Artillery

The exact date of the introduction of gunpowder artillery in the Byzantine Empire is unknown, but there is apparently some evidence that John VII used cannons against John V in the fortress of the Golden Gate in 1390. Certainly it seems likely that guns had been introduced into the Empire by the end of the 14th century, doubtless under Genoese or Venetian influence. Most of the sources refer to Byzantine artillery during the final siege, though there was seemingly not enough of it. Leonard of Chios says that the guns could not be used often because of a shortage of powder and shot, and that the largest could not be used anyway because of the damage their recoil caused to the ancient walls. Chalkokondyles too says that the Byzantine guns shook the walls badly, though he records their shot as weighing only IV2 talents — about 90 lbs if, as seems probable, the Roman talent of 57.6 lbs was adopted in Byzantium; certainly Leonard states that the talent was 60 minae, i. e. nearly 60 lbs. Compared to the guns of the Ottoman besiegers, therefore, these were only modest pieces of ordnance. Chalkokondyles adds that the largest Byzantine cannon actually burst, upon which the unfortunate cannoneer responsible was accused of being a Turkish agent, narrowly escaping execution only because there was no evidence to support the accusation.

Doukas provides us with details of the smallest Byzantine firearms, which were clearly handguns. He describes how ‘the decision was made. . . that the Romans should fight from the ramparts of the walls, some by discharging quarrels from crossbows and others by shooting arrows. Some, however, shot lead balls which were propelled by powder, 5 and 10 at a time, and as small as Pontic walnuts [i. e. hazelnuts]. These had tremendous penetrating power and, if a ball happened to strike an armoured soldier, it would transpierce both shield and body, passing through and striking the next person standing in its path. Passing through the second individual, it would strike a third until the force of the powder was dissipated. Thus with one shot it was possible to kill 2 or 3 soldiers. The Turks learned of these weapons and not only employed them but had even better ones.’ In his account of Murad IPs siege of Belgrade in 1440 he describes the use of this same type of weapon by the Hungarian garrison in even fuller detail: ‘They shot lead balls the size of a Pontic walnut from a bronze apparatus whose tube held the balls in a row of 5 or 10. The back end of the bronze tube was filled with powder compounded of natron, sulphur and salicaceous charcoal. When a burning ember or flaming spark came into contact with this powder, it suddenly ignited, thereby compressing the air. The compressed air, of necessity, compels the balls, and as they are driven forward the ball next to the powder impels the one ahead of it, and the latter impels the one ahead of it — in this way, the explosive force is transmitted to the ball at the mouth... When the ball strikes man or beast, even though they are clad in mail, the force of the shot is so overwhelming that it pierces the mail and flesh of both rider and horse without being spent or dissipated.’ Perhaps, then, this type of gun worked on the Roman candle principle and was comparable to, and possibly the same as, the contemporary European ‘fire-lance’. (See Funcken’s The Age of Chivalry, Part 2, figures 10 and 10a plus captions, pages 32-34.)

Byzantine terminology for gunpowder artillery is varied and confused. Kritovoulos, writing in 1467, admitted of the cannon that ‘our old language has no word to designate this machine unless you choose to call it elipolos [‘taker of cities’] or apheterhion [‘bolt-compelling’]. In current language nowadays all the world

Gives it the name skevos [machine or apparatus].’ Indeed, that is the term Doukas uses on several occasions. This absence of any appropriate new Greek words led to both the adoption of those used in the West — khoneian and khanonia, both presumably derived from ‘cannon’, and boumbardhe — and the revival of antiquated names once used for torsion-operated stone-throwing engines, such as petrobolos and telebolos. These two latter terms were in fact probably the most popular, being used by Doukas, Sphrantzes and Chalkokondyles alike.