Op 7-4-2012 16:29, HVAC schreef:
> On 4/7/2012 10:17 AM, Warhol wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Hah... My ancestors have invented Rockets and Missiles
>
>
> You're a chinaman?
>
I am a Atlas Man... and Chinese never invented anything... since the
knowledge we shared with the world comes from Atlantis... and not from
china or any other place... The Rocket and the Missile are in current
day history books attributed to the Moorish Civilization of L'AndaLuz...
LUZ = LIGHT... Land Of Light.(Mesbah)...
and shall we discuss briefly the development of cannon in the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries in Moorish Spain.
History of Science and Technology of the Moors.
Gunpowder Composition for Rockets and Cannon
in Moorish & Arabic Military Treatises
In Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries
A Gap in the history of gunpowder and cannon
Potassium nitrate
In a recent paper[2] it was shown that Moorish alchemists knew potassium
nitrate since the start of Moorish alchemy at the time of Khalid ibn
Yazid (d. c. 709). It was known under various names, was used as a flux
in metallurgical operations and for producing nitric acid and aqua
regia. Recipes for these uses are found in the works of Jabir ibn Hayyan
(Geber, d. 815), Abu Bakr al-Razi (Rhazes, d.932) and other alchemists.
Throughout the centuries potassium nitrates in Moorish was known by a
variety of names, and the most important of these was natrun. It was
called also: buraq; al-shiha that is found at the feet of walls; milh
al-ha’it (wall salt); flowers of asyus stone; salt of asyus stone; salt
of stone; shura; shuraj; suraj; milh al-dabbaghin (tanners salt); shabb
Yamani and lastly barud.
Purification of potassium nitrates
Before potassium nitrate can be used effectively in gunpowder it should
be purified. Two processes are found in Moorish literature:
1- The process of Ibn Bakhtawayh (early 11th Century)
Ibn Bakhtawayh, the physician, in his book Al-Muqaddimat (composed in
420/1029), described the freezing of water at any season by using
potassium nitrate calling it shabb Yamani (Yamani alum). (Google the
article on potassium nitrates ).
2- The process of Hasan al-Rammah (13th Century)
Hasan al-Rammah describes in his book al-furusiyya wa al-manasib
al-harbiyya (The Book of Military Horsemanship and Ingenious War
Devices) a complete process for the purification of potassium nitrate.
This same process became a standard one in Arabic sources and we find it
in various military treatises. It runs as follow:
“Take from white, clean and bright (or fiery) barud (saltpetre) as much
as you like and two new (earthen) jars. Put the saltpetre into one of
them and add water to submerge it. Put the jar on a gentle fire until
it gets warm. Skim off the scum that rises (and) throw it away. Make the
fire stronger until the liquid becomes quite clear. Then pour the clear
liquid into the other jar in such a way that no sediment or scum remains
attached to it. Place this jar on a low fire until the contents begin
to coagulate. Then take it off the fire and grind it finely.” [4]
The procedure is further continued using wood ashes, which would
precipitate calcium and magnesium salts:
“Take dry willow wood, burn it, bury it (smother it) as is with the
harraq (tinder). Take by weight two thirds of saltpetre and one third of
ashes of wood, which has been carefully pulverized, and put the mixture
into the jar, and if the jar is made from copper so much the better. Add
a little quantity of water and apply heat until the ashes and saltpetre
no longer adhere together. Beware of sparks”
In this method calcium salts are removed by adding potassium carbonate
in the form of wood ashes. Thus calcium carbonates are precipitated and
can be removed leaving the chemically equivalent amount of potassium
nitrate in solution. Saltpetre is obtained from this solution by
crystallization.
The method of al-Rammah is the first in which wood ashes were used in
the manufacture of saltpetre. Partington says that “the claim that Roger
Bacon used wood ashes is based on an arbitrary manipulation of a text,
and the first clear account of the process known to me is that of
al-Hasan al-Rammah.”
Use of potassium nitrates during the Crusades:
A subject that is still in its initial stages of investigation is the
early use of potassium nitrate during the Crusades. There are advocates
of the theory that potassium nitrates were used as a component of Greek
fire whether Byzantine or Hassani Arabic. We shall mention here few
cases that suggest the use of nitrates by the Berbers during the time of
the Crusades.
a- In the year 564 H/1168 AD the Firanja (the Franks or the Crusaders)
besieged al-Fustat (old Cairo). Shawar[7] decided to burn the city.
