French Artillery Did Not Spring Up Out of Nowhere
One may wonder why the English, who had enjoyed spectacular success at the Battles of Agincourt and Crecy, were forced out of most of their continental holdings to bring an end to the Hundred Years War. French advances in artillery development provide some of the answer.
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Cannon on carriage, without the axle and
wheels. Image adapted from Albrecht Dürer, 1527 |
Reacting to the early superiority of English firearms, the French focused on bettering the design of theirs. They focused on knocking down fortifications, not to use their new designs on the open battlefield. Barrels became cast, usually of bronze, instead of pieced together with iron rods, and breechloading was dropped in favor of muzzle loading, which was safer at the time.
Advances were made in gunpowder preparation to make it combust faster than before. These upgrades resulted in higher than before pressures inside the barrel, thereby propelling the projectile farther and faster than with earlier firearms. Advances in barrel casting were matched by casting iron balls to be projectiles, in favor of carved stone. Comparing the masses of volume to volume, a cast iron cannonball was heavier than its stone counterpart of the same diameter, hence, able to have greater force when impacting a castle wall. Barrels could be conveniently elevated or depressed at the fulcrum of two rod-like extensions, the trunnions, cast as part of the barrel and balanced in slots on the carriage. A cannon could be aimed left or right by simply picking up and shifting its trail. Improvements extended to frames and wheels - the carriages - to support and move the cast barrels. The carriages came to be supported by large, stout wagon-type wheels reinforced with iron banding along the rims. The wooden carriages had an extension that angled down behind the wheels and barrel end to make the trail, which could be hitched to another set of wheels and to a team of horses. The trail also provided the third 'leg' with the wheels to make a tripod to hold the barrel when in use. No more hoisting a gun from a wagon bed to a bulky wooden tray on the ground.
Concommitant with the engineering advancements, there were equally important upgrades in the French army. This included forming an army under direct royal control, and by 1442 approximately 15,000 men were under command of their king. (So no more pleading with nobles, "Can I borrow some men, please?") The brothers Jean and Gaspard Bureau organized a distinct branch of this army to be artillery with clearly defined command, personnel, and administration with uninterrupted procurement and supply.
With these enhanced means for war, the French turned their attention to the English holdings in Northern France to strike with four armies, all supported with the improved artillery. Fort after fort fell, garrison after garrison surrendered. The desperate English mustered sufficient arms to confront the French in open battle at Formigny in 1450. Although the French reserved their artillery for sieges, they made an exception with two pieces, which were used to chew up English archers deployed as they had been at Agincourt. Frustrated, the English attacked the two pieces and actually captured them, but were set upon by French cavalry sweeping down on two flanks in the traditional way. The English lost 3,000 - and the battle. After the French regained most of their northern coast, they turned to English holdings in the southwest, ruled by the English crown since the 12th century. That area, too, succumbed to the French armies with their artillery. Pushing out the English gave the French artillery excellent combat experience and the opportunity to determine where refinements were needed. Italy was next in 1494.