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Kartouwe

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A kartouwe (plural: kartouwen) is a siege gun used in European warfare during the 16th and 17th centuries.[1] The name kartouwe is of Dutch origin,[2] a corruption of Latin quartana[3] (quarter cannon).[2] In the Holy Roman Empire the gun was called Kartaune in German or cartouwe in contemporary Latin usage,[4] in the Swedish Empire Kartow,[4] spelling variants include kartouw, kartouve,[5] cartow,[2] cartaun,[2] courtaun,[2] and others.

Kartouwe exhibit in Königstein Fortress (Germany)
Half-kartouwe exhibit in Magdeburg (Germany)
The fortifications of Ostend (Fig. 1) and the parts of a kartouwe (Figs. 2 and 3) in a 1616 print
Kartouwe and accessories in a 1616 print

Characteristics

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Kartouwen were developed from bombards.[1] A kartouwe has a caliber of 8 inches (200 mm), weighs about 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg), and is designed to fire cannonballs weighing up to 52 pounds (24 kg).[6] As a minimum, twenty horses or oxen were needed to move a kartouwe.[6]

In addition to "whole" ("hele") kartouwen, there were also double,[7] half ("halve")[8] and quarter kartouwen.[4] The barrel of a whole kartouwe has a length of 18 to 19 times the caliber, weighs 300 kilograms (660 lb) to 350 kilograms (770 lb) and was transported on a special wagon by 20 to 24 horses, another four to eight horses were needed to transport the mount (lafette).[9] The barrel length of a half-kartouwe is 32 to 34 times the caliber, which ranges between 105 millimetres (4.1 in) and 115 millimetres (4.5 in).[9] Its barrel weighs 110 kilograms (240 lb) to 150 kilograms (330 lb), the whole gun 170 kilograms (370 lb) to 240 kilograms (530 lb).[9] Half-kartouwen fired cannonballs weighing between 8 pounds (3.6 kg) and 10 pounds (4.5 kg), and for the transport of its barrel, 10 to 16 horses were needed.[9]

The huge size of the cannon and the weight of its 48-pound projectiles (standard value, though real projectiles could vary from 30 to 60 pounds) made it onerous to maneuver and reload. William P. Guthrie estimates that a single kartouwe averaged only 8 to 10 shots under sustained combat conditions, half to a third as much as the more common 3 to 6 pounder field guns, though in all cases "well-drilled troops could shave these times."[10]

Use and perception

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Kartouwen were used for example in the Livonian War by the Russian[5] and Swedish forces.[7] During the Battle of Narva (1581), the besieging Swedish forces destroyed the walls of Narva, 5.5 metres (18 ft) strong, within two days using twenty-four double and half-kartouwen.[7]

Kartouwen were also the characteristic of the Thirty Years' War.[11] As such, they were featured in contemporary poems,[11] e.g. in Am liebsten bey der Liebsten by Sibylla Schwarz ("grausame Kartaune", "gruesome kartouwe") and Tränen des Vaterlandes, anno 1636 by Andreas Gryphius ("donnernde Karthaun'", "thundering kartouwe").[12][13] In his 1844 poem Die Tendenz, Heinrich Heine used kartouwen to symbolize loudness.[14]

Sources

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References

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  1. ^ a b Meyers (1907), p. 682; Brockhaus (1911), p. 943
  2. ^ a b c d e Llewellyn (1936), p. 24
  3. ^ Meyers (1907), p. 682; Brockhaus (1911), p. 943; Adelung (1796), p. 1506
  4. ^ a b c Adelung (1796), p. 1506
  5. ^ a b Peterson (2007), p.95
  6. ^ a b Kasekamp (1990); Peterson (2007), p. 95
  7. ^ a b c Kasekamp (1990)
  8. ^ Kasekamp (1990); Adelung (1796), p. 1506
  9. ^ a b c d Medick & Winnige, entry "Stück"
  10. ^ William P. Guthrie. "The Later Thirty Years War: From the Battle of Wittstock to the Treaty of Westphalia." Praeger. Feb 2003. Page 13.
  11. ^ a b Hartung (1995), p. 329
  12. ^ Deutsche Gedichte Eine Auslese (in German). Tosa Verlag. 2003. p. 15.
  13. ^ Sibylla Schwarz, Am liebsten bey der Liebsten: "So schreckt mich die Posaune / das Spiel der Schwerdter nicht / die grausame Kartaune / kompt nie mir ins Gesicht."
  14. ^ Sørensen & Arndal (2002), p. 23

Bibliography

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