Al-Maqrizi says that 20000 pieces of karaz shami (ceramic Damascus
grenades) full of incendiary materials were used. Al-Fustat continued
burning for 54 days. Mercier obtained several grenades from the site and
their contents were analysed. The tests proved the existence of
potassium nitrates.
b- A military treatise that discusses military fires on a large scale is
entitled Treatise on Stratagems in Wars, the Capture of Towns, and the
Defence of Passes.This gives a large number of Greek fire recipes. It
describes Moorish military technology during the twelfth century. In one
recipe natrun is one of the combustible ingredients.
c-During the fifth Crusade that was directed against Egypt, Damietta was
besieged in 1218 and the besieged used Greek fire extensively in their
defences. Lalanne believes that the Arabic jars of fire contained
potassium nitrates.
d- The seventh Crusade was directed against Egypt also. Louis IX led a
well-prepared invasion and occupied Damietta in 1249. By this time
gunpowder was known in Syria and Egypt and in the battle of al-Mansura
in 1250, in which Louis IX was taken prisoner, the use of large pots
full of gunpowder and other combustibles was the key in the victory of
the Moorish Army. Joinville who was an officer and an eyewitness of the
battle described eloquently these projectiles and their effect on the
Turic Mongol army. His description left no doubt among some historians
that he was describing projectiles containing gunpowder. In their
history of rockets published on the internet NASA says “the Arabs
adopted the rocket into their own arms inventory and, during the Seventh
Crusade, used them against the French Army of King Louis IX “
e. Gunpowder was used extensively in 1291 at the very end of the
Crusades during the siege of Acre, in which the city capitulated. The
extensive mining of the city walls by gunpowder was described by Western
historians. Military fires using gunpowder were projected by a large
number of manjaniqs (trebuchets), and huge amounts of arrows carrying
gunpowder devices were thrown by archers. Thousands of engineers were
reported to have participated in the siege.
Gunpowder composition of al-Rammah’s rockets (1280 AD)
Al-Rammah (d 695 AH/1295 AD) deals extensively in his book with
gunpowder and its uses .The estimated date of writing this book is
between 1270 and 1280. The front page states that the book was written
as "instructions by the eminent master Najm al-Din Hasan Al-Rammah, as
handed down to him by his father and his forefathers, the masters in
this art and by those contemporary elders and masters who befriended
them, may God be pleased with them all ". It is unmistakable from this
statement that Al-Rammah compiled the inherited knowledge. The large
number of gunpowder recipes and the extensive types of weaponry using
gunpowder indicate that this information cannot be the invention of a
single person, and this supports the statement of the front piece in his
book. If we go back only to his grandfather's generation, as the first
of his forefathers, then we end up at the end of the twelfth century or
the beginning of the thirteenth as the date when gunpowder became
prevalent in Moorish and Arabic regions.
The book contains 107 recipes for gunpowder. There are 22 recipes for
rockets (tayyarat, sing. tayyar). Among the remaining compositions some
are for military uses and some are for fireworks. The gunpowder
composition of seventeen rockets is shown. Five rockets are not included
because their ingredients included other materials. We limited ourselves
for the sake of comparison to the three main ingredients.
unpowder composition of rockets from `Iyarat al-naft manuscript
13th-14th centuries
This manuscript contains a large number of gunpowder recipes, totalling
about 239. Its title is `Iyarat al-naft (Formulae of Gunpowder). Its
author is not known but the copy that we consulted was copied in
774/1372; the original should be much earlier. Al-Rammah’s book was
compiled in about 1270-80 and this one could be compiled on the first
decades of the fourteenth century. It gives recipes for fireworks as
well as for military purposes. We have selected all the rockets recipes
that contain only the three main ingredients of gunpowder.
Gunpowder composition for the earliest cannon (13th to early 14th c)
Four Moorish treatises describe or mention small portable cannon. All
these treatises report that cannon were used in the battle of `Ayn Jalut
in Palestine in 1260 between the Moorish Hassani & Arab Army and the
Mongols, in which the latter were defeated. It was used once more
against the Mongols in 1304. The purpose of the early cannon and other
gunpowder devices as we shall see was to frighten the enemy’s horses and
cavalry and cause disorder in their ranks. The St. Petersbugh MS is the
most renowned among the four manuscripts. Renaud and Fave attributed it
to Shams al-Din Muhammad. The only literary figure with this name at
this period is Shams al-Din Muhammad al-Ansari al-Dimashqi (d.1327) who,
like al-Rammah, was from Granada, and both were contemporaries.
