European 15th-Century Artillery

Timeline

1. 1400–1450Northern France · FranceDuring the Hundred Years' War France gradually introduced and improved bronze bombards to bombard English-held fortresses. Early artillery was cumbersome and slow-firing, but could already systematically destroy medieval stone walls, driving fortification design toward lower, thicker walls and bastions.
2. 1450–1465France · FranceKing Charles VII of France, spurred on by gunfounders such as the brothers Jean and Gaspard Bureau, established a royal artillery with mixed wrought-iron and bronze barrels and standardized ammunition supply. At the Battle of Castillon in 1453, French artillery decisively ended the main battlefield phase of the Hundred Years' War in France, marking the maturation of Europe's siege artillery system.
3. 1461–1470Burgundy and the Italian Peninsula · ItalyIn the 1460s–1470s lighter culverin and falconet class guns appeared, haulable to the battlefield by ox cart. The Duchy of Burgundy, Milan, Naples, and other states employed field artillery in the Italian Wars, while the Ottoman Empire deployed large bronze guns at Constantinople and elsewhere; European artillery entered an era of multi-state competition and rapid iteration.
4. 1470–1490Foundries across Europe · Central EuropeAfter the 1470s barrel-casting techniques improved, iron shot replaced stone shot to increase penetrating power, and powder formulas and charge measurements became increasingly standardized. Artillery range and reliability improved, laying the foundation for 16th-century Italian-style bastion warfare and modern artillery tactics.