Rise of the Musket

[Redcoat - Mic]

Could anyone tell what period in Western Civilization the musket became effective in war. I'm not talking about minor skirmishing troops, but armies made up with thousands of them. I need to figure out when for my Archaeology coursework and I always figured it was the English Civil War, but thinking about it now the 17th century seems too late.
Thanks for any help

[Aqtai]

Are you talking about actual muskets or all handheld firearms?

Arquebuses started to be used in the mid to late 15th century and completely replaced bows and crossbows in the 2nd half of the 16th century, in the late 16th century the arquebus in turn was superseded by the caliver. AFAIK muskets themselves did not appear until the late 16th century and were used alongside calivers.  Calivers were withdrawn from service in 1609 and completely replaced by muskets.

[Tangent]

I'd say that the invention of the bayonet (late 17th C.?) was an important development, since it made the musketeers much less reliant on pikemen for protection from cavalry. This meant that pikemen were now superfluous and could be eliminated from armies in favour of large numbers of musket-wielding soldiers.

[Tostig]

I need to figure out when for my Archaeology coursework and I always figured it was the English Civil War,

By the time of the English Civil War some troops were even armed with fork-less muskets, and a minority even flintlocks. A rough timeline, from Wikipedia:

• gunpowder described in Europe by Roger Bacon in 1216 and 1248
• By 1415 the first "hand cannons" were deployed by some infantrymen, and the earliest small bore arquebuses, with burning "match locks" appeared on the battlefield. An arquebus was recorded as being used at Agincourt in the same year
• Wheel-lock developed circa 1500
• Snap-hance about 1560
• Flintlock about 1600 (superseded the matchlock circa 1690)

There wasn't an overnight change-over between archery, crossbows and gunpowder, but rather a gradual change. When it comes to widespread use, I'd be tempted to say that it was part of the Military Revolution between 1500 and 1700.

[Dogukan]

Well one thing I know is that Turks used it very effectively untill late 17th century

[Aqtai]

Because the Turks were "early adopters" of hand-held firearms. They started using handgunnes in the 1440ies-1450ies, and by the early 16th century they were using matchlock arquebuses on a massive scale.


The muskets used up until circa 1640 were quite heavy and required musket rests, during the early stages of the English civil war lighter muskets which didn't require rests came into use, it took many years for the heavier muskets to die out though.


With regards to the crossbow, although it did die out gradually in 16th century Europe, the Holy Roman Empire is an exception, the Emperor Maximilian I issued an edict banning crossbows in 1517. Crossbows continued to be used for hunting up until the 18th and 19th centuries.

The long bow clung on for longer; a large amount of longbows were recovered from the Mary Rose which sank in 1545. It slowly died out in the second half of the 16th century despite attempts by the English government to keep it alive. The main reason being the lack of men willing to take the long and arduous training required to use it.

In the East bows continued to be used for much longer. Turkish sipahis, Polish pancerni cavalry, and Russian cavalry continued to use composite bows until the late 17th century. In India, Central Asia and the Middle-East bows continued to be used by horsearchers until the late 18th century.

[Tostig]

The long bow clung on for longer; a large amount of longbows were recovered from the Mary Rose which sank in 1545. It slowly died out in the second half of the 16th century despite attempts by the English government to keep it alive.

The last recorded use of a Longbow in war was during a siege in the ECW. I can look it up when I get back from work, if you want. But it's worth remembering that that was out of desperation, rather than need. Even when Charles I tried to set up an organised militia they were being trained with shot and pike.

[Ursca]

Could anyone tell what period in Western Civilization the musket became effective in war. I'm not talking about minor skirmishing troops, but armies made up with thousands of them. I need to figure out when for my Archaeology coursework and I always figured it was the English Civil War, but thinking about it now the 17th century seems too late.
Thanks for any help

These sites might be useful to you:

Gunpowder Weapons of the Late Fifteenth Century - About the earilest firearms used in Western Europe.
Period Firearms - A good primer* for firing mechanisms from handgonne to percussion cap.

*Ba-Dum-Tish!

Edit: Also, useful quote for your purposes:

The first important use of musketeers was in 1530 when Francis I organized units of arquebusiers or matchlock musketeers in the French army.

[Allegro]

About when muskets became more effective than crossbws? (firing rate, range, penetration)

[Aqtai]

About when muskets became more effective than crossbws? (firing rate, range, penetration)

Crossbows had pretty much fallen out of use by the time muskets appeared.

The evolution was: handgun -> arquebus -> caliver -> musket.