Al-Dimashqi is well known for his cosmography in which he described the
use of fireworks. In the St. Petersburgh MS. the cannon is described as
follows:
“Description of the drug (dawa’) that you put in the cannon (midfa`)-
Its composition (`iyaruhu) is: potassium nitrate (barud) ten, charcoal
(fahm) two dirhams and sulphur (kibrit) one and a half dirhams. Grind it
finely and fill one third of the cannon (midfa`). Do not fill more
otherwise it will split. Then let the wood turner make a wooden plug
(midfa`) of the same size as the mouth of the cannon (midfa`). Ram (the
gunpowder) tightly and place on it the ball (bunduqa) or the arrow, and
give it fire at the ammunition (al-dhakhira). Measure the cannon
(midfa`) at the hole; if it (i.e. the midfa`) is deeper than the hole
then it is defective and it will punch the gunner (al-rami), so
understand this.”
The composition of 10 dirhams of saltpetre, one and a half dirhams of
sulphur and two dirhams of charcoal gives the percentages of 74.1
nitrates, 11.1 sulphur and 14.8 charcoal.
A other manuscript the description is as follows:
“The drug that you put in the cannon (midfa`): potassium nitrate (barud)
ten, charcoal (fahm) two dirhams, sulphur (kibrit) one dirham. Grind
finely, and fill one third of the cannon (midfa`), not more. Seal it
(i.e. the gunpowder) by the device after you have rammed it; then place
the ball (bunduq) or the arrow and give fire to the ammunition
(al-dhakhira)”.
In these cannon the percentages of gunpowder are 77 nitrates, 7.7
sulphur and 15.3 charcoal.
http://www.history-science-technology.com/images/Powder8.gif
St. Petersburgh MS., p. 159, Illustration of the faris (knight) who
frightens the horses of the enemy and the two foot soldiers accompanying
him. On the right, the foot soldier is carrying a hand-held midfa`
(cannon), and on the left the soldier is carrying a sprinkling club. The
mounted knight carries a lance to which gunpowder cartridges are
attached. The three men and the horse wear also fireproof clothing to
which gunpowder cartridges are attached.
“The kings of old times did not engage in war except by stratagem. The
Prophet said: war is trickery. This was the practice until the time of
Halawun (Hulaku or Hulegu) when the people of fatimide Caliphate used
this trick and defeated the Tatars (Mongols). Horses (of the enemy) dare
not face fire and the horse will run away with its rider. The way to do
it is to choose a number of cavaliers and furnish their lances from both
ends with gunpowder (barud). The cavalier will wear a garment (qarqal)
with its front face made of black thick woolen cloth (balas). It is
strewn with balls of linen fiber (mushaqq) that have metal wires at
their ends so that they are inserted into the garment and the helmet.
The horse is also draped with thick woolen cloth (balas). His hands will
be smeared with dissolved talc so that he is not burnt by fire. In front
of them will be whatever they choose from foot soldiers furnished with
sprinkler maces, crackers (sawarikh, explosive charges) and cannon
(madafi`). They (the cavalrty and the foot soldiers) will take their
place in front of the army.”
More detailed description of the attire of the cavalier, the horse and
the foot soldiers is given in the manuscript. There is a detailed
description on how to train the horses to get them used to the loud
explosive noise of the cannon and the gunpowder crackers. The method of
conducting the attack to frighten the enemy’s horses and causing them to
run away is also described.
This tactics of using the portable cannon continued throughout the
century and was the precursor of portable firearms. Muhammad Ibn Mankali
in one of his military treatises (written around 764-78/1362-70) [32]wrote:
“If the Franks who are facing us are cavalry then we shoot at them with
incendiary arrows and cannon since their horses will be frightened away
and when their mobilization is in disarray then they will be chased.”
The use of the portable cannon continued and it was used in celebrations
in addition to its use in warfare. The traveller, Ber trandon de la
Brocquiere, visited the midddle east in 1432 and wrote his book The
Voyage d’Outremer. When he was in Damascus he saw the celebrations on
the occasion of the return of pilgrims from Mecca after the hajj. He says:
“The day after my arrival I saw the caravan coming from Mecca. It was
said that there were more than three thousand camels. The lord and all
the notables of the city went out to meet the caravan.”
