of a long beam turning on a horizonta counterweighta s l axiwa d s en mountingborns it e n on ,eo t A . othee anth t poucra da h mad stronf eo g nettin leather go whicn ri h were placed heavy stones sometimes armed with an incendiary match. They were quite formidable weapone b o t s s the e a d timefo th t yha r bu ; firmly fixed in the ground, their range was limited and could not easil alterede yb thao s , t onc e rang eth s know ewa e enemnth y could take measure counteraco t s t their worst effects. But artillery in the modern acceptation of the word was not possible till after the invention of gunpowder. Now, it is usually stated that gun- powde knows Chinese rwa th o nt e centuries befor Christiae eth n erat bu ; latese th t authoritie f opinioo e sar n that this ide withous ai t foundation. No doub e Chinesth t e manufactured incendiary compositions \vhich burned fiercel d weran yt eout pu har ;o t dthe y alsoo t knew who make liquid fire, stink-pots othed ,an r abominations whic e Germanhth s presene usine th ar t ga t gunpowder t no day t bu ; . They had shortn i , o n , knowledg whatf eo cale w l explosives. Gunpowder, indeed, could not have been invented before the discovery f refinino t ar ge osaltpetreth f . Thi believes i s havo dt e been found out, accordin Coloneo gt l Hime latese th , t e subject,writeth n o Rogery b 1 r Hime'e 1Se s Origin f Artilleryo (London, 1915) wora , whico kt presene hth t write indebtes ri d for much of the information contained in the early part of this paper. 2 19 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , MARC , 1916H13 . Bacon in the middle of the thirteenth century. Its explosive property when mixed with sulphu charcoad an r s probablwa l y discovered accidentally. Bacon did not publish his discovery to the world at large, for reasons which need not be entered on here, but wrapped it up in a maze of cryptic writings only to be understood by alchemical adepts like himself. practicae th t Bu l applicatio gunpowdef no explosivn a s ra e force capable of expellin gprojectila e from some chambe r receptaclo r t takno ed edi place till long after the discovery of the substance itself. It is not till the year 1313 tha catce tw firse hth t glimps rudimentare th f eo ya gun n I . memorandum boo f thako t date belongin cite f Ghenth yo o gt t thers ei

