14th century hand cannon

[Marcus den toom]

Before introducing my new hand cannon barrel it is of some importance to discuss this similar stocked hand cannon.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12632 (post 11 and on).

Dated to be from the late 14th century with a later added hook AND stock from around the 1430s. Why the emphasis on the stock? Because I believe that the stock must have been added at the same time as the hook. It would be impractical to forge a hook on a barrel band especially when it is already secured to a stock. Also redoing the barrelband lateron seems unlikely .

The barrel would have been reused, but would originally have been stocked on a wooden block.
The shape of this and my barrel are very similar and could be of the same origin. They both follow a stout and vase shaped form. The touch hole is very close to the base, 10mm, and the caliber is roughly 25mm.
The Loshult gun is the only known brass vase shaped barrel so far and it corresponds with the illuminations in the Milemete manuscript (1326/27). The Loshult gun is generally dated to the 1350s. Deriving from the shape of the Loshult gun the iron barrels, as proposed in my thesis, could be from 10-20 years later. They both have a notably large rounded swamped ring at the barrel mouth, like the Loshult gun. Later cannons from the 1400s do still have a swamped shape, like a vase, but lack the rounded ring at the barrel mouth. A second type of barrel are those of the Aljubarotta barrel series, they also have a somewwhat rounded barrelmouth. http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...t=14th+century)

[Marcus den toom]

This hand cannon has a length of 12cm, a width at the base of 60mm, a width at the barrelmout of 50mm and bore of 25mm.

The general shape looks like an adaptation on the Loshult cannon. The base is flat but still slightly rounded, the barrel is swamped and has a rounded swamped ring at the barrel mouth.
All in all i would assign a date of 1370-80s to this barrel based on the previously stated thesis.

Fun fact, when i showed my girlfriend this barrel she told me it looked like a vase, its all the prove i need hahah

The base is, just like the previous example, circled with a shallow indentation. This could be a method for securing the iron breech plug at the bottom of the barrel (more on this later on).

For now some pictures

[Marcus den toom]

And more

[Andi]

A nice piece - congratulations

[fernando]

Congrats on the acquisition of your new vase, Marcus .