pre-1800s cannons

Counterpoise Trebuchet



The first weapons created that resembled cannons were trebuchets. Trebuchets were created in China in 300BC. Large groups of men would pull on a rope to release a missile (these were called traction trebuchets) but eventually the people were replaced with a large, fixed or pivoting, counter balance. These types of trebuchets are called Counterpoise trebuchets (Middle-ages). They were  first brought to England in 1216 during the Siege of Dover. They were used on the walls of the Castle of Dover but when the constable refused to surrender and order was given to start creating an even more powerful trebuchet. This trebuchet was called the Warwolf, which came to be known as the most powerful and most famous in history. Trebuchets used everything from burning tar to dead mutilated bodies. Since they were used in the middle-ages they didn’t have many explosives like we do now and they used whatever could be found.





Pot-de-fer

Later on in 1326 a cannon called the Pot-de-fer was manufactured. It was a primitive cannon made out of iron and was the first cannon to be made out of metal. It looked like a bottle with a narrow neck. It was loaded with powder and an iron arrow-like bolt. It was believed that the bottom of the bolt was wraoed in leather to build pressure but that was never confiremed was never confirmed (Wikipedia). The cannons were set off by a small hole where a red-hot wire would be inserted to set off the explosion. These cannons were used by the French in the Hundred’s Years War. In Italian they were known as vasi or vasii which meant pot or vase. This was because of the cannons physical, vase-like appearance.