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.).