The existence of cannon in the mediæval period would naturally suggest a weapon that might be used in the hand, and from a very early period hand-guns have been in evidence. They are rarely mentioned by writers of the time, and very few illuminations are extant showing the weapons then employed, which would tend to show that their use was restricted, and their efficacy valued but little. The earliest were simply tubes affixed to a stick and fired by means of a lighted match; some of them were ignited from the muzzle, thus indicating that they were shotless and only used to frighten horses in a cavalry charge. The long-bow and arbalest were of infinitely greater efficacy than the early hand-gun, and it is a matter for wonder that the latter held a place at all in the armies of the period. It was made in various shapes, but that generally shown in contemporary illustrations is depicted in Fig. 339, the piece being discharged by means of a touch-hole on the top of the barrel near the breech. The earliest use of a hand-gun is involved in obscurity; there can be no doubt that many attempts were made to introduce such a weapon, but the first mention that occurs is in the reign of Edward III., when they were brought into England from Flanders. They were in use by both horse and foot soldiers, the stock in the first case being shortened so that it could be placed against the chest, while in the second it passed under the right arm, the left hand being used to grasp it and the right to hold the discharging match. The gun was supported in the case of cavalry by a forked rest which projected from the saddle. In all these guns the powder-chamber was smaller than the calibre of the barrel. In some cases the hand-gun was used as a mace after being discharged. _Hand Culverin._--A larger hand-gun was subsequently evolved, which was much in use during the second half of the fifteenth century, and necessitated the presence of two men for its manipulation. It was called the hand culverin, and had a bore of about three-quarters of an inch; it was constructed of forged iron, and was attached by bands to a straight stock of wood. This weapon was fired from a rest. It was subsequently improved by the addition of a pan and touch-hole at the side and a modification of the stock, while the barrels were often of brass or bronze, and polygonal in section. Their weight varied from ten to sixteen pounds, and a variety which was carried on horseback at times weighed nearly sixty pounds. Warwick the King-maker employed “Burgundenses” or Burgundian hand-gun men in the Second Battle of St. Albans, 1461, and culveriners formed a part of the forces under Edward IV. in the later battles of the Wars of the Roses.