Archery for the purposes of war, had not been altogether abandoned in this country, even at the breaking out of the civil war, in the reign of Charles I.
It has been correctly remarked by Mr. Grose, in his Military Antiquities, [215a] that there is amongst old soldiers, a great dislike to innovations, because, by adopting new weapons, and, consequently, a new exercise, the old and expert soldiers find themselves in a worse state than new recruits, as they have not only a new exercise to learn, but also the old one to forget.
Indeed, as late as the year 1557, so evenly did the public opinion run, between the comparative efficacy of the ancient and new systems, that in that year, by an act of Parliament (of the 4th and 5th of Philip and Mary), [215b] respecting the providing of armour and weapons, various persons, in Wales, Lancashire, and Cheshire, were required to provide and keep a haquebut; or, in lieu of one, the alternative was given to each of them, to keep a long bow and sheaf of arrows, in such instances, where he was required by that act, to provide himself with the former.
Some interesting and curious examples may be found of the use of cannons of various kinds, by the English, in their wars with the French, in the fourteenth century, in the reign of Edward III.; [215c] but although it is indisputable that they were then made use of in sieges, and in the defence of fortified places, there does not appear to be any evidence, that they were made use of in that century, in the field, by the English; [216a] and the defective construction of the cannons of the time of Edward III., and the silence of the English and French historians, raise very strong doubts, whether they ever were so used at that period.
It is, however, the use of them in the fifteenth century, to which our attention is at present to be devoted. Although writers admit the occasional use of cannons and other firearms by the English, in that century, it has been commonly imagined, that they were not generally used by them until the following one. I, therefore, shall endeavour to show, that that idea is not correct, and that in the fifteenth century, firearms of various descriptions and sizes, were in general use by them, as principal and important military weapons; that they appear seldom to have undertaken any warlike expedition of magnitude without them; that they constantly attacked and defended towns and fortresses with them; that they used them in the open field; and also, that there is some evidence of guns being in use even on shipboard. The English, as early as in the middle of that century, were also sometimes armed with portable guns, or small arms, then called Hand Coulevrines, or hand guns; and they are expressly mentioned by Monstrelet by the name of “Coulevrines à main,” and he states, that they were reserved to the English, at Caen, in 1450, when they capitulated under the Duke of Somerset. This was considerably earlier than the period, when Mr. Grose, in his work on Military Antiquities, [217a] supposes that they were first used in England; as he mentions the year 1471, on the occasion of the landing of Edward IV. at Ravenspur, as the period of their introduction into this country.
Monstrelet, as will be afterwards noticed, mentions “Petis Canons” as having been carried in eight little boats across the Seine, by the English, in attacking Pont de l’Arche, in 1418, which, and also the “Artillerie menue,” occasionally mentioned by him, probably apply to guns of a size small enough to be portable. [217b]
We cannot well entertain doubts of the fact of the English having made use of portable firearms in the fifteenth century, when we reflect that there is undisputed historical evidence of the use of them, at that period, by continental nations, who reckoned them by thousands in their armies; and that before the close of that century, they appear to have been even used on the Continent by cavalry as well as by infantry. [218a]
Very early in the fifteenth century, firearms varied very much in size, appearance, and denomination; and even as early as in the year 1406, the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France, in preparing for the siege of Calais, had, according to Monstrelet, “bombardes, canons, artilleries,” &c. &c. We also learn from the same authority, that in 1430, in raising the siege of Compeine, which was defended by the English, the Duke of Burgundy was obliged to abandon his ordnance, consisting of “bombardes, canons, veuglaires, serpentines, coulevrines, et autre artilleries.”
The word Artillery, and also the word Engine, did not, however, apply in the fifteenth century exclusively to cannons; for both words were frequently used to designate all projectile weapons, such as balistæ, long-bows, cross-bows, guns of various descriptions, bombards (somewhat resembling the modern mortars), and also portable firearms.
Some descriptions of cannons, as, for example, those called bombards, [219a] which are considered to have been the first in use, threw large stones or balls, by a parabolic curve, against places besieged, whilst others were afterwards introduced, of a different description, which sent balls direct, or point blank.