Osprey Weapon №003. McLachlan Sean. Medieval Handgonnes. The first black powder infantry weapons

Osprey Publishing, 2010. — 82 p. — ISBN: 9781849081559, ISBN: 978184908156.This book covers the development of hand-held black powder weapons from their earliest beginnings in the mid-14th century through their
development over the next 150 years. These simple weapons, lit by a slow match held in the hand for want of a trigger and lock, went through a rapid development and a variety of styles before being replaced by the matchlock arquebus in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Pre-matchlock handgonnes have been much maligned by historians, many of whom dismiss them as inaccurate, primitive contraptions that did little other than scare the enemy and endanger the user; however, an examination of medieval chronicles and the experiences of modern experimental archaeologists and re-enactors show otherwise. Early handgonnes, while slow to reload and inaccurate at long range, had superior penetrative power compared to bows and crossbows, and proved their worth time and again on the battlefield. The fact that they spread so quickly – within a century of their invention they were considered a vital part of every European army, and within another century they had started to displace the crossbow – shows they were a valuable addition to the arsenal of the medieval soldier.Development
The gunpowder revolution
Use
Firearms on the medieval battlefield
Impact
A turning point in history