How a Firework Became a Fire Lance for the Emperor

The painting depicts the Battle of Pavia, which took place on February 24, 1525. The author of this painting is the contemporary Spanish battle artist Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau.

On February 24, 1525, near the Italian city of Pavia, a thirty-thousand-strong French army launched a familiar cavalry charge. Knights in full armor hoped to crush the enemy's position just as their grandfathers and great-grandfathers had done. A few hours later, the king Francis I was captured, and thousands of knights lay on the ground. They were killed weapon, which, some five centuries earlier, had entertained the Chinese imperial court at festivals.

Saltpeter, coal, sulfur and random noise

Gunpowder appeared in China around the 9th century. Some sources date the first descriptions of the mixture to an earlier time, but documented use dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Alchemists were searching for the elixir of immortality, mixing everything they could find, and eventually produced a mixture that made a loud popping sound and burned brightly.

The recipe turned out to be deceptively simple: nitre as an oxidizing agent, charcoal as fuel, sulfur as an additive that increases combustion rate. The entire chemistry is covered in a single paragraph from a textbook, but arriving at the working ratio of components required decades of experimentation.

For the first centuries, gunpowder found a career in entertainment. During the Song Dynasty (960–1279), gunpowder fireworks became a part of court celebrations. The substance, which would eventually change the structure of states, initially served to explode spectacularly in the sky above the imperial palace.

Fire lance and tubes that exploded

In the 10th century, Chinese military engineers wondered if this roaring sound could be put to more practical use. The solution was captivatingly simple: an iron tube attached to a wooden shaft. Gunpowder and metal filings were poured inside, acting as projectiles. The fuse was lit, and the gunpowder ejected the powder toward the enemy.

The weapon was named huo qiang (火槍) — "fire lance." It appears in military sources around the year 1000. Essentially, it's a hand-held firecracker with a fragmentation effect, the ancestor of both the shotgun and the flare gun.

At the same time, they were developing something larger. By the 12th and 13th centuries, the Chinese had developed the first metal gunpowder cannons, which they used to defend city walls. There was one engineering problem, and it was serious: the barrels regularly exploded when fired. The crew was more likely to be killed by their own cannon than by the enemy's shell. But even such a problem artillery turned out to be more dangerous for the attackers than the usual battering rams and catapults.

How gunpowder reached Europe

Then began a slow journey along the Silk Road. First, the technology reached Central Asia, then the Muslim world. By the 13th century, Arab and Turkish armies were already using gunpowder artillery. An Arab military writer Hasan ar-Rammah Around 1280, he described the design of gunpowder compositions and incendiary projectiles in a treatise Kitab al-furusiya wa 'manazil al-harbiya — "The Book of Equestrian Art and Military Tricks."

Europe learned about gunpowder through Byzantium and the Islamic world. The first mentions of cannons in European sources date back to the 14th century. Initially, local craftsmen copied other designs and only eventually began to develop their own.

Why did it take so long? Because gunpowder weapons require infrastructure. You need metal, lots of it, blacksmiths who can work with thick-walled pipes, and a sustainable production of gunpowder—which requires finding and processing saltpeter, coal, and sulfur on an industrial scale. A brilliant idea alone is not enough for mass adoption.

The Hundred Years' War as a testing ground

The first significant combat use of gunpowder in Europe occurred in Hundred Years' War (1337–1453). The conflict between England and France lasted for four generations and proved a convenient test bed—not least because it was fought long, stubbornly, and with money on both sides.

At the Battle of Crescy (1346) The English used several small cannons, the ribald, in a field battle for the first time. The damage they caused was mostly psychological: horses were frightened by the noise, and their formations broke. But the precedent was set. A year later, during the siege Calais The British were already carrying dozens of guns with them. By the end of the war, at the Battle of Castiglione (1453), French artillery under the command of the Bureau brothers methodically decimated the English infantry from their fortified positions, ending a century-long conflict. Between Crécy and Castillon lies the precise path that gunpowder took in Europe: from a noisy addition to the bow to a decisive arm of the military.

Scene from the Battle of Crecy (1346), one of the key battles of the Hundred Years' War

At the same time, the infantry was changing. The key hand weapon gradually became arquebusThe barrel caliber was approximately 15-17 mm, the bullet weighed 20-30 g, and the matchlock was used. Reloading took a minute or more—an eternity in combat time—and the shooter remained defenseless the entire time.

The solution was found in linear tacticsOne line of arquebusiers would fire a volley and retreat, while the second line would advance and fire. It was a conveyor belt of volley fire. Individual rates of fire remained pitiful, but fire poured across the enemy's front almost without pause.

The second half of the solution is pikemenInfantrymen with long pikes covered the riflemen while they fiddled with the ramrod and matchlock. When the surviving attackers reached close range, a forest of spears emerged. The system only worked under strict discipline: the riflemen were supposed to calmly retreat behind the pikemen on command from an officer, without turning the maneuver into a panicked rout.

Pavia, 1525

The decisive test occurred at the Battle of Pavia on February 24, 1525, at the height of the Italian Wars between the Habsburgs and France. The French army, numbering approximately 30,000 men, was encamped near the city in northern Italy. Imperial troops under the command of Fernando d'Avalos, Marquis of Pescara - Spanish tercios and German landsknechts, subordinate to the emperor Charles V, - were inferior in numbers, but were equipped with modern firearms.

The backbone of the French army was the heavy cavalry—elite knights on heavy horses, clad in full plate armor. The commanders relied on a familiar pattern: a massive lance charge, a breakthrough, and a slashing attack. The Imperials took up a position behind a small stream and deployed their arquebusiers and pikemen in battle formation.

The Battle of Pavia, which took place on February 24, 1525

The attack collapsed after the first volley. Eyewitnesses describe how wave after wave of French knights fell under fire. Those who finally reached the imperial line found themselves smashed against their pikes. By the end of the day, the French army had ceased to exist as an organized force: King Francis I was captured, and thousands of knights remained on the field.

Contemporaries spoke bluntly of this battle: steel armor, once considered an impenetrable shield, turned into thin cardboard under a rifle bullet. An arquebus bullet pierced cuirasses that had taken family armorers months to craft.

Why the musket came after the arquebus

The arquebus had its engineering limitations. Its penetrating power wasn't always sufficient against high-quality knightly armor, especially at long range. The designers' response was straightforward: make the weapon larger and heavier.

So appeared musketThe barrel is longer, with a caliber of about 20–22 mm versus the arquebus's 15–17 mm. The bullet is almost twice as heavy—50–55 g versus 20–30 g. The shooter receives a noticeably greater impulse and more confident armor penetration.

The price was weight and complexity. A musket required a larger propellant charge, a more robust barrel, and, in early models, a bipod for support while firing. Roughly speaking, this was comparable to the transition from a lightweight hunting carbine to a rifle chambered for a powerful cartridge.

Equipment and weapons of infantrymen of the late 16th century: an English musketeer (left) and a Spanish arquebusier (right)

For several decades, the arquebus and musket coexisted in European armies. As gunpowder production became cheaper and metallurgy became more reliable, troops switched to the musket. By the end of the 16th century, it had effectively replaced the arquebus as the primary infantry weapon in most European armies.

What has changed is in the state, not on the battlefield

The main consequences of the Gunpowder Revolution were not military, but social. A knight learned his craft from childhood: horsemanship, swordsmanship, lance, and coordination in formation—all of this required years of training. Knightly cavalry was expensive and rare.

A recruit armed with an arquebus or musket could be ready for battle in a matter of weeks. This transformed the entire economics of war. A state capable of producing barrels and gunpowder in large quantities gained the ability to quickly deploy a large infantry force—and prevailed over an enemy that relied on the old military aristocracy.

This is what grew out of this centralizationOnly a major player with a tax system could maintain a factory, purchase saltpeter, and supply the army with wagon trains and gunpowder. A small feudal lord with his retinue was left out of the game. Gunpowder weapons served the absolutist state no less effectively than on the battlefield.

Geopolitically, countries with developed metallurgy and resource bases emerged victorious. Spain, France, England, and the Netherlands quickly increased firearms production and soon extended this advantage beyond Europe, establishing colonial empires in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

Those who received gunpowder earlier

It's worth pausing here and asking an uncomfortable question. If gunpowder so confidently reshapes society, why didn't it reshape it where it first appeared?