After he describes the mahmal. that preceded the caravan he says:
“There were also at least thirty men around the mahmal camel, some
carrying crossbows and others with unsheathed swords in their hands.
Some had little cannon which they fired from time to time”
The development of cannon in the fourteenth century in the Mamluk
Kingdom (Syria and Egypt)
In 1340 AD, Ibn Fadl Allah al-`Umari wrote a handbook for government
officials in which he described the main weapons that were used in the
attack or the defence of towns. He describes cannon that were used in
the attack of walled cities. “They throw balls that batter the tops of
parapets and break the columns of arches”. The cannon developed within
four decades into a siege engine along with the trebuchet. It is
reported by the historian Salih ibn Yahya that in 743/1342 the besieged
in al-Karak mounted on its walls five trebuchets (manjaniqs) and many
cannon.[37] It is also reported that in 753/1352 the governor of
Damascus fortified greatly the citadel by mounting on it gunpowder
cannon (al-makahil bi al-madafi`).
Al-Qalqashandi described in his encyclopaedia, Subh al-a`sha, the
prevailing siege engines in 767/1365. About cannon he says:
“Among them (i.e. the siege engines) is the gunpowder cannon (makahil
al-barud). These are the cannon (madafi`) that use gunpowder. They are
of different types. Some of them throw huge arrows that can almost
pierce stones. And some throw iron balls weighing from ten Egyptian
ratls ( about 4.53 kg) up to more than one hundred (45.3 kg). I saw in
Alexandria during the Ashrafiyya State, (of Sultan) Sha`ban ibn
Husayn[39], when Prince Salah al-Din ibn `Arram, God have mercy on him,
was governor, I saw a cannon made of copper and lead and bound by iron
ends. A huge heated iron ball was projected from it in the maydan
(parade square or hippodrome), and it fell into the Silsila Sea outside
Bab al-Bahr (Sea Gate), which is a faraway distance.” [40]
At this same period a military treatise called al-Aniq fi al-manajiq was
written by Ibn Aranbugha al-Zaradkash. The author presented the book to
the Atabik (chief commander of the army) Mankali Bugha al-Shamsi who was
in office between 769/1367 and 774/1372. The following illustration
shows cannon for shooting arrows, mounted on an adjustable stand for
pointing the gun at various angles of projection. The gunpowder
composition for these cannon is ten dirhams of potassium nitrate, 1.125
sulphur, and 2.5 charcoals. This gives the percentages of 73.4 potassium
nitrate, 8.26 sulphur and 18.34 charcoals.
http://www.history-science-technology.com/images/Powder9.gif
Development of cannon in al-Andalus and al-Maghrib in the 13th and 14th
centuries
We have no extant military treatises left to us from al-Andalus and
al-Maghrib regarding gunpowder. But since this symposium is taking place
in Granada, the seat of the last Moorish kingdom in al-Andalus, it
befits us to give a brief account of the history of cannon in this area.
Reports about the use of cannon by the Moors in Spain are given in the
works of Spanish and Frankish historians who were closer to the times of
the events or even have witnessed them. When they wrote their accounts
they did not have the same thinking that triggered the debate among
historians of gunpowder and firearms of the 19th and the first decades
of the 20th centuries. The question about the first nation to formulate
propulsive gunpowder or to use cannon was irrelevant to them. In the
last three decades of recent history some scholars adopted a more
balanced attitude and started to free themselves from the euro centric
way of looking at historical sources. In this brief survey, we shall
present the primary reports about the main events without trying to
confuse the reader with the disputations of the past two centuries.
Most of the argument arose when some historians tried to interpret the
Moorish(Hassani Arabic) word naft to denote naphtha or a mixture of
incendiary ingredients containing naphtha. A study of the titles of
treatises dealing with gunpowder composition given in this article will
make it clear that naft denoted in fact gunpowder. The term naft was
used originally for military fires of any composition, and as soon as
the new mixture of saltpeter-sulphur-charcoal was known, the word naft
was applied to it. So the treatise of `Iyarat al-naft mentioned above
means Formulations of Gunpowder as we have seen.
