Extremely Rare 14th to 18th Century Igniting Irons and a 16th Century Linstock

[Matchlock]

Two more illuminations, from another French Gothic manuscript, Wilhelm von Tyrus, Kreuzzüge (Crusades), ca. 1465, Geneva Library, Ms fr. 85.

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[Matchlock]

Two early 18th c. igniting irons retaining their original long hafts, as part of a large piece of cannon: the bronze barrel and carriage mounts both dated 1726 - the barrel additionally cast with the Passau wolf which has become famous as the trade mark of the medieval Passau bladesmiths - ; together with two contemporary scourers (Rohrwischer); in the museum of the Fortress (Veste) Oberhaus in Passau/Lower Bavaria.
The outer walls of the huge fortress which was never conquered are dated 1499.

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[Matchlock]

For a comprehensive treatise on early matchcord used with guns and linstocks, please see

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...402#post140402


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[Matchlock]

Another very early depiction of an igniting iron;
from Johann Hartlieb's Kriegsbuch, 1411, Cod.vind. 3069, Austrian National Library Vienna, fol. 40r.

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[Matchlock]

The Mary Rose was sunk during the Battle of Spithead in 1545.

As Henry VIII ordered many items for his men from Northern Italy, especially the Brescia region, the zoomorphic, monster-shaped heads of the linstocks are consistent with the style of the Renaissance period.

The Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth.


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[Andi]

P. Sixl has published in his article Entwicklung und Gebrauch der Handfeuerwafen in Zeitschrift für historische Waffenkunde vol 1.8, 1897, page 201 the image below showing a gonner firing a cannon with a hot iron (Loseisen) and holding soething like a pan (Glutpfanne?) in his left hand. The illustration is obviously redrawn after an original said to be from the manuscript Cod. 3069 of the Austrian National Library in Vienna from 1411 Online.
After checking each page of the codex I was not able to find the depicted drawing and I guess the cietated manuscript is not the correct one and the image must be from an other codex.

The image and its source is very interesting for me as I guess the pan in his left hand contains glowing charcoal for heating up the hot iron hook.

Has anybody an idea from which codex this image is originally?


Edit: "Online" Link changed to a working one.

[fernando]

Hi Andi,
It sems as the online link seems 'out of order'.
Great image, that of the gonner; i would agree it certainly is charcoal in the pan.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Andi

P. Sixl has published in his article ... The illustration is obviously redrawn after an original said to be from the manuscript Cod. 3069 of the Austrian National Library in Vienna from 1411 ... After checking each page of the codex I was not able to find the depicted drawing and I guess the cietated manuscript is not the correct one and the image must be from an other codex... Has anybody an idea from which codex this image is originally?
...

I have been through a number of articles in this area that i have in my hard disk but ... no luck. The only one i found was the one you mention by P.Sixl .

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Andi

... as I guess the pan in his left hand contains glowing charcoal for heating up the hot iron hook.

I am not sure whether you are interested in the image plus the charcoal pan or the charcoal confirmation per se.
Just for fun, let me here post an image of a 1430 century soldier shooting his gun with the help of a hot iron, as a support illustration to the folowing (Spanish)text:

The glowing iron which served to initiate the combustion would quickly cool down and the artilleryman had to keep it hot, introducing it in a fire or in a little stove of vegetable charcoal.

This comes in a digestive book on early firearms by Vladimir Dolinek

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