ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the ways in which the history of artillery has not been linear and the ways that the imposition of modern, rational thought, has led to a situation in the study of early artillery which can only be described as a curate's egg - good in parts. Among collections of artillery around the world there exist a large number of small wrought-iron breech-loading swivel guns. Swivel guns are small and later evidence suggests that they fired a form of grape shot, both of which confirm that they were made for short-range anti-personnel use. The first of the two pieces preserved in Nuremberg is 279 cm from base ring to muzzle with a bore of 7.5 cm. It is 12-sided and bears the date 1500. Unlike the Neuchatel pieces, the cascable of this piece consists of a flat casting pierced by a long slot and a hole.