In the Vocabulista (a Latin-Spanish Moorish vocabulary compiled in the
region of Valencia, in the 13th century), one finds the word naft
opposite Ignis and Ignem excutere. In the later historical accounts this
word denoted gunpowder. In al-Andalus in the course of the second half
of the 15th century, gunpowder became barud, and saltpetre became milh
al-barud. Naft (pl. anfat) then denoted cannon, and naffat denoted
gunner. [43]
When we discuss the development of gunpowder and cannon in al-Andalus
and al-Maghrib countries, we must take into account their parallel
development in the Berbers namely the Kingdom of Fes.
Another factor that is relevant to our study is the fact that potassium
nitrates were abundant in Moorish Spain, and it was the only country in
Europe having these natural deposits. Watson says in his Chemical
Essays: “The lands of Spain, says the author of its Natural History, if
properly managed, would supply all Europe with saltpetre to the end of
the world.”
The Arabs are reported to have used rockets on the Iberian Peninsula in
1249; and in 1288 rockets attacked Valencia. This report needs to be
investigated further in order to determine the sources of information.
Peter, Bishop of Leon, reported the use of cannon by the Moors while
defending Seville in 646 AH/ 1248 AD. [47] Ferdinand III harassed
Seville increasingly and kept the town under siege for 17 months until
it surrendered. [48] At this same time, in the Kingdom of Fes, gunpowder
was already in use in warfare, and if the devices used in Seville were
not cannon, then they were most probably projectiles utilizing gunpowder
similar to those used by the Maghrebians in the battle of al-Mansura in
1250 against Louis IX.
In 660 / 1262, King Alfonso X of Castile succeeded in conquering the
city of Niebla. The siege was not easy either for the besiegers or for
the Berber inhabitants due to the strength of the town’s defences, so
the siege lasted nine months and a half. It is reported that Almohads in
defending the city used machines that resembled cannon, which projected
stones and fire accompanied by thundering noises. Some Spanish histories
consider that this was the first time that gunpowder had been used in
warfare in Spain.
Ibn Khaldun (8th/14th century) says that the Caliph Abu Yusuf
Yaqub(Jacob), when besieging the town of Sijilmasa in 672-3/1274:
“Brought into action against this town mangonels (majaniq) and ballistas
(`arradat), as well as a naft engine (hindam al-naft i.e. gunpowder
cannon) which discharged small iron balls (hasa al-hadid). These balls
are ejected from a chamber (khizana) placed in front of a kindling fire
of gunpowder. This happens by a strange property which attributes all
actions to the power of the Creator.” [50]
This precise information about the use of cannon came from a great
historian. However, western historians of firearms in the nineteenth and
the first part of the twentieth centuries questioned the report of Ibn
Kaldun. Historians in those days were bound by certain fixed historical
dates for gunpowder and cannon that could not be changed even if they go
to the extreme of discrediting a historian of the calibre of Ibn
Khaldun. We have seen above that portable cannon were used by the
Mamluks in 1260 in the battle of `Ayn Jalut. Indeed, we would advance
the view that in the Maghrib and al-Andalus, where petroleum was not
available whereas potassium nitrate was known to be abundant, cannon may
have developed into a siege engine somewhat earlier than in the Islamic
East, and that the appearance of cannon at Sijilmasa as described by Ibn
Khaldun was a natural development the veracity of which need not be doubted.
In the fourteenth century, the historic accounts regarding the use of
cannon by the Moorish kings of Granada, in defensive as well as
offensive operations had caused considerable debate among western
historians in the nineteenth and the first decades of the twentieth
centuries. After reviewing the position of some military historians in
Europe, Ada Bruhn de Hoffmeyer in her carefully focused survey, Arms and
Amour in Spain, concludes that:
“The old theories about the Arabs and the Moors and their importance in
regard to gunpowder and early artillery in the 14th century cannot be
rejected---on the contrary! Alchemy and chemical experiments flourished
among the Moors in the Mediterranean world not least in Andalusia, and
Saracen scientists and technicians were working at various courts of
occidental Europe.”
“The general opinion no doubt must be that gunpowder artillery was
introduced rather early to Spain through the Moors of Maroc and from
them to Andalusia. From the Hispano-Moors Christian Spain learned about
gunpowder artillery. The routes probably passed via the Granadine
kingdom, which at that time had very close contacts with the sultan of
Maroc in Fez, from which place Granada got military help against the
Catholics. Italy is represented with the Genoese navy supporting
Granadines and Moroccanes.” [51]
The facts depend upon the correct translation of certain words from
Moorish manuscripts. Hoffