Fifteenth-century cast bronze cannon

Timeline

1. c. 1450–1490Bruges · FlandersBy the mid-fifteenth century, gunfounders in Flanders and the German lands had mastered lost-wax and sand-casting techniques, able to cast bronze barrels of larger caliber; after optimization of the chamber-to-bore ratio, range and reliability improved, making bronze cannon important equipment in royal arsenals across states.
2. 1491–1500Iberian Peninsula · Iberian PeninsulaIn the 1490s, Spain and Portugal equipped carracks and galleons with bronze cannon for close-range bombardment and shore support; meanwhile, in sieges everywhere the destructive effect of bronze cannon on stone castles became increasingly pronounced, driving the development of new fortifications such as the bastion.