Gents,
Doing some more "research" on Murten with a possible idea taking shape. Anyway.
In one source, I found a list of troop types in the Swiss force present at Grandson.
All of the types were recognizable save for "coulovriniers."
An Internet search proved unsuccessful, unless I was looking for financial advisors, a tavern, or something else.
My guess is that this might be a reference to handgunners, but I am not certain.
Any help or links to a page would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Chris
The most likely meaning is handgunners, from coulverine a main - a handgun. Larger coulverines could be mounted on a stand (or crutch) as a form of light artillery.
P.S. If you really want to get into the variety of artillery used in the Burgundian Wars, the go-to book is Douglas-Smith and DeVries : The Artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy 1363 - 1477.
Many thanks Anthony!
And I do have pages from the text you mention. Kicking myself for not copying more - especially the introduction.
Again, appreciate the assist and translation. From the French, I presume.
Cheers,
Chris
QuoteFrom the French, I presume.
Indeed. The spelling is inconsistent in contemporary documents - Douglas-Smith and DeVries give ten variants.
Wikipedia has a nice picture here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culverin#/media/File:EarlyCoulevrines.jpg)
8)
Thanks again. Helpful.
Quite an odd looking piece, I must say . . .
Must have been a chore to load and must have made quite a racket when discharged.
Cheers,
Chris
One of the things to remember is that coulverine was an evolving weapon and exactly what was meant by one might have varied between authors . If you flicked through the pictures in that gallery Nick linked, you will find considerable differences. It's also probably moot whether coulverineer in the 1470s always meant a man with a coulverine rather than other types of handgun.