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Reading material on European firearms c. 1500-1600?

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hyuzu

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I recently finished the book 'Medieval Handgonnes' by Sean McLachlan (Osprey, 2010). From a layman's perspective, I thought this book did a decent job of introducing the development of handheld firearms during that period and covered not just their historical uses but also quite a bit of the technical details on the guns themselves, all supplemented by period and modern illustrations which helped me gain a better understanding of the weapons. I'd now like to find some similar reading material that covers European handheld firearms during the 16th century. In particular I'm interested in the western European realms (England, France, Spain, Portugal) and the Italian states.

Any recommendations?
 
Hi,
"Wheellocks in the Landeszeughaus, Graz" by Robert Brooker, if you can read some German, "Der Grossen Buchsenmacher" by Heinrich Schledelmann, J. F. Hayward's "Art of the Gunmaker" Vol 1, any of the books by Arne Hoff and about the Visser collection. They may be hard to find but they are the best of which I am aware. For Spanish guns, Neal's "Spanish Guns and Pistols" and Lavin's "History of Spanish Firearms". Books and papers by Claude Blair are also very helpful. There are also publications by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that are very useful. There are some general books on firearms history by Dudley Pope, Robert Held, Harold Peterson, and Merrill Lindsay that are useful but their coverage of the 16th century is superficial.

dave
 
Hi,
For Spanish and Portuguese firearms from the 17th century - "Espingarda Perfeyta" It is an English translation of a late 17th century gunsmithing manual by 3 Portuguese brothers and published in 1713.

dave
 
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