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Ribauldequin

Late medieval volley gun

Late medieval volley gun

A ribauldequin, also known as a rabauld, randy, ribault, ribaudkin, infernal machine or organ gun, was a late medieval volley gun with many small-caliber iron barrels set up parallel on a platform, in use in medieval and early modern Europe during the Renaissance period. The name organ gun comes from the resemblance of the multiple barrels to a pipe organ.

When the gun was fired, multiple barrels discharged their projectiles at once, yielding a much higher rate of fire than single-barrel (typically larger-caliber) guns. Organ guns were lighter and more mobile than most previous artillery pieces, making them more suitable for engaging enemy personnel rather than fixed fortifications such as castles. As an early type of multiple-barrel firearm, the ribauldequin is sometimes considered the predecessor of the 19th century mitrailleuse.

History

The first known ribauldequin was used by the army of Edward III of England in 1339 in France during the Hundred Years' War. Edward's ribauldequins had twelve barrels which fired salvoes of twelve balls.

Juan de Lezcano mounted ribauldequins in his ships during the Spanish conquest of Mers-el-Kébir. Nine-barreled ribaults were used by Milan and other participants in the Italian Wars. King Louis XII of France is believed to have possessed an organ gun with 50 barrels, all of which fired at once. Pedro Navarro used organ guns against the French at the Battle of Ravenna, on 11 April 1512. In Eastern Europe such guns were commonplace into the 17th century.

References

References

  1. (6 December 2016). "The Ribauldequin: medieval machine gun considered as the predecessor of the 19-th century mitrailleuse". Timera Inc.
  2. (9 July 2020). "A 17th Century Organ Gun from Lviv".
  3. J. F. C. Fuller. (1987). "A Military History of the Western World: From the earliest times to the Battle of Lepanto". Da Capo Press.
  4. Ribauldequins were also used in the [[Wars of the Roses]]. During the [[Second Battle of St Albans]], [[Duchy of Burgundy. Burgundian]] soldiers under [[Yorkist]] control utilized the weapon against the [[House of Lancaster. 0-345-40433-5
  5. Fernández Duro, Cesáreo. (1895). "Armada Española, desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón, tomo I". Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval.
  6. (2018). "Machine Guns: An Illustrated History of Their Impact". ABC-CLIO.
  7. (1951). "The Machine Gun: History, Evolution, and Development of Manual, Automatic, and Airborne Repeating Weapons, Volume I". Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy.
  8. (2021). "Rethinking the "Cossack Gun": A 17th Century Organok from Lviv". Journal of the Arms & Armour Society.
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1339 medieval-artillery multiple-barrel-firearms renaissance-era-weapons
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