[Matchlock]

Hi there,


Attached please find some images of the powder horns and brass-cast ball molds found on the wreck of the Bom Jesus; sadly, I had to zoom them up from stamp-sized images printed in the book.

They are characteristic of the Italian taste of the 1520's to 1530's, readily copied by Nuremberg manufacturers by ca. 1525-30.
From ca. 1530, powder horns started getting replaced by trapezoid flasks.
Horns were re-enlivened from ca. 1580 through ca. 1650. They just got flattened, and a hook was added for attaching the flask to the leather frog of the caliverman they were reserved for.
The musketeer, in contrast, was equipped with two trapezoid powder flasks: a larger one for the barrel powder and a small priming flask. Alternatively, he carried just the bandelier, either together with a small trapezoid priming flask, or one of the tube-like powder containers on the bandelier was reserved for priming; in the latter case, its top had a nozzle.

The text of the book states that the horns were of unusually high quality, and therefore cannot not have been part of the equipment of the common mercenary/Landsknecht arquebusier.
Three contemporary sources of illustration of ca. 1525 -1533 re-attached prove the contrary.
It is commonly known that most mercenaries could afford to wear costumes reflecting the topic taste of style, and of high quality; the same is true for their 'high-tech' equipment.

For closest comparison to horns and earliest flasks, please refer to my threads:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...tle+pavia+1525
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ia+heller+1525
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ia+heller+1525
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ia+heller+1525


For more on earliest ball molds etc., please see my threads:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...t=bullet+molds
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ia+heller+1525


Best,
Michael Trömner