Late Gothic Crossbows and Accouterments

[David Jaumann]

Hi Michael,

I´m very sorry for posting the pictures of the gunarrow so late! The quality of the pictures is not as good as I wished. I actually wanted to take some pictures of the gunarrow again, but I´m afraid to say that the wallarmbrust and the gun arrow were not on exhibit anymore when I was there last time. The museum has been closed for a few months and big parts of the display have changed - mostely but not completely in a good way...
Later I somehow forgot about your request.


So here are the pictures of the gunarrow. I will also attach some other pictures of other crossbowbolts and some detailed pictures of the prod of the wallarmbrust.

Best wishes and sorry again,
David

[David Jaumann]

The back section of the gunarrow was made completely round - perfect to fit into a gun barrel. There is no doubt, that it has been constructed for a gun.

[David Jaumann]

Here you can see a picture of the frontside of the wallarmbrust-prod. It is slightely damaged, so you can perfectely see the different horn layers.
On two other pictures you can quite the knot of the string (gotische Sehne).

[David Jaumann]

Here some pictures of crossbow bolts exposed in the Kaiserburg Museum. It seems like the back sections of the bolts were thicker at first and then cut thinner (by the crossbowmen?) in order to fit into the nuts of the crossbows.

So there is the question I´m wondering about: Is there evidence that there the distances bethween the two "nutfingers" were standardised in one area or at least at one town? Does someone know about the distance bethween the nutfingers of the crossbows in Hermannsstadt?

Thank you in advance!

Best wishes,
David

[Matchlock]

Hi David,


I cannot tell you how glad I was to see these great images of the gun arrow and the other items!

Thank you so much, and don't worry about the quality of the photos; I am very familiar with the horribly dim light conditions in the Nuremberg museum displays both in the Kaiserburg (Imperial Castle) and the GNM, and I think you did a fantastic job!

Thanks also for confirming that it actually was a gun arrow! As I wrote, a friend of mine and me spied this important item in the drawer of the reserve collection at the GNM about 15 years ago at a meeting of the Gesellschaft für Waffen- und Kostümkunde; at that time, the rear end still retained a small portion of a cord binding which is now sadly gone!


I will ask my experienced friend Ralf, who collects Gothic crossbows and accouterments, about your query concerning the 'nutfingers'. Please allow one or two weeks; as a consequence of his profession, he has to travel a lot, and his spare time is precious.

Diy you take photos of the crossbows in the museum of Sibiu/Hermannstadt, Romania? The local female curator did not allow me to do so because she was still working for her dissertation on those cossbows about three years ago.



With all my very best wishes,
Michael

[Micke D]

Another, earlier, ca. 1525, with finely engraved bone handle

Hello again Michael!

On what do you date the cranequin in post #248 to around 1525?
To me it looks more be a late 15th century cranequin because I think the string hooks and the small housing are more 15th than 16th century in design.
It's only the nicely ingraved bone/horn handle that I think is 16th c, but that could be a 16th replacement.

I searched their website but could not find any other photos of it, do you know if there are more photos of it? I would need a photo of the bottom of the housing to date it more exactly.

[Micke D]

Is there evidence that there the distances bethween the two "nutfingers" were standardised in one area or at least at one town? Does someone know about the distance bethween the nutfingers of the crossbows in Hermannsstadt?

Hi David!

I 'think' at least towns, maybe even regions, must have had some standards for a lot of military stuff including distance between nut fingers.
I think that Josef Alm mentions this in his book, someone in a 15th c German town gets an order to trim crossbow bolts so they fit between nut fingers.

The Hermannstadt crossbows are a very interesting group of crossbows as they are said to all be an old Zeughaus inventory, and if that's correct, they will be military weapons and should probably have the same distance between the nut fingers.