The Harquebus:
A heavy portable matchlock gun invented during the 15th century. It
was a handgun which weight was around 6 to 7 kg for a dimension of 0.9
- 1 meter. To ignite the powder and shot, the main method was the
matchlock system. This weapon had a maximum range of 100 meter but the
effective range was closer to 15 - 25 m. A study made in Austria in
1988 had shown that after 30 m the weapon was useless. Another
limitation of the weapon was the rate of fire, normally a good gunman
would fire 3 bullets/min. Also due to poor metal casting the tube had
the tendency to overheat after 4 shots.
Figure 3.2 The Harquebusier
The harquebusier had a harquebus as offensive weapon and a sword. To
protect himself he generally had a helmet and a buff coat. The rest of
his equipment was a bandolier with 12 ready made doses of black
powder, a bag full of bullets and matches, a flask containing a
reserve of 0.58 kg of black powder and a small flask with thin black
powder.
http://www.geocities.com/ao1617/weapon.html#harquebusiers
In field battles the classical tactical formation of the Ottomans was
the crescent, with the provincial cavalry on the wings; the sultan
(when present) in the center, protected by his guard and the
janissaries armed with the harquebus or musket; and the other units of
the standing army to left and right. In front of the janissaries stood
the cannon, and in front of all, mounted. Despite developments in army
structure and weaponry, contemporary European accounts indicate that
little change occurred in Ottoman tactical formation over the
centuries.
The term Janissarie, in Turkish, yeniçeri means new troops, indicating
exactly what they were in the beginning: An alternative to the old
regular army.The Janissaries became famous for their military skills,
but also because they were staffed by youths conscripted from
Christian families in the Balkans. After the conscription they were
defined as the property of the sultan, and practically all of them
converted to islam.
This link shows costumes of soldiers, commander and officer:
http://i-cias.com/e.o/janissaries.htm
Again, I am not an official google researcher, but I enjoyed
researching this for you and I hope you find some of this information
useful. Check google pricing if you want an official researcher as $2
is a bit low.
Bobbie |
