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Medieval Bombard (Great Gun)

Type Object Region Europe Time c. 1400–1500

Large bronze or wrought-iron siege guns developed in 15th-century Europe and the Ottoman Empire, with bores of tens of inches and shot over half a to…

Timeline

  1. c. 1400–1430Founding workshops of Central Europe and Byzantium · Central EuropeFrom the late 14th to early 15th century, Central European founders began casting bronze siege guns with bores over 60 cm to batter stone castles, with the technology gradually spreading to the Ottomans and Western Europe.
  2. c. 1444–1453Siege positions at Constantinople · Ottoman EmpireThe Hungarian founder Orban cast a giant bronze gun for Mehmed II, with a bore of about 75 cm, firing only a few shots a day yet sufficient to breach sections of the Theodosian Walls, becoming the decisive weapon of the 1453 siege.
  3. c. 1460–1500Western European states · Western EuropeAfter the fall of Constantinople, Western European states accelerated development of large siege guns, such as Scotland's surviving Mons Meg, but their bulk and slow rate of fire led states to shift toward long-barreled mobile artillery.

Sources