A kartouwe (plural: ''kartouwen'') is a

siege gun Siege artillery (also siege guns or siege cannons) are heavy guns designed to bombard fortifications, cities, and other fixed targets. They are distinct from field artillery and are a class of siege weapon capable of firing heavy cannonballs o ...

used in European warfare during the 16th and 17th centuries.Meyers (1907), p. 682; Brockhaus (1911), p. 943 The name ''kartouwe'' is of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

origin, a corruption of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

''quartana''Meyers (1907), p. 682; Brockhaus (1911), p. 943; Adelung (1796), p. 1506 (quarter cannon).Llewellyn (1936), p. 24 In the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...

the gun was called Kartaune in German or cartouwe in contemporary Latin usage,Adelung (1796), p. 1506 in the

Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire was a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic region during the 17th and early 18th centuries ( sv, Stormaktstiden, "the Era of Great Power"). The beginning of the empire is usually ta ...

Kartow, spelling variants include kartouw, kartouve,Peterson (2007), p.95 cartow, cartaun, courtaun, and others.

Characteristics

Kartouwen were developed from bombards. A kartouwe has a

caliber In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore matc ...

of , weighs about , and is designed to fire cannonballs weighing up to .Kasekamp (1990); Peterson (2007), p. 95 As a minimum, twenty horses or oxen were needed to move a kartouwe. In addition to "whole" ("''hele''") kartouwen, there were also double,Kasekamp (1990) half ("''halve''")Kasekamp (1990); Adelung (1796), p. 1506 and quarter kartouwen. The barrel of a whole kartouwe has a length of 18 to 19 times the caliber, weighs to and was transported on a special wagon by 20 to 24 horses, another four to eight horses were needed to transport the mount (''lafette'').Medick & Winnige, entry "Stück" The barrel length of a half-kartouwe is 32 to 34 times the caliber, which ranges between and . Its barrel weighs to , the whole gun to . Half-kartouwen fired cannonballs weighing between and , and for the transport of its barrel, 10 to 16 horses were needed. 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."

Use and perception

Kartouwen were used for example in the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) was the Russian invasion of Old Livonia, and the prolonged series of military conflicts that followed, in which Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia (Muscovy) unsuccessfully fought for control of the region (pr ...

by the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

forces. During the Battle of Narva (1581), the besieging Swedish forces destroyed the walls of

Narva Narva, russian: Нарва is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in Ida-Viru county, at the eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva river which forms the Estonia–Russia international border. With 5 ...

, strong, within two days using twenty-four double and half-kartouwen. Kartouwen were also the characteristic of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

.Hartung (1995), p. 329 As such, they were featured in contemporary poems, e.g. in ''Am liebsten bey der Liebsten'' by

Sibylla Schwarz Sibylla Schwarz, also known as Sibylle Schwartz (14/24 February 1621 in Greifswald – 31 July/10 August 1638 in Greifswald) was a German poet of the Baroque era. Life Sibylla Schwarz was the daughter of Christian Schwarz (1581-1648), mayor of ...

("''grausame Kartaune''", "gruesome kartouwe"). In his 1844 poem ''Die Tendenz'',

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

Characteristics

Use and perception

Sources

References

Bibliography