ARTILLERY. This term, since the intro duction of gunpowder, has been applied chiefly to large ordnance, together with their ammu nition and appurtenances.
The earliest military engines were, in all probability, those for casting large stones. Such machines do not appear to have been used in England until the Norman invasion, and were used by the Normans chiefly in sea fights, for throwing Greek fire, quicklime, and other combustibles, as well as stones and darts. Richard I. employed against the Sara. cons some such engines, worked by the force of the wind acting upon sails. Edward I. used engines at the siege of Stirling Castle, in 1303, which threw stones of 300 lbs. weight.
The invention of gunpowder, though it did not for a long time supersede the ancient artillery, gradually brought about great changes in the art of war. The first cannon, which were called bombards, were very clumsy, wider at the mouth than the chamber, and formed of bars of iron bound together with hoops. The earliest cannon-balls were of stone. Hand-cannon carried by two men, and fired from a rest in the ground, were early used ; and carts of war, conveying light artil lery, are mentioned in a Scotch act of parlia ment in 1456. Cannon began to be formed by casting about the middle of the fifteenth century. Iron bullets (of which Monstrelet mentions one weighing five cwt.) began also to be used, but not to the exclusion of thoso of stone. A hard mixed metal, called font
metal, or bronze, was early invented for the casting of cannon ; and the casting of this kind of ordnance was commenced in England in 1535. In the sixteenth century the size of cannon was reduced, and they were made of superior form. One of the largest cast can non now existing is a brass one at Bejapoor, which was cast in commemoration of the cap ture of that place by the Emperor Alum Geer, in 1685. Its extreme length is 14 feet 1 inch; the diameter of its bore 2 feet 4 inches. An iron shot for this gun of proper size would weigh 1600 pounds.
For mortars we are indebted to workmen who were employed by Henry VIII.; those made for him about 1543 being, according to Stowe, at the mouth from 11 to 10 inches wide,' and employed to throw hollow shot of cast - iron, filled, like modern bombs, with combustibles, and furnished with a fuse.
Different names were given about that date to different kinds of cannon ; such as falcon, culverm, demi-colverin,minion, and sakar. Pe t4rds, which are explosive engines employed in sieges, were first used by the Huguenots in 1580. The howitzer, an improvement on the mortar, was first used in 107 ; and the commode, a kind of long howitzer, about 1775.
The casting of these instruments of de struction is described under CANNON.