content_output-074_2 (Q6576)

the arm, and shaped like the butts of modern punt-guns. Several good specimens of these early culverins are to be seen in the Musée des Invalides at Paris. The culverins varied greatly in their dimensions and weight; the smallest for horseback use, and similar to, or identical with, the pétrinal, were about 4 feet long, and weighed from 10 to 15 lbs.; the larger culverins were from 4 to 8 feet long, and weighed from 12 to 60 lbs. By the end of the fifteenth century hand-cannon were in use throughout Europe as military weapons. Charles VII. had a corps of horse-culver-iners, and the hand-culveriners of Charles VIII. played an important part in Italy during his campaign in 1494. Hand-cannon were also used by the Emperor