Gunpowder Technology in the Fifteenth Century: A Study, Edition and Translation of the Firework Book

The first full edition and English translation of the RA I.34 Firework Book.

Produced from the early fifteenth century onwards, Firework Books are, broadly speaking, manuals on how to use gunpowder, witnessing a major development in warfare. Surviving in a corpus of some 65, each text has different content and components, but core elements are present throughout. An important example is a manuscript in the collection of the Royal Armouries (RA I.34), written in Early New High German, and (unlike many other manuscripts) still in what appears to be its original format and binding; it also, unusually, contains a number of illustrations.

This volume provides the first full edition and English translation of the material, with a detailed analysis of its content and context. It positions the Firework Books at a crucial stage in the development of gunpowder artillery, offering an unparalleled insight into fifteenth-century gunpowder technology at a critical juncture of military and technological change at the end of the Middle Ages.

Royal Armouries Research Series is a partnership between the Royal Armouries and Boydell & Brewer. The series is a forum for the study of arms and armour and cognate subjects from antiquity to the present day.

We welcome proposals for future volumes – either edited collections or monographs – from the broad world of arms and armour study, unlimited by geography, discipline or time period. Volumes that focus on objects within the Royal Armouries collection, or that support the organisation’s research strategy are particularly encouraged. Critical editions and translations of arms and armour texts (such as fencing
manuals and fight books) will also be considered.

• Publisher: ‎ Boydell Press; Translation edition (1 Jan. 2024)
• Language: ‎ English
• Hardcover
• 388 pages
• ISBN-10: ‎ 1783277319
• ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1783277315
• Dimensions: ‎ 15.6 x 2.24 x 23.39 cm

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