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The earliest medieval cannon, the pot-de-fer, had a bulbous, vase-like shape, and was used more for psychological effect than physical damage. The later culverin was transitional between the handgun and the full cannon, and was used as an anti-personnel weapon .
A wide variety of gunpowder artillery weapons were created in the medieval and early modern period. This list is incomplete ; you can help by adding missing items . ( June 2020 )
Earliest known written formula for gunpowder, from the Wujing Zongyao of 1044 AD.. Gunpowder is the first explosive to have been developed. Popularly listed as one of the "Four Great Inventions" of China, it was invented during the late Tang dynasty (9th century) while the earliest recorded chemical formula for gunpowder dates to the Song dynasty (11th century).
The period saw major technological advances, including the adoption of gunpowder, the invention of vertical windmills, spectacles, mechanical clocks, and greatly improved water mills, building techniques (Gothic architecture, medieval castles), and agriculture in general (three-field crop rotation).
This is a timeline of the history of gunpowder and related topics such as weapons, warfare, and industrial applications. The timeline covers the history of gunpowder from the first hints of its origin as a Taoist alchemical product in China until its replacement by smokeless powder in the late 19th century (from 1884 to the present day).
Old Japanese weapons and other military paraphernalia, c. 1892–95 A Gilbertese shark-toothed weapon (late 19th century). Major innovations in the history of weapons have included the adoption of different materials – from stone and wood to different metals, and modern synthetic materials such as plastics – and the developments of different weapon styles either to fit the terrain or to ...
The Ming dynasty continued to improve on gunpowder weapons from the Yuan and Song dynasties as part of its military. During the early Ming period larger and more cannons were used in warfare. In the early 16th century Turkish and Portuguese breech-loading swivel guns and matchlock firearms were incorporated into the Ming arsenal.
15th-century culveriners. By the early 15th century, both armies had a wide variety of gunpowder weapons. [1] Large guns were developed, known as bombards (French bombardes), weighing up to 3 tonnes and firing stone balls of up to 150 kg (300 lbs), which seem to have been more prevalent among the French than among the English until 1420. [1]