Gonne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The gonne, hand gonne or hand cannon, as it was called, was the first handheld, portable firearm.
The gonne was invented around 1300 (or perhaps earlier) and was used until at least the 1520s in Europe, and until modern times in the Far East. However, where it was invented remains an area of intense controversy. The Chinese, Mongols, and Arabs all have a claim - as do the Europeans. A 16th-century legend about a 14th-century German or Greek monk called Berthold Schwarz (Black Berthold, Bertholdus Niger) having invented the gun has long been proved to be completely fictitious.[citation needed]
It was a primitive weapon, but effective in sieges and ambushes. It was less effective in open battle and in wet or windy conditions. Despite its crude appearance, the gonne could kill armoured or unarmoured opponents at short ranges - if the gunner could manage to hit them. Experiments indicate an effective range of about 50 metres and a maximum range of about 300 metres, depending on calibre and type of powder used.
Gonnes ranged in barrel length from 190 to 600 mm and from 12 to 36 mm in calibre. Approximate weights ranged from 1.5 kg to a monstrous 15 kg for some siege models. Barrels were typically short compared to later firearms and made from wrought iron or cast in bronze. For ease of handling, the barrels were attached to a wooden stock. This was done in two ways: either by resting the barrel in a groove in the stock and securing it with metal bands, or by inserting the stock into a socket formed in the rear part of the barrel. Some gonnes merely had a metal rod formed as an extension to the rear of the barrel as a handle. For firing, the gonne could be held in two hands while an assistant applied an igniter (such as hot coals or burning tinder) to the touch hole, or propped against something and set off by the gunner himself. Illustrations depict gunners holding the stock in the armpit, or over the shoulder like a modern bazooka to aim their weapon. During sieges, gonnes were rested on the edges of walls, over the sides of armoured carts, or on forked rests hammered into the ground. Hooks are often found attached to the bottom of the barrel to use with forked rests.
Later gonnes were made with a flash pan attached to the barrel, and a touch hole drilled through the side wall of the gonne instead of the top of the barrel. The flashpan had a sliding lid fitted, to keep the priming powder dry until the moment of firing. The invention of corned powder, the slow match, and the flash pan around 1400 led to the widespread adoption of gonnes, as those who used them were now no longer required to mix their powder on the spot, to stay close to a source of fire, or to stay out of the weather.
The reasons why firearms gradually came to dominate European warfare are not clear. The advantages of the gonne were low cost, easy mass production, the ability to be used by fairly poorly trained troops, and a measure of control over their manufacture (and especially the manufacture of ammunition - an important consideration in a medieval Europe wracked by rebellion). While the gonne could not match the accuracy or speed of fire of the longbow, gunners did not require the special diet and continuous practice from childhood required of a good bowman. Crossbows had superior power and accuracy compared to early gonnes, but were expensive to make, slow to reload and almost as poorly affected by wet weather as gonnes.
[edit] In fiction
"Gonne" is also the name of the firearm in the Discworld novel Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett. Believed to be the only black powder weapon in existence on the Discworld, the gonne more resembles a modern rifle than the weapon described above, as it has a magazine of six shots which can be fired in rapid succession. The impression is given that it is semi-automatic.
