Dating from the reign of Edward III., the employment of cannon and bombards in siege operations became more or less general. Froissart records that the black prince took bombards, cannon, and Greek fire to the reduction of the castle of Romozantin in 1356, but it does not appear that he availed himself of fire-arms at the battle of Poitiers in the same year. The bombards seem to have been short, capacious vessels, from which stone balls were shot with small charges to a short distance, and at considerable elevation; they were essentially the parents of the present bombs or mortars. The cannon (canna, a reed), on the other hand, were, for some time at least, of extremely small bore, scarcely larger than muskets of the 18th c.; they discharged leaden bullets, and would have probably been used as hand-weapons, but for their cumbrous and heavy workmanship, which necessitated small carriages. Arms of this description are doubtless those referred to as having been brought by Richard II. to the siege of St. halo, to the number of 400 pieces, where they are said to have kept up an incessant fire day and night on the town without success.
In the 15th c., armies for siege operations were usually accompanied by great and small guns, the latter being intended to keep down the fire of the besieged while the large bombards were being loaded, an operation requiring no small time. These guns were gradually improved, but it was not until the reign of Henry VIII. that the founders succeeded in casting iron ordnance, to the entire exclusion, until quite the present day, of cannon formed of square or rounded bars welded together. England had even then become famous for the workmanship of its ordnance. A gun found in the wreck of the Mary Rose, which sunk at Spithead in the above king's reign, shows that a degree of excellence had been attained in the manufacture of artillery, little inferior to that which has lasted till our own day, when rifled ordnance are rapidly superseding cannon of smooth bores. Still, so late as Henry's reign, although great guns were found very serviceable in siege and naval operations, where the defenses of those clays offered but a trifling resistance to their power, they appear to have been looked upon rather as an incumbrance than an ad vantage with armies in the field. This is attributed partly to the heavy character of the guns themselves, and especially of their carriages, but more particularly to the badness, or rather absence, of the nec essary roads for their transport. In 1552, it is recorded in the state papers that the " kinges ordonauns [were] unable to pass over Stanes More towards Carlile."
As time passed on, the details of the manufacture were improved, the general prin ciples remaining the same; the size of the guns increased, while the proportionate weight of the carriages diminished; limbers (q.v.) were added, and the equipage of a gun gradually perfected and lightened. With increased caliber, to which augmented range was usually added, the number of cannon—at one period enormous—taken with an army was by degrees reduced, until now a certain standard proportion between artillery and infantry is ordinarily maintained. Three guns to a thousand infantry is the proportion now considered best. Of course, this proportion differs with the opinions of various commanders; but the greatest modern generals have always acted on the maxim, that it is wasteful to send a soldier on any duty of danger which a ball can be made to perform. As a weapon of offense, Vauban doubled the utility of heavy ordnance when he applied the ricochet (q.v.) system of firing. Napoleon may almost be said to have won his battles by artillery, for lie rarely, if ever, brought his infantry into action except as supports. a way had been opened for them, or a panic caused, by the massed fire of large batteries of guns. The duke of Wellington also devoted the greatest attention to his ordnance train; while, referring to recent events, the cam paigns of lord Clyde in India were remarkable instances of the use of artillery being pushed with abundant success to its greatest limit. During the-Franco-German war of 1870-71, the Prussians were considered somewhat behind the age in their use of artil lery.
Cannon of widely varying bores have at different times been cast, and the various sorts became so numerous in continental armies, as at one time to cause much incon venience from the large quantities of ammunition which it was necessary to carry. Gus tavus Adolphus set the example of reducing his guns to a few standard calibers, and the same improvement was immediately adopted systematically in the French and other armies. The introduction of rifled guns of late years has limited the classes in use in the British army to the following : Muzzle-loaders-16-in., 80 tons; 12.5-in., 38 tons; 12-in., 35 tons; 13.5-in., 23 tons; 12-in., 25 tons (" Woolwich infants"); 11-in., 25 tons; 10-in., 18 tons; 9-in., 12 tons; 8-in., 9 tons; 7-in., 7 tons, 6+ tons, and 90 cwt.; 80-pounder of 5 tons; 64-pounder; 40-pounder; 25-pounder; 16-pounder; 9-pounder; 7-pouuder (steel) mountain-gun. Breech-loaders-7-in., 64-pounder, 40-pounder, 20-pounder, 12-pounder, 9-pounder, 6-pounder. See CANNON, CARRONADES, GUNNERY, HOWITZER.