The partizan, like the pike, was introduced in the reign of Edward III. The blade is long, broad, and double-edged, with hatchet-like or pointed branches at the base. It was greatly used as a pageant weapon, and much skill and taste were expended in chasing it and inlaying it with gold. The spetum is narrower and lighter, a long spear at the point, and narrow curved side branches. The ranseur is very similar to the partizan, with a long broad blade in the centre, and projecting shorter blades on each side. It was much used in the reign of Edward IV. The spontoon is a half pike, or something between the pike and partizan, and was carried by infantry officers. A selection of staff and club weapons are represented in Fig. 49, and most of the weapons referred to are there given. PART XXIV. EARLY ARTILLERY. It is stated that some sort of cannon was known to the Moors very early, and that artillery was used in Spain during the second half of the thirteenth century in the defence of fortified places; but this is believed to be merely traditional, and that the piece of ordnance stated to be mentioned in the Archives of Ghent[46] as being in possession of that town in 1313, was probably a very rough weapon and highly tentative in character. Without wishing to cast doubt on this statement, occurring in a work published in 1843, we may remark that frequent efforts have since been made to find the passage, but without success. [Illustration: Fig. 48.--Principle of the Ballista.] [Illustration: Fig. 49.--Staff and Club Weapons, etc.] The earliest firearms were only adapted for throwing fire into fortified places by means of a hollow tube, such as those described by the Princess Anna Comnena in the _Alexiad_, “tubes fixed to the prows of the Emperor’s galleys for throwing Greek fire,” and cannon discharging missiles by the agency of detonating gunpowder were probably not invented before the fourteenth century. All guns made in this century were of the crudest description, fastened on to blocks of wood, and were of wrought iron, loaded at the breech, and used principally in sieges.