content_output-043_6 (Q6111)

Seville is said to have been defended in 1247 by “cannon throwing stones.” On a cannon in the castle of Coucy is “Fait le 6 Mars, 1258, Raoul, Roi de Coucy”; the dates are in Arabic figures. In 1259 Melilla was defended by a machine which, from the description, must be a cannon or like fire-arm. In 1273 Abou Yuesof used canon, firing stone shot, at the siege of Sidgil-messa. In 1301 a “fire mouth” was made at Amberg. In 1308 Ferdinando IV. of Castille employed guns (marquenas de Trueñas) at the siege of Gibraltar. A cannon was found in 1560 among the ruins of the castle of Heyer, on the Rhine, which was destroyed in 1308. In 1311 Ismail attacked Bazas, in Granada, with machines “throwing balls of fire, with a noise like thunder.” In the archives of the town of Ghent it is stated that in 1313 the town was possessed of a small cannon; and in the records of the Florentine Republic it is stated that in 1325 two officers were ordered to manufacture cannon and iron bullets for the defence of the castles and villages belonging to the republic. From this date references to their use on the Continent are frequent.