17th-Century Siege Cannon

Type Object Region Europe Time 1630–1640

Heavy bronze or cast-iron European cannons of the 17th century used to batter fortress walls, firing 24-pound shot and larger from parallel trenches …

Timeline

1630–1632Foundry centers in the Netherlands and along the Rhine · NetherlandsArmies widely fielded 12- to 48-pound siege cannons, cast in bronze or early cast iron, paired with standardized powder charges and solid shot, specifically for battering bastion parapets and faces.
1631–1635Fortresses of the Holy Roman Empire · Holy Roman EmpireIn the sieges of Magdeburg, Nuremberg, Mainz and elsewhere, siege cannons fired continuously from parallel trenches for days or weeks to open breaches in the walls, becoming the decisive step in determining a fortress's fate.
1636–1640Europe · EuropeBy 1640, states improved gun-carriage mobility and ammunition supply, and developed supporting tactics such as concentrating fire on a single point and building fortifications under night cover, to counter more complex star-bastion defenses.

Sources

The Artillery of Nathaniel Nye: Seventeenth-Century Gunnery Theory and Practice — Stephen Bull (1997)
Vauban and the French Military Under Louis XIV — John A. Lynn (1999)
The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy — Peter H. Wilson (2009)