A Truly Sensational Seven Barrel Matchlock Arquebus, Brescia, ca. 1530, in Prague!

[kisak]

The modern day gun safety tip/recommendation/rule/commandment of always pointing the muzzle(s) in a safe direction comes to mind here.

[Matchlock]

Absolutely.
m

[Jim McDougall]

Michael,
Thank you so much for the patient and detailed response to my questions, and my degree of demand is hardly a test for your incredible knowledge on these!!! You answered everything perfectly of course, and interesting on the guns found on the Mary Rose. It is truly amazing how much history has been retrieved from that unfortunate event.

Point well taken on the wheellock controversy as well.

Thank you again Michael Superbly done as always,
All the best,
Jim

[Matchlock]

1. Northern Italy (Brescia?), ca. 1530-40; Museo Luigi Marzoli, Brescia; the long tiller trigger inadequately pointing in the direction of the muzzle instead of to the rear, the original sighting tubes missing from the small double rear sights.

2. Northern Italy, ca. 1530-40; Musée de l'Armée, Paris; no provision for a trigger guard.

3. A short revolving matchlock arquebus or pistol, Northern Italy (Brescia?), 1530's-40; Doges Palace, Venice; no provision for a trigger guard.

4. A detached barrel bundle of three, comprising a provision for a ramrod, of the same type of arquebus/pistol as before, Northern Italy, 1530's-40; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, reserve collection; author's photos.


Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

More of the Venice pistol and the barrels in Oxford.

m

[Matchlock]

The remaining photos.

On two of the barrels the faint remains of an unidentified maker's mark can be seen; one barrel retaining its original sighting tube, the others missing from the small rear sights.

m

[Matchlock]

Some more details of the three-barreled revolving arquebus introduced in post # 19.

Please note the finely carved and wide-flared buttstock shaped like the tail fin of a fish; this is one of the earliest instances of a fishtail butt on a gun which was to become very common as the 'Spanish-Netherlandish musket butt' in around 1560 and remained popular with Central European military matchlock and wheellock muskets until the later years of the Thirty Years War.

A well-known contemporary stylistic Early Renaissance equivalent is the flared shape of the pommel of the characteristic Katzbalger Landsknecht's sword.


m