Fire lance
Lanza de fuego
- Date
- c. 950 (imagen) / 1132 (uso) · confidence medium
- Place
- De'an (Anlu), Hubei, China
- Credited to
- Chen Gui, defender of De'an
- People
- 👤 Chen Gui
- Field
- Conflict
What it is
A bamboo or paper tube filled with gunpowder tied to a spear that shot flames and, later, shrapnel. It is the direct ancestor of all barrel firearms.
A Dunhuang painting from c. 950 appears to depict it; the first documented use is the siege of De'an (1132).
What it led to
- tubular firearms
- metal cannon and the arquebus