The crossbow of [Fig. 38] is Italian work of the sixteenth century. The bow is light enough to be pulled by the hands alone, without mechanical assistance. It had a double string, with a little pouch attached between the two strands, and shot small bullets, instead of arrows. The wooden stock is beautifully carved and the metal parts are damascened with arabesques in gold. This type of light crossbow was especially popular with aristocratic ladies who are frequently represented shooting it in hunting tapestries of the period.
In [Fig. 39] is shown a very powerful hunting crossbow of the seventeenth century. The bow is of steel, two inches wide and a third of an inch thick. The bowstring resembles a piece of heavy rope. To pull this string, bending a steel spring as massive as this, requires a tremendous power and an immense strength in the mechanism which will hold the fully-drawn bow until the moment for its release.
The pulling power is supplied by a device, also shown in the illustration ([Fig. 39]) called a cranequin or cric. It is in mechanical respects essentially identical with a modern geared automobile jack, although, of course, it pulls instead of lifts ([Fig. 40]). A force of fifty pounds applied to the handle generates on the claw which grasps the bowstring a pull of more than two tons! [Fig. 41] shows the mechanism for holding and releasing the string. (These parts are, of course, normally invisible, being hidden inside the wooden stock).
Returning to the artistic aspects of the crossbow of [Fig. 39], we observe that the whole of the wooden stock is inlaid with plates of white stag horn engraved with scenes illustrating the legend of William Tell—certainly an appropriate decoration! The bow is quite plain except for the addition of decorative pompoms of colored wool, but the cranequin gear housing is elaborately etched with representations of Biblical and mythological personages, strapwork, and interlace, much of this unfortunately now worn away.
PROJECTILE WEAPONS: FIREARMS
The study of antique firearms is a fascinating one. Contrary to usual belief, firearms are not a late invention. They were in use before complete suits of plate armor were made, and continued in use throughout the entire period that plate armor was worn. Many thousands of different specimens have been classified, but all firearms before the nineteenth century belong to one of four types. These include (1) the cannon or hand cannon in which the charge of gunpowder was set off by direct application of a burning slow match or hot iron held by the shooter; (2) the matchlock in which burning slow match or tinder was held in a clamp attached to the gun and was brought into contact with the gunpowder by a mechanism attached to the gun and operated by the shooter; (3) the wheellock in which fire was not carried about, but was produced by a mechanism like that of a modern cigarette lighter: a rough wheel was spun around in contact with a stone (not flint, but a nodular form of iron pyrite) so that sparks were produced to set off the gunpowder; (4) the flintlock and its variations, in which a piece usually of flint stone held in a clamp attached to a strong spring was moved by the spring to strike a piece of steel, and thereby generate the spark which would set fire to the gunpowder. The Museum’s collection includes interesting and unusual specimens of all but the first of these types.
Fig. 42. This is how a musketeer looked when he was just getting ready to aim his gun. He has more gadgets than even a modern infantryman.
Fig. 43. The Three Musketeers carried muskets like this one in form, but without the elaborate inlaid decoration.