Friday, February 13, 2015

Lost and Found: Oldest Cannonball in England Rediscovered

by Tia Ghose
Live Science

Found at the site of the Battle of Northampton, this lead ball is thought to be the oldest surviving cannonball in England.
Found at the site of the Battle of Northampton, this lead ball is thought to be the oldest surviving cannonball in England.
Credit: Northampton Battlefields Society

The oldest surviving cannonball in England has been rediscovered on a medieval battlefield.
The cannonball, which was lost for several years, was likely used in the Battle of Northampton in 1460, one of the battles in the decades-long Wars of the Roses. The giant ball has two large dents from a few bounces, as well as a gouge mark that contains fragments of sand from the area.
Most historians believe the cannon was first developed in China, and was used in war throughout the Middle East before making its way to Europe. The first English illustration of a cannon dates to 1327, and the "crakys of war," as cannonballs were called. Thought to be a gunpowder-based weapon, the cannon was first mentioned that same year in accounts of the Battle of Stanhope Park, one of the battles in the First War of Scottish Independence, according to the "Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology" (Oxford University Press, 2010). [10 Epic Battles That Changed History]

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