Crossbows were as powerful as arquebuses, but they were slower to load and far more expensive.

[Ursca]

I'm assuming your handgun=handgonne.
It confuses me. Arquebuses are quite often called handguns and people refer to any of them as muskets. Bleugh. 

[Allegro]

About when muskets became more effective than crossbws? (firing rate, range, penetration)

Crossbows had pretty much fallen out of use by the time muskets appeared.

The evolution was: handgun -> arquebus -> caliver -> musket.

Crossbows were as powerful as arquebuses, but they were slower to load and far more expensive.

i am changing it as handgun or arquebus then

[Aqtai]

I'm assuming your handgun=handgonne.

Yup.

It confuses me. Arquebuses are quite often called handguns and people refer to any of them as muskets. Bleugh. 

The reason is that Medieval people were not as fixated about categorising things as we moderns are. They often used the same name for different things, and gave different names to the same thing.

However modern historians and collectors like to put things into neat little boxes.

The term handgun (or handgonne) is now usually used to refer to the firearms used from the late 14th to the mid-15th century. They had a short iron barrel attached to the end of a long wooden stock (called a tiller) and were fired by holding a piece of burning match to the touch-hole. Ideally they need a crew of 2 to work properly. 
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/1945/Guns/Hgonne.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/1945/Guns/Hgonne2.htm

Arquebuses appear in the mid 15th century  although they were probably also called "handgonnes" at that time (the name is derived from "haakbus" meaning hook-gun).  They were used until the 3nd quarter of the 16th century. the arquebus had a longer barrel mounted on top of the wooden stock. The thing which really set it apart was that it had a firing mechanism. Initially this was a simple serpentine lock. This later evolved into the matchlock.  Although a small number of 16th century arquebuses made for noblemen had wheellock mechanisms, the matchlock, because of its cheapness, simplicity and relative reliability, continued to be used on most arquebuses and then muskets until the late 17th century.
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/1945/Guns/Mgonne.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/1945/Guns/Arquebus.htm
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/Nephtys/Medieval%20European%20Armour/16th%20Century/Landsknecht_arquebusier_001.01.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/Nephtys/Medieval%20European%20Armour/16th%20Century/Landsknecht_arquebusier_002.jpg

The caliver, which appears in the 2nd half of the 16th century, was virtually identical to the arquebus in term of size and power.  The difference was that people stopped calling them arquebuses and started calling them calivers and that calivers had a standard size bore, whereas arquebuses varied from one gun to another.
http://www.engerisser.de/Bewaffnung/weapons/Caliver.html
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/Nephtys/Medieval%20European%20Armour/17th%20Century/Caliverman_c_1607_01.jpg

The musket appears in the mid-16th century. It was longer and heavier than the caliver and fired a heavier shot. Because of their weight early muskets were fired from a rest, they were far more powerful and more accurate than calivers, and as a result calivers were phased out in favour of muskets in the early 17th century. In the the late 16th century Muskets and calivers were used side by side. As the 17th century progressed muskets became lighter and the rest was dispensed with. In the mid-17th century flintlock mechanisms started to replace matchlocks.
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/1945/Guns/1550M.htm
http://www.engerisser.de/Bewaffnung/weapons/Matchlockmusket.html
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/Nephtys/Medieval%20European%20Armour/17th%20Century/Musketeer_c_1607_01.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y110/Nephtys/Medieval%20European%20Armour/17th%20Century/Musketeer_c_1607_02.jpg


The name arquebus was briefly revived in the mid-17th century; the short wheellock (or flintlock) musket used by English cavalry was given the name "harquebus".

[Redcoat - Mic]

That's a lot you guys, this is really helpful stuff. Might have some difficulty actually choosing a question to do though. I found out you actually have to try and prove something, so just writing "gun A changed to gun B at such and such a date" wouldn't be allowed. Still intend to do SOMETHING to do with muskets however.

[Aqtai]

One other thing worth remembering is evolution was relatively slow and gradual. Further more the evolution of newer wepons didn't lead to older ones instantly disappearing. The older weapons were used alongside the new ones for decades sometimes.  Also the evolution varied from place. For example the Turks developed long heavy arquebuses (i.e. "muskets") quite quickly. The Turks also went straight from the matchlock to a flintlock variant (called a miquelet lock) in the late 17th century. They didn't like wheellocks at all. Similarly in India and Iran matchlocks reffred the prefered mechanism well into the 18th century.

As to when hand-held firearms came to dominate the battle field, in most of Western Europe this would have been the 1520ies or 1530ies. 

Best of luck.