Fig . Ancien.1 t Gun, illustrate . (A.DMS . a 1327) n di . (Reproduce kiny db d permission of the authorities of Christ Church, Oxford.) an entry to the effect that " bussen" were first discovered in Germany by followine th monka n i d gan , yeanotes i t ri d that busse gunpowded nan r (or "s calledkruyt,i t i )s " a were exporte Englando t d . Bussen were originally a kind of hand grenade, and had long been known, so that nobody could possibly have said that they were first discovere 1313n di . The wor therefors di e evidentl believes sensei w d yne an ,usea o dt n di mea nkina t f gunmaythai e do B s a .t , fourteen years after thie w s librare havth n actuai f n y. eo a t occurI MS (fig l n . a pictur 1) .gu n s i a f eo Christ Church, Oxford, of date 1327. Whether it represents the gun sent Englano t 131n dknoi e 4 w archais i w t i not t c,bu enoug l conscienceal hn i . Imagine a large vase—a fat pot-bellied vase (indeed, the Italians called e earlth y guns vasi)— s necit sides fittes kit n i laid I projectilee n . do th , consisting of a kind of magnified cross-bow quarrel or dart armed with a ANCIENT ARTILLERY: WITH SOME NOTES ON MONS MEG. 193 four-sided iron hea metal—probabld dan y brass—feathers tampioA . r no stopper must have been fitted projectile betweeth f o d e butd nth an e en t charge th f powdereo s otherwisa , e arroeth w would only have gonea few yards. It was fired from a touch-hole on the upper side of the vase, and we see the gunner applying his match. Flanders became the seat of the new industry of gun manufacture. The vase-shaped guns were soon improved upon. Small tubes of iron were next made throwing leaden projectiles: they were use groupsn di , t thebu y evidentl t provno d e ydi ver y satisfactory e gunmakerth d an , s then went to the other extreme and began to manufacture huge pieces of ordnance called bombards. These were made of longitudinal bars of forged iron arranged lik stavee ecaskth a f so , welded togethe held an rd in position by external hoops of wrought iron driven or shrunk on. Mons Meg is a good specimen of this kind of gun. These bombards—o t leasa r e smalleth t r size f them—wero s e th r efo most part breechloaders; that is, the barrel or chase of the gun was open at both ends, the powder and projectile being put in a separate chamber ope frontn i e chasy b th joined , t f i adjusteean o buto e d t th en t o t d iron wedges driven into an external case which enclosed the whole of the breech end of the gun. At first these bombards were simply laid on the ground on beams of wood and fired there. But the early gunners had to contend against several formidable disadvantages. In the first place, their gunpowder was of very poor quality, igniting with comparative slowness and fouling the gun terribly. It required, too, very careful ramming rammes homewa t loosi o df to i : t losei t mucexpulsivs it f ho e powerd an , t explodno tighd o t t allsilentldi ieto a f t ,bu ti y fizzley an d awayn i d an , cas elarga e volum escapes ga f eo d throug touch-holese hth . When, about 1419, corned powder was invented, the quality was much improved, but for long its use was confined to small pieces, as the large ones were not able withstano t shoce werdth d kan e liabl bursto et . In the second place, the early gunners were much handicapped by their total want of knowledge of recoil. In modern artillery this is overcome morn gu r les eo othey e b smord yth r yieldin an ro e, it scientifi o gt c methods into which it is unnecessary to enter. But in the old days all that coul mako t don e gunde s b eth e wa s overcom shoce eth resistin y kb g it. So they were banked up with planking and wedges and made immovable. This, of course, imposed a tremendous strain on the guns, and they burs frequentlo s t y that they were almos s greaa t sourca t e of dange enemye gunnertheio n rt th metho e ow o rTh t . s f firina sdo g increased this danger t firse gunneA th .t r approache e touch-holdth e with a red-hot wire, and he was not infrequently blown to bits. Then, to obviate this melancholy occurrence, a train of slow-burning powder VOL. L. 13 194. PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MARCH 13, 1916. e wagunth s. f laio Thidp to alons e beinth gd en g e igniteth t a d furthest from the touch-hole, the gunners took cover, and after the explosion the n weryf hidin o gu cam et e stilgou eth f andli there, , proceede e laboriouth o t d s tas f cleaninko loadind an t gi t witgi a h new charge. A third disadvantage which the early artillery possessed was the want of change of elevation and range. But efforts were made at quite an early period to overcome this. At the beginning of the fifteenth century the gun was laid on a cradle of wood, which in its turn was supported by

Canon.. 1400-1450.

Fig>. 2.

a platform thin O s. platform were fixed four woodenn i o ' poststw e ,th front being perpendicular and the two behind slightly curved. In these posts holes wer insertioe the pierced coulby gun pin dbe nof and ,the s raised either toward e muzzle breecth sth r s migho a eh e desiredb t , the pins supporting the cradle on which the gun lay (fig. 2). At a later date they t merel manageno n verticaya gu lateraa giv o d t e t eth bu l l befors changa mountes n e wa gu f rang cradleeo a e n dTh o t e . (figbu , 3) . the clumsy platform was done away with and its place was taken by a framework reae whicf th , o r h restee groundth n do , whil frone s eth wa t supporte a trestle e y outsidb d Th . e member e framth f eo s widened toward reare werd th s an , e connecte curvea y db d transom whicn i e h ANCIENT ARTILLERY: WITH SOME NOTES ON MONS MEG. 195 sli dthira d member moving laterally fro mbola front n i thito T s. third member was attached an upright curved batten which enabled the gun folloo t e laterawth l movemen thire th f do t membe framee e th f Th o r. batten was also pierced with holes, and by the insertion of pins into these the elevation could be altered at pleasure. Even at this time wheeled guns were not unknown. They were used on the Continent in 1376, and twenty years later we find wheels for bombards being made in Scotland. Another invention which much improved the working of guns was that of the trail, a solid block of wood resting on a wooden axletree. The gun in its cradle was placed on bearings on the trail immediately above the axletree. Two vertical

Fig . Cannon.3 , circa 1450. (From Moltzheim's L'Artillerle Francaise (Paris, 1875).)

piece f wooo s d were -then placed e trail nea Jthth d e rea f an th e,ro r breech end of the gun, which terminated in a loop, could be moved up and down between these e desireupright fixeth e b t a dd d san elevatio n b ypassinn meanpi a f gso throug gune upright e looe hth th th f .p o d san The latter was secured to its cradle by means of ropes or straps, and so late as 1540 we find in the Treasurer's Accounts sums of money paid for tar to the ropes which thus bound the guns. These methods, however securinf o , g elevation wer t primitivebu d ean clumsy expedients greaA . t advanc s madewa e abou middle e th t th f eo fifteenth centur e introductioth y yb f trunnionsno , those cylindrical pro- jections which appear on a gun nearly half way up its length between what are technically called the reinforce and the chase. Their introduction; did away with the clumsy wooden cradle, the gun carriage being, now formed of two strong cheeks or sides of wood. These were secured to the 196 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MARCH 13, 1916.

