The Defence of Calais and the Development of Gunpowder Weaponry in England in the Late Fifteenth Century

• Autores: David Grummitt
• Localización: War in history, ISSN-e 1477-0385, ISSN 0968-3445, Vol. 7, Nº. 3, 2000, págs. 253-272
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article challenges the prevalent perception that the development and use of gunpowder weaponry in England in the late fifteenth century differed markedly from that in France and Burgundy. This is done in the light of the evidence of the Calais victuallers' accounts. Calais was England's most important military and commercial frontier, and the unique survival of large amounts of archival material allows its gunpowder weaponry to be reconstructed in detail. The accounts show that from the 1460s the Crown systematically increased and modernized the ordnance in Calais and, moreover, extended increasing royal control over it, bringing English gunpowder weaponry and its use in line with that of France and Burgundy.