China of the era Min (1368–1644) used gunpowder weapons long before Pavia—the Ming armies had cannons, hand-held squeaks, and combat missilesBut this didn't fundamentally change the empire's social structure. The state was already centralized, a European-style military aristocracy was absent, and the main threats came from the steppe nomads, against whom a cannon on the wall worked, but a field army with matchlocks didn't. Gunpowder integrated into the existing system, rather than disrupting it.

Ottoman Empire took a different path. Turkish artillery in the 15th and 16th centuries was among the best in the world: the enormous bombards that battered the walls of Constantinople in 1453 were the engineering pinnacle of their time. The Janissary corps, armed with firearms, arose before the Spanish tercios. But the Ottomans used gunpowder to strengthen the existing state apparatus, not to restructure it. When European military thought advanced in the 17th century—linear tactics, light field artillery, a regular army with a unified training system—Istanbul fell behind because its institutions were shaped for a different model of warfare.

It turns out that gunpowder alone isn't the engine. The engine is the combination of weapons, metallurgy, the tax system, and competition with neighbors who keep the wheels turning. In 15th- and 16th-century Europe, this combination developed because dozens of states were constantly at war with each other, each forced to constantly renew its army. China and the Ottoman Empire operated under a different geopolitical logic—and achieved a completely different result from the same gunpowder.

What remains of that revolution

The journey from the Chinese fire lance around the year 1000 to the volley of imperial arquebusiers at Pavia in 1525 took approximately five centuries. This is not story A rapid technological breakthrough, but a history of the slow adaptation of chemistry, metallurgy, tactics, and government. Each link slowed down the others.

Pavia became a symbolic point, not the end of the process. Pikemen and riflemen continued to serve side by side for another century and a half, tactics were adapted to new locks and calibers, and the bayonet had yet to be invented. But the direction of development was finally determined: the future of warfare belonged to the infantryman with a tube of gunpowder.

A curious paradox: all this grew out of the alchemists’ desire to obtain the elixir of immortality and decorate the emperor’s holiday.

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Comments

[Xenon]

The enormous bombards that shattered the walls of Constantinople in 1453 were the engineering pinnacle of their time.

These cannons were made by a Hungarian master. The Ottomans have no credit for this, except for the involvement of this Hungarian in the work on the cannons.

[RVAPatriot]

However, when the Ottomans conquered Hungary, the legacy of the Hungarian master left its mark... and not only in Hungary...

[Sensor]

Some quotes from the book
Kelly J. Gunpowder. From Alchemy to Artillery: The Story of the Substance That Changed the World / Jack Kelly; trans. from English by A. Turov. - Moscow: KoLibri, 2005. - 340 p. - (Things in themselves).
https://libcats.org/book/557158

In the 40s, the Japanese feudal lord Tokitaka saw a visiting Portuguese shoot a duck out of the sky with an arquebus. Tokitaka was so impressed that he was willing to spend a small fortune in gold to obtain the weapon. He ordered the skilled artisan who forged his swords to copy the weapon. Gunpowder found fertile soil in Japan. Craftsmen, encouraged by the constant warfare between feudal lords, continually perfected handguns. They equipped them with an adjustable trigger and a lacquered case that protected the pan and powder from rain. By the 70s, such guns had become an important part of Japanese arsenals. Lord Oda had ten thousand arquebusiers in his service, all skilled in firing volleys.

And yet, with the beginning of the 17th century, the Japanese began to abandon firearms. The government ordered artisans to sell their gunpowder and rifle workshops to the state. Instead of improving
When firearms were introduced, the shoguns stifled their development. Over the next two centuries, gunpowder use in Japan declined until it virtually disappeared.


On the other hand, gunpowder introduced an element of mechanization into battle. It was no longer fury that was valued in a soldier, but composure. Ferocity was an unnecessary quality for a man engaged in the complex business of firing cannons or rifles. Gun crews increasingly resembled warriors. After all, it was the cannon that led the battle—gunners were merely its attendants.
Gunpowder made war prohibitively expensive. It wasn't cheap either. According to some estimates, a cannon shot in the 16th century cost five thalers—a sum
equal to the monthly salary of an infantryman. And the guns themselves
They were downright ruinous for public welfare. They were cast from expensive metal by highly paid specialists, and transporting the guns to the battlefield required an unprecedented number of draft animals. The artillery train of the Spanish army fighting in the Netherlands in 1554 included fifty cannons and five thousand horses.