axletree upod an , n them trunnion bearings were cuttrunnione th , s being secured in position by iron cap-squares. Elevation was obtained by the simple means of putting one or more wedges below the breech, supported b ytransomea . These trunnions, placed as they were at the point where the gun receive e wholth d ee shoc forcth transmitted f kan e o traile th o ,t t di overcame to a considerable extent the disadvantages of the recoil, and completel awad di y y wit e absurhth d systen gu f bankinm o e th p gu from behind. requires wa When travelo dt gu na traie supportes th , lwa whay db t were called limbers. The word occurs in connection with artillery in Scotlan muss earle da t suppos w s 1517 yno t a t bu , e tha t meani t e th s

Fig. 4. Limonieres supporting a Gun for travel. (From Moltzheim's L'Artillerie Franpaise (Paris, 1875).)

same thin t doei s gsa now. Wha understane tw limbea y couplda b s i r e •of wheels and an axletree which supports the end of the trail of the gun. t limberBu f thio s s sort wer t use no en Franc i d e e reigtilth lf o n ^Louis XIV., so it is unlikely that they were used here before that time. wore morTh s di e likely equivalen "o t limonieres, r shaft"o s which were ••attache eacdo t trailhe betweesidd th f ,an eo n whic hhorsa puts o ewa ,wh thus supported the end of the trail and raised it from the ground (fig. 4). When ready for travelling loose th l e geaal , r belongin gune th ,go consistt - ing of a shovel with which the loose powder was taken from the barrel •(cartridge r shellso havint sno t beegye n invented) witd ro hramme a ,a r r spong o othere p th t ea mo wedga , a r alterind efo an e d gth en e on t a 'elevation lona d purposge an ,ropth r eassistinfo f eo horsee gth drao st w it, or to haul on as a brake when going downhill, were strapped to i;he gun. ANCIENT ARTILLERY: WITH SOME NOTES ON MONS MEG. 197 The sixteenth century, guntoow sa , s cas bronzn i t e come into general use. The actualld yha y been manufacture r bac fa s 144 ka o Jeay ds 4b n Bureau and his brother Gaspard, but it took some time before the true proportions of the metals which should be used in the alloy were dis- covered. These guns, though at first by no means perfect or free from the risk of bursting, were a great improvement on the forged ones. There is a huge gun cast in Turkey by Mahomet II. in 1468, which is no t wWoolwicha , having been presente o Queet d n Victorie th y b a Sultan Abdul-Aziz t formeI . de armamen th par e fortf o th tf o sf o t the Dardanelles in 1866. Its calibre is 25 inches, the chamber is 10 inches in diameter, its length 17 feet; it weighs 18£ tons, and fires Ibs2 a sho.67 f o t The weigh d capacit an e tdifferen th f yo t piece f ordnanco s e varied from tim timeo e t Francen I middle . sixteente th th n f i ,e o h cgnturya , cannon threw a ball of about 42 Ibs., a great culverin one of rather over 15 Ibs. bastara , d culverin abou Ibs.t7 a ,culveri n moyen abou Ibs.2 d t an , a falcon abou namee e differen th Ib1 Th t f . o s t varieties were often taken from snakes—thus we have Basilisks, Serpentines, Culverins (from couleuvre, serpent)a , Dragons, Aspics sometimed an ; s they were taken from birds, chiefly bird preyf so Sakers a , Emerillond san s (bot hkina f do hawk), Falcons Pelicansd ,an . Havin glance w differene gno th t da earle th t yn kindi e gunf us so n i s . days of artillery, let us turn our attention to Scottish gunnery. The earliest notice of a gun which I have met with in Scottish records is in the Exchequer Rolls of 1384, where four pounds were paid for " ane instrument calli e castl a guntth f Edinburghr eo " fo e samth t e A timwer.7 £2 ee spent on sulphur, saltpetre, and other things for the munitions of the castlee Kingth f o s. Guns, however d beeha ,n see Scotlann ni d even before that date. Some small cannon were imported in the reign of Robert II., that is to say, between 1370 and 1390; and between 15th September 1382 and 30th March 1384 the Prior of Drax in Yorkshire had a commision to supply "artellery" and gunpowder for the castles of Berwic d Roxburghkan t go e English ,e hand e th theh th f d n o ni s an , certain sum f moneo s y advance e valufom th rhi f d divero e s " guns" bought by John Phellipote, late citizen of London, for the munition of Roxburgh Castle. n 1430I , Bower tell, Jameus s . I broughs t from Flander a hugs e bombard of brass called the Lion. It may have been by the bursting of this gun that James II. was killed in 1460. In 1436, £590 were paid Nicholao t s Plumme workmey pa o t r Flandern ni s engaged undes hi r supervision in constructing bombs and other military engines. We hear of " the King's great bombard" being in Ettrick Forest in 1444; 198 PROCEEDINGS OP THE SOCIETY, MARCH 13, 1916. and eleven years afterwards it took part in the siege of Abercorn Castle, skilfulls wherwa t ei y manage Frenca y db h gunne "o schowh r t richt weell and faylit na schot within a faldome quheir it was chargit hi hit.mo t " This bring thao t s tsu great piec Scottisf eo h ordnance stil existencn li e which bear e famousth s e populanam Th f Mon o d e(figg . an 5) r. Me s patriotic traditio s thai n t when Jame . besiegeII s e rebelliouth d s Douglase e castlth f Threavn eo i s Kirkcudbrightshirn i e e yeath rn i e 1435 e artillerth , y brought having proved ineffective locaa , l blacksmith

