Matchlock arquebus
Arcabuz con llave de mecha
- Date
- c. 1420 · confidence medium
- Place
- Southern Germany / Bohemia (Hussite Wars)
- Credited to
- German and Bohemian gunsmiths
- Field
- Conflict
What it is
A portable firearm with a stock and a serpentine mechanism that brings the match to the touch hole without the firer letting go of the weapon. The first individual firearm that could be aimed with both hands.
Hand cannon had existed since c. 1350; the matchlock mechanism is documented in Germany around 1411–1430.
What it led to
- gunpowder infantry that outmatched cavalry (Pavia, 1525; the tercios)
- the military end of full armour
- its spread to Japan (1543) and the transformation of warfare worldwide
Built on
- Gunpowderc. 850
- Fire lancec. 950 (imagen) / 1132 (uso)
- Cannonc. 1288
- Full plate armourc. 1400
- Hussite war-wagon fortress (vozová hradba)1420
- hand cannon (handgonne)
- Gunpowder
- Full plate armour