[Edward Vashchenko]

In the mid-13th century, the Song Dynasty acquired its first "gun":

“They made a pipe from thick bamboo, put paper cartridges with bullets inside, set it on fire and placed the pipe on the ground. When the flame disappeared in the pipe, the bullets flew out, the noise could be heard more than 150 steps away.”

But this does not mean that it “traveled” along the Great Silk Road and “arrived” in Europe.
Without the development of such a level of metallurgy, which in the period from the 14th century onwards was only found in Europe, no arcubus would have been possible.
In both Turkey and Rus', the best gunsmiths were from Europe. Constantinople was captured in 1453 thanks to a Serbian engineer.
As for the arquebus and its subsequent evolution, its production required planed steel, and to produce muskets in Tula, for example, it was purchased from Europe until the early 18th century. Such technology did not exist in Russia.

[Kote Pan Kokhanka]

Hi Edward!
Something else struck me.

Pikemen and riflemen continued to serve together for another century and a half, tactics were rebuilt to accommodate new locks and calibers, and the bayonet had yet to be invented.

Even earlier, a baguette appeared, which was inserted into the barrel of a musket or fusee.
On the issue of Europeans in the service of the Russian tsars.
For example, the famous gunsmith and foundry master Chokhov, who before the revolution wrote as Chekhov.
Well, we also began using planed steel (Swedish iron) during the reign of Peter's brother, Feodor. The first gun's fusees (barrels) were butt-welded, not overlapped. True, the British were already experimenting with drilling blanks for barrels towards the end of Peter's reign.
Have a nice day everyone! Thanks to the author!

[Luminman]

If gunpowder so confidently reshapes society, why didn’t it reshape it where it first appeared?

Because in the mobile wars against nomads that China waged, precision weapons were not all that useful - they were difficult to transport and there were few stationary and large targets for them.

But in Europe, where wars have been waged continuously throughout its history, with its multitude of castles and fortresses, there was, on the contrary, a pressing need to think about how to produce higher-quality gunpowder to breach fortress walls. And since Chinese fortifications were typically thicker and wider at the base than European castle walls, the Chinese didn't bother with this.

[Fat]

The arquebus gradually became the key hand weapon. Its barrel caliber was approximately 15–17 mm, its bullet weighing 20–30 g, and its matchlock. Reloading took a minute or more—an eternity in combat—and the shooter remained defenseless during this time.
.

The arquebus "emerged" as a fortress weapon to complement the crossbow. To assume that our forefathers used the tactics described by the author is to dismiss them as foolish. No one sent marksmen into the open field against mounted knights. Arquebuses were used alongside crossbows, using cover—shields, pavises, and wagenbourgs. An example is the "black army" of Matthias Hunyadi (Korovin, 1443-1490), which employed roughly equal numbers of crossbowmen and arquebusiers as marksmen.

[Senior seaman]

The solution was found in linear tactics.

Linear tactics emerged much later, during the Thirty Years' War. Moreover, at the initial stage of the Battle of White Mountain, the Protestant infantry, lined up in line, was soundly defeated by Bucquoy's tercios.
The Spanish infantry was apparently organized with an eye on Swiss battles, although its composition and tactics could differ quite significantly at different times.

[sivuch]

Only the Swiss abandoned firearms, while the Dons, beginning with Gonzalo de Cordoba, constantly increased the percentage of arquebusiers.
In general, the author simplified everything to the point of complete primitiveness.

[BAI]

The article's geography covers the entire world except Russia. As if firearms didn't exist in Rus' during the period described.
It's debatable whether it happened in 1376 or 1382, but it happened before. And it didn't seem to have any impact on the state.

[sivuch]

I wonder if the author has heard anything about the Battle of Cerignola in 1503?
Actually, the Great Captain deserved to be remembered for a long time.

[bk0010]

But even such artillery turned out to be more dangerous for the attackers than the usual battering rams and catapults.

Battering rams aren't very dangerous for attackers. For those under siege, perhaps?

The knight learned his craft from childhood: horse riding, sword, spear, coordination in formation

Coordination in formation isn't a knight's business, fundamentally. This isn't cavalry, but cavalry. Ordinance companies, gendarmes, and so on.

