The birth of artillery Sir, Professor Michael Jones is correct in his assertion that Richard III should not have been surprised by the appearance of cannon at the Battle of Bosworth (“Artillery is older than Bosworth” , letter, Nov 3) but preceding Lancastrian kings were equally indifferent to the potential of field artillery on the battlefield. While the European armies were killing each other with black-powder as early as 1408, the first English soldier to die by such means fell at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Famous for the total supremacy of the English archers over a numerically superior French force, the battle was nearing its end with D’Albert’s troops fleeing in disarray when a “parting shot” from a French artillery piece accounted for a single member of Henry’s army.

At the Battles of Towton, Bosworth and Flodden, almost all of the casualties fell to the longbow, but by the time of the Spanish Armada (1588) the longbow had been replaced by the firearm. It only took 173 years for the potential to be recognised — a truly British trait.

Timothy Marsh
Minehead, Somerset

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