Fork supported muskets at Pavia

I recently made a post on “The Italian Wars War Wargaming” Facebook page about fork supported muskets at Pavia. Everyone was very polite, but various people suggested that muskets were not around in 1525. Various dates were suggested for the introduction of muskets including 1540s, 1550s and 1560s.

Not one to be deterred by the collective hive mind of the wargaming community, (especially after having discovered that the collective narrative for the Battle of Novara was completely wrong) I set out in search of more information.

1) Taylor – The Art of War in Italy.

My first reference is a favorite for War-gamers, Taylor – The Art of War in Italy, 1494-1529.

Page 50-51 “..from 1516 to 1521 the Spanish army added to the military value of the infantry firearm not only by adopting the new invention of the musket, but also studying carefully its tactical employment..  When the war began again the ascendancy of the Spanish arquebusiers and musketeers over the other nations soon became very marked ”.

This section seems to imply muskets being different to arquebuses.

Page 46.  “… the Spaniards brought into the field a larger and improved firearm which came to be called the musket.  It was six feet long and fired balls weighing two ounces.  Its weight necessitated the use of a forked rest., but its unwieldiness was compensated by its great killing power – its ability to bring down two cavalry men with one shot.  For a time this new weapon was classed as an arquebus, and it is therefore difficult to trace its rate of increase.  Occasionally it is referred to as a part of the artillery owing to it being transported by horses on the march”.

The references of these statements are the Memoirs of Du Bellay. Bk II page 189 

Rustow, Geschichte der Infanterie Vol 1 Bk III pg 221-5

Nardi, Isolerei della città di Firenze Bk V Chapter 35

I don’t have access to the primary sources used by Taylor. I am referencing them so that others can seek them out.

2) Jean Giorno, The Battle of Pavia

My second reference is Jean Giono, The Battle of Pavia, 24th February 1525. The reference comes from page 154 where he talks about the French Gendarmes.

“Now they are at grips with seven or eight thousand light fusiliers wheeling in among them from left and right, shooting at point blank range; they are also under fire from “forked arquebuses”, (the machine guns of those days), that have been set up in the second wood” .

There are some areas of the account of the Battle by Jean Giorno that I am skeptical about. However, his account of the Battle is one of the most complete that I have seen. He also uses a wide array of primary sources which he discusses in some detail. I am therefore inclined to believe his discussion about arquebuses and “forked arquebuses”. His account clearly differentiates the two weapons.

3) Paulo Giovio

I have seen some accounts on the internet about Paulo Giovio discussing the Spanish Infantry using a new kind of firearm at Pavia in 1525. It is reported that the new firearm was heavier than the arquebus and could sometimes kill two French men at arms with a single bullet. I do not have this text. I only reference it in case others wish to explore it in more detail.

What do we know about fork supported muskets at Pavia?

We see a couple of credible references to a firearm that is heavier and different to a standard arquebus being employed at Pavia. Both of these references discuss a fork to support the weapon. Taylor also discusses the ability of this weapon to cut down French Gendarmes despite their armor, and even go through two cavalry men. There is also reference to the weapon being six feet long.

Now to support the conclusion that there were forked muskets at Pavia, I would like some additional evidence. Ideally I would like some art pieces displaying the battle to show the forked musket being used. To date I have not found it displayed in any of the tapestries, wood cuts or paintings that I have looked at.

In the absence of the display of a fork supported musket at Pavia in the artwork, I turned to looking for an example of such a musket in a museum.

NRA firearm museum.

The NRA firearm museum has in it’s collection a Spanish musket that “was likely made circa 1530 in Madrid, Spain and was intended to be used with a forked rest”.

I spoke to the museum Director, he kindly allowed me to post pictures of this weapon on my blog. I thank him and the museum for this permission. He also agreed to go and measure the overall length of the musket and reported that it is 57.25 inches. This length is a little shorter than the six foot (72 inches) reported in the historical texts. This means that it may not be the exact type referred to in the texts, but nevertheless shows that forked muskets were present around the time of Pavia.

Now 1530 is not 1525, but it is very, very close. We now have a Spanish forked musket from 1530 that is 57.25 inches long. This weapon certainly supports the possibility that the Spanish used forked muskets at Pavia.

There are additional images at the NRA website at this link

Figures for the forked supported muskets at Pavia

For my recreation of the Battle, I am convinced of the presence of fork supported muskets at Pavia. I will be employing these weapons in my recreation of the Battle.

Now I haven’t found a figure that I like for these Spanish forked muskets at Pavia. I know that I would buy 50 figures if I could find some figures that I like. Otherwise, I may need to do some conversions.

One major 28mm figure manufacturer has said “I could see us adding one or two miniatures” when discussing these fork supported muskets at Pavia. So I have a question for the community. Would you consider buying these figures if they are introduced prior to the anniversary of Pavia? Let’s show that it would be worth it for a figure manufacturer to add these weapons to their range.