[balabol]

Typically, studies of the origins of firearms focus primarily on metallurgy—the production and processing of metal for weapons. Meanwhile, gunpowder production was no less dramatic. Below is a small selection of materials on the production of saltpeter. It's simply one component. This doesn't include the subsequent process of making gunpowder itself, which has many unique aspects.
In the Middle Ages, saltpeter (potassium nitrate, potassium nitrate, KNO₃) was a key component of gunpowder (composition: ~75% saltpeter, ~15% coal, ~10% sulfur). The primary method for obtaining it was extraction from manure and other organic waste, where nitrogen-containing compounds were oxidized to nitrates by microorganisms.

 Method for obtaining saltpeter from manure
1. Collection of raw materials
* Sources of nitrogen-containing raw materials:
* Manure (horse, cow, pigeon - the latter was considered especially rich in nitrates).
* Urine (human and animal).
* Plant residues (rotting leaves, straw).
* Livestock premises (floors in stables, chicken coops).
* Old walls and soil (in places where organic matter accumulates, for example, in basements or barns).
2. Formation of "saltpeter heaps" (nitraria)
* Mixing:
* Manure was mixed with lime (CaO) or ash (to neutralize acidity and accelerate decomposition).
* Wood ash (a source of potash, K₂CO₃, was added to enrich it with potassium).
* Urine was sometimes added to increase the nitrogen content.
* Stacking in piles:
* The mixture was piled in high heaps (1–2 metres) on a drained surface (e.g. on a layer of straw or stones).
* The piles were regularly watered with water or urine to maintain moisture and activate microorganisms.
* Stirred every few weeks to allow oxygen to enter.
3. Fermentation and nitrification
* Microbial process:
* Bacteria (e.g. Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter) oxidized ammonia (NH₃) from decomposing manure to nitrites (NO₂⁻) and then to nitrates (NO₃⁻).
* Time: The process took from several months to 1–2 years (depending on the climate and composition of the mixture).
4. Nitrate leaching
* Water rinsing:
* The finished pile was watered with hot water (for better dissolution of nitrates).
* The flowing solution (saltpeter lye) was collected in wooden or clay containers.
* Filtration: The liquid was strained through cloth or sand to remove solid particles.
5. Crystallization of saltpeter
* Evaporation:
* The solution was evaporated in wide vats over low heat (to avoid decomposition of nitrates).
* When the solution cooled, potassium nitrate (KNO₃) crystals precipitated and were separated from the impurities.
* Cleaning:
* To increase purity, saltpeter was recrystallized (dissolved in hot water and cooled again).
* Wood ash was sometimes used to precipitate calcium and magnesium impurities.
6. Quality control
* Appearance: Pure saltpeter is white or transparent crystals.
* Fire test: When heated, pure saltpeter melted without residue and supported the combustion of coal (test for impurities).
Problems and limitations of the method
1. Low output:
* From 1 ton of manure we obtained only 5–15 kg of saltpeter (efficiency ~1–2%).
2. Contamination by impurities:
* Saltpeter often contained chlorides (NaCl, KCl) and sulfates, which degraded the quality of gunpowder.
3. Duration of the process:
* It required a lot of time and labor (especially for evaporation).
4. Climate dependence:
* In humid climates (such as Northern Europe), piles often became moldy, while in dry climates (such as the Middle East), the process was faster.
Alternative sources of saltpeter
1. Natural deposits:
* In India (Bengal) and Chile, natural saltpeter was mined (Indian saltpeter - KNO₃, Chilean - NaNO₃, required processing).
* In Europe, such deposits were rare.
2. Saltpeter caves:
* In China and South America, saltpeter was collected from the walls of caves where it formed from bat excrement (guano).

* Europe (14th–17th centuries):
* Saltpeter workshops (nitraria) were widespread in Germany, France, and Italy.
* In England, saltpeter production was controlled by the crown (for example, under Henry VIII).
* China and the Middle East:
* The technology for producing saltpeter has been known since the 9th century (described in treatises on alchemy).
* Al-Biruni (11th century) and Jabir ibn Hayyan (8th century) mentioned methods for purifying saltpeter.
The medieval method of extracting saltpeter from manure was labor-intensive, but the only one available in Europe until the discovery of Chilean deposits in the 19th century. It involved:
1. Collection of manure and organic matter.
2. Formation of nitraria with the addition of lime and ash.
3. Microbial nitrification (months/years).
4. Leaching and crystallization.
5. Purification by recrystallization.
This process became the basis for the development of the gunpowder industry and influenced the military history of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Several historical sources with examples of recipes and descriptions of obtaining saltpeter from manure
 2. Albertus Magnus (13th century)
Treatise: "De Alchemia" ("On Alchemy"). Example (translated from Latin):
"Take horse manure, mix it with beech ash and slaked lime, pile it up and pour urine over it every day for forty days. Then collect the salt that comes out, dissolve it in boiling water and let it cool. The white crystals that settle are saltpeter, suitable for gunpowder."
Explanation:
* Beech ash is a source of potash (K₂CO₃), enriching the mixture with potassium.
* "Leached salt" - nitrates washed out by rain or irrigation (natural leaching).
3. Bernhard of Trevisanus (15th century)
Treatise: "De Alchemia" (attributed, but authorship is disputed). Example (translated from Latin):
"Saltpeter is born from decay, and the best is from pigeon droppings. Mix it with grapevine ashes and place it in a stone-lined pit to prevent the sap from seeping into the ground. After a year, collect the salt water that runs off and boil it in a copper cauldron until dry. What remains is pure saltpeter, if God blesses your labor."
Details:
* Pigeon droppings are richer in nitrates than cow manure (due to rapid decomposition).
* Grape ash - contained little phosphorus, which reduced contamination of the gunpowder.
4. Biruni (Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, 11th century)
Treatise: "The Book of Valuable Information on Mineralogy" ("Kitab al-Jamahir fi Ma'rifat al-Jawahir"). Example (translated from Arabic):
"Nitre [saltpeter] is obtained from soil where manure has lain for a long time, especially in places where camels graze. It is also found in the walls of barns if the top layer is scraped off. In India, it is collected from the surface of lakes after the water has evaporated. To purify it, it is dissolved in water and filtered through a cloth, then evaporated in the sun."
Key points:
* Mention of Indian saltpeter (natural deposits).
* Solar evaporation is an alternative to fire evaporation (saving firewood).
5. "Feuerwerkbuch" (Book of Firearms Art, 1420–1430, Germany)
An anonymous treatise is one of the first European manuals on gunpowder. Example (translated from medieval German):
"If you want to make good gunpowder, find saltpeter. Look for it in old stables with earthen floors. Collect the earth, mix it with ash and water, and strain it through a sack. Evaporate the water in an iron cauldron until white crystals appear. If they taste bitter and hiss in the fire, it's real saltpeter."
Practical tip:
* Taste test - potassium nitrates have a characteristic cooling taste.
* Hissing in the fire is a sign of purity (chloride impurities produce a yellow flame).
6. George Agricola (16th century)
Treatise: "De Natura Fossilium" ("On the Nature of Fossils"). Example (translated from Latin):
"Saltpeter is formed from decomposed animal excrement mixed with limestone earth. In Bohemia, it is obtained from caves where flying droppings accumulate, and in Italy, from the walls of barns. It is purified by repeated dissolution and crystallization, since impurities spoil gunpowder."
Common features in historical recipes
Stage Description in sources
Raw materials: Horse/pigeon manure, urine, ash (beech, grape), lime.
Fermentation The heaps were "aged" for 40 days to 2 years, watered with urine or rainwater.
Leaching Collection of "salt water" (nitrate solution) through drainage or hand washing.
Crystallization Evaporation in the sun or fire, often with repeated purification.
Testing Taste (bitter-salty), reaction in fire (clean flame), solubility in water.

[Dmitry_Kuk]

Balabol, you wrote a comment on an entire article.

[balabol]

Dima, I don't see the point in wasting my time on meaningless and emotional posts. I have a lot of different materials on the topics that interest me. Writing articles (I've written and posted several) takes too much time. This way, I can quickly compile information on a specific issue, not all at once, by the end of the day, for calm and balanced readers. It's simple, but it might be useful to someone.

[shtatsov]

An interesting look at history and technology. I applaud it.