Fig. o. Mons Meg. [Photo by Wilson Bros.

named sons M'Kihi sd offereman mako dt e thetherd nan ebiggea d an r more powerful gun than any the King had, and produced in a short time this mighty specime f theio n r skill e surroundinth , g population contributing each a bar of iron for its manufacture. It is also said tha e blacksmitth t ultimatels wa h y rewarded wit e forfeitehth d lands of Mollance—whence Mons,—and afte n thanam e callee gu th rh t e e dth s wifes furtheohi A f . r proo f thio f s s alsi tal ot ei stated that only o shottw s were fired fro e cannomth n befor e castlth e e capitulated, that both these bullets have been found, and that they correspond to those still preserved in Edinburgh Castle, which are of Galloway granite fro e summie Binnamth th f o tn Hill near Carlingwarke Th . story continues that durin e makin e glocalitth roaa th f n e do i g y th ANCIENT ARTILLERY: WITH SOME NOTES ON MONS MEG. 199 mound on which the gun was made was uncovered and found to consis masa f iroe f cindero tso th n d debri san greaa f o s t forge. There is another mound in the locality which bears the name of Knockcannon, which is said to be the place on which Meg was put in e castleordeth firo t t ra e;r Herber butSi s a , t Maxwell says, this is suspiciously like the usual attempt to explain a name by reference to some familia r notablo r e incident s morIt . e likely derivatio frons i m e Celtith c cnoc ceann fhionn, e whitpossibly th hil ma f eo t l i top yr O . be the hill of St Finnan, whose cult was by no means unknown in Galloway. The charge of powder required for Meg is traditionally said to have been a peck, and her granite ball to have been equal in weight to a Carsphairn cow sucn I . h fashio legendo nd s take shape. Ther , howeveris e a grea, t dea o discredit l t this traditions i t I . extremely unlikely tha villaga t es son smithi sd coulhan d have made suc hlarga e piec f ordnanceo e wit e meanhth t theia s r disposalt i s a , would really require the appliances of a first-rate forge. e actuaHerth e lear dimensions, taken fro offician ma l descriptiof no her drawn up in 1734. The length of her chase was 9 feet 2-J* inches, of the chamber 3 feet 8^ inches, total length 13 feet 4 inches ; diameter of bore 1 foot 8 inches, of chamber 9 inches; the weight of her bullet in iron 1125 Ibs. stonn i Ibs., 9 r whole54 he ; e weight, 19,452 Ibs abour o . t 8| tons. t tooIbsI 5 powdef o .k 10 r chambefilo rt he l r when rammed greatesr he ; t range wheelevation a t degree5 na 4 f s 140no swa 8 yards wit iron ha n bullet 286d ,an 7 yard stonesf o wit e traveo ht ;on l these distance iron sa n bullet too second6 k1 stona 22e d ;eson an compared wit cannoha n royal same th t ea elevation r forcd ,he an e, 1 wit o iron t h a 9 n s bullea s wa t . 1 o t wit6 s ha a ston e eon Sh s stateei thin di s memorandu l probabilital n i e b biggese mo yt th t gun eve r e worldt reallmadth t no thie casen i bu es yth ,i s . "Mad t Ghena Marjory,n tgu forgeg bi same 145"a n d i th 2en i fashio Mons na s Meg, was probably bigger, and there were other big guns in Europe: one Dardanellee th t inchea 0 bora 3 f d diameteren o i s s ha . Mons saids i t i ,, " has been all hammered, as appears by her chase, which is composed of long flat iron bars and hoops driven on them, so all forged together. But no joining of hoops is to be seen in her chamber or hind part: there- vers fori t i ey probable that that parfirss twa t made, then joiner he o dt ribs or bars and the hoops afterwards drove upon these bars, as is more confirme e smalth r y lbasreinforc d b dhe hole an en o s e rings, being designed for turning her when these parts were joined." One thin memorandue gth m tha s proceedi positioe th y t "sa n i o nst she now lyes, the horizontal diameter of the muzzle exceeds the perpen- 200 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , MARC , 1916H13 . dicular diameter thereof near half an inch: therefore can be accounted for no other than yielding with her own weight lying so long in one position basthe e rinfor : g whic solihis d thersensiblno eis e variation from a circle." The memorandue th n mi e . authorit sayo t goeth MS n n ,o so a f yo Advocates' Library, that the name Meg was given it by James IV. afte s wifhi re Margaret Tudor d furthean , r attempt o explait s e th n wor l thi dal s absolut i ss Mons a t bu ;e nonsense I ,nee t expatiatdno e further on it. firse Th t time this grea appearsn tgu unde name rth Monf e1489o n i s si > when the gvmners got 16s. when they "cartit" Mons either to the siege of Duchal Castle or to that of Dumbarton. Quite a lot of money was ex takes e sieg pendeth wher wa f Norha eo no e he t nsh n d o mJuln i y 1497. Four great cables weighin ston6 g1 Ibse5 . wer cosa e t providea t r he r dfo of £3, 5s. 8d. Her exit from Edinburgh was made with great pomp, and she was dragged down the High Street with minstrels playing before her and taken to St Leonard's, where she was fitted with a new " cradle " or gun-carriage. She was carefully watched for five nights, and started journer onhe Julyf retinur o y las e He y souts imposing.th da t e wa n ho . One hundred workmen attended her, armed with spade pickd an so t s clear the way, as no doubt it was an arduous undertaking to get such a monster alon primitive gth coveres e periode roadwa th e df Sh s o wit. h eight ells of painted canvas, and her wheels were plentifully provided •with tallow and tar. Her well-being was also looked after by several specialists, three wrights and two smiths accompanying her in case of any accident. We are not told what motive'power was used in her transport,— whether she was pulled along by oxen, as was the tisual method, or dragged by the hundred attendant pioneers. We are not even told if she ever got to Norham, which did not at this time fall into James's hands. A singular fac thas i t t John Ramsay, Lor dt thi a Bothwell s s periowa o d,wh Kine th Englandf f go o y pa e , gavth repora e n i n th ei y f actino tsp a s ga ordnance he had seen in Edinburgh Castle, but he makes no mention of Mons. The artillery he saw consisted of " two great curtals or short cannon sent from France falconn te , lighr so t cannon, thirty cast gunf so iron with chambers, sixteen close cart r tumbrilso r spearssfo , powder, stores othed ,an r stuf loadinr fo f g guns." Mons came back to Edinburgh in September, and we do not hear of her Treasurer'agaie th n i s Accounts till 1501, whe nwoodea n hous buils ewa t Castlaccommodatioe e th th r n i efo sisteo herself no tw rd gunan f s called respectively Messenge Talbartd an r t appearI . s that they wer lyinl eal g ignominiously in the dust, and 3s. 2d. had to be paid for " casting of the erd from Mons and to turn her and lay the twych hole up." The guns too were ANCIENT ARTILLERY: WITH SOME NOTES ON MONS MEG. 201 give ncoatina lead linseed preservre o dt an f l go doi e them from rust. 152153n d I agaie 6an 9w n hea f attentioo r y wa ne beinth n i gr paihe o dt of red lead and lubrication. But one of the most curious incidents in her career is the part she took in October 1680, when poor old Meg burst while firin saluta g honou n ei s Dukremovee th wa f Yorkf eo e ro dSh . to London in 1754, but restored to the castle of Edinburgh in 1829, where anciene th interestind an t g relic still remains.