Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of"

as we possess, that the chief and almost the only use of guns at this time was to batter the walls of fortifications, and it is not until later in the 15th century that their employment in the field became general (see also CAVALRY). The introduction of field artillery may be attributed to John Zizka, and it was in his Hussite wars (1419-1424) that the _Wagenburg_, a term of more general application, but taken here as denoting a cart or vehicle armed with several small guns, came into prominence. This device allowed a relatively high manoeuvring power to be attained, and it is found occasionally in European wars two centuries later, as for instance at Wimpfen in 1622 and Cropredy Bridge in 1644. In an act of attainder passed by the Lancastrian party against the Yorkists (1459), it is stated that the latter were "traiterously ranged in bataill ... their cartes with gonnes set before their batailles" (Rot. Parl. 38 Henry VI., v. 348). In the London fighting of 1460, small guns were used to clear the streets, heavy ordnance to batter the walls of the Tower. The battle of Lose Coat Field (1469) was decided almost entirely by Edward IV.'s field guns, while at Blackheath (1497) "some cornets of horse, and bandes of foot, and good store of artillery wheeling about" were sent to "put themselves beyond" the rebel camp (Bacon, _Henry VII._). The greatest example of artillery work in the 15th century was the siege of Constantinople in 1453, at which the Turks used a large force of artillery, and in particular some monster pieces, some of which survived to engage a British squadron in 1807, when a stone shot weighing some 700 lb. cut the mainmast of Admiral (Sir) J.T. Duckworth's flagship in two, and another killed and wounded sixty men. For siege purposes the new weapon was indeed highly effective, and the castles of rebellious barons were easily knocked to pieces by the prince who owned, or succeeded in borrowing, a few pieces of ordnance (cf. Carlyle, _Frederick the Great_, book iii. chap. i.).