content_output-043_7 (Q6112)

Fire-arms are said to have been possessed by the English in 1310, and to have been used by them at the siege of D'Eu in that year. The first mention in a contemporary record is in an indenture dated 1338, between John Starlyng and Helmyng Leget, which mentions, as part of the equipment of the King's ship, " Bernard de la Tour," " ij. canons de ferr sanz estuff ; un canon de ferr ove ii. chambers, un autre de bras ove une chambre, un ketell," etc. ; also for the ship " X'ofre de la Tour " " iij. canons de ferr ove v. chambres, un handgone, also " un petit barell de gonpouder, le quart plein." In 1346 John Cooke, a clerk of the