Matchlock Petronels, Germany, ca. 1550-1600

[Matchlock]

Hi Marcus,

The only explanation I can think of is what I have said in previous threads here: as stocks are concerned, the whole of the 16th and the first half of the 17th centuries were dedicated to experimenting with different forms, obviously in search of the anatomically perfect shape of the buttstock. This, however, has only been found by the 1660's, in France; it is known as the French buttstock (German: französischer Flintenkolben), and is still used almost unaltered with many English shotguns.

m

[Matchlock]

Attachments:

a very good Nuremberg matchlock petronel, ca. 1565-70, in the Schweizerisches Landesmuseum Zürich, Switzerland.
Please note the finely wrought trigger bar and the iron straps attached by large screws, completely encircling and reinforcing the delicate and fragile buttstock! This reinforcement of the buttstock is characteristic of the high-quality petronels made by Nuremberg workshops during the 1570's to ca. 1590.
Author's photos.

Added at the bottom is a very elegantly shaped sample of a typical North Italian matchlock petronel of ca. 1570, sold with Christie's Rome in the 1970's. The catalog, of course, is in my library but I cannot seem to find it at the moment; else I would present a better quality scan than this poor old ceroxed copy that was on my computer.

[Matchlock]

Attached are, from top:

two specimens scanned from Gaibi, Armi da fuoco italiane: a very fine North Italian matchlock petronel, ca. 1570, the iron parts profusely etched and gilt!
Please note the wingnut of the serpentine is pierced with a Gothic trefoil ornament that originated in Italy in the 1530's but showed up again on later pieces from time to time (Armeria Reale Torino, inv.no. M.4).
And another, no inv.no. given, also in Torino.


In 1579, Franz Hogenberg illustrated Landsknechts from Spain with their matchlock petronels, in his engraving The Surrender of Schloss Hohenlimburg (next 3 attachments).

Also by Franz Hogenberg, ca. 1595, is the colored detail from a cityscape of Rgensburg (1 att.)


Preserved at the University of Edinburgh are illustrations of ca. 1580, with mercenaries and their petronels (6 att.)


m

[Matchlock]

One more close-up from the Edinburgh illustrations of ca. 1580, showing mercenaries with their petronels.

Hendrick Goltzius, in 1585 and 1587, and Jacob de Gheyn, in 1587, depicted young mercenaries with matchlock petronels rested on the shoulders (attached susequently). The older engraving by Goltzius, attached first, portrayed the musketeer with his full accouterments: a bandelier with exactly measured powder containers for each shot, slung around his shoulders, a large trapezoid musketeer's powder flask attached to his back by the belt hook, and a small matching priming flask suspended on its tassels of raw silk and wool.

For comprehensive information on military powder flasks and bandeliers, please see my threads

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...+powder+flasks

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...+powder+flasks

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...man%27s+flasks

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=bandeliers


m

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Matchlock

... In 1579, Franz Hogenberg illustrated Landsknechts from Spain with their matchlock petronels, in his engraving The Surrender of Schloss Hohenlimburg (next 3 attachments).

Say Michael ...
Meaning that those mercenaries are Spaniards hired to fight in Hohenlimburg ?
... or am i on the wrong track ?

[Matchlock]

I don't know for sure but I think the soldiers depicted by Hohenberg are not Spaniards; the Spanish paragon concerning court ceremonial, costumes, armor and weapons alike was copied all over Northern Europe in the second half of the 16th century - England (Queen Victoria I) included. The German morion helmets looked just like the Spanish, from the mid 16th century onwards.

m

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Matchlock

...The German morion helmets looked just like the Spanish, from the mid 16th century onwards...

Thst's what hit me; apparently Portuguese looked the same.

[Matchlock]

Originally Posted by fernando

Thst's what hit me; apparently Portuguese looked the same.

Of course they did, Nando; the Portuguese have always ranked among the best!!! And at least one of them still does ...

m

[Matchlock]

So let's have a look now at the latest stage of development of the petronel, the 1580's and 1590's, up to ca. 1600.

The top attachments show Italian petronels of the most modern form of the bent stock, ca. 1580's to 1590.

Here is a heavy petronel musket, the stock inlaid with plaques of engraved bone or staghorn, dated 1579, in the Rüstkammer (armory) of Emden, Northwest Germany.


m

[Matchlock]

A short 'retrospective' into the 1570's:


Attached find an unusually fine and elegant Italian matchlock petronel caliver, ca. 1570; overall length 1.31 m, sold at auction with San Giorgio's, Italy, 10 October 2007, lot 415.
The barrel is profusely iron carved, and the delicate stock is inlaid with strips of staghorn along the edges. Just wonderful but it would seem a shame to use this piece in war.
Yes, sometimes it happens that beauties like this caliver actually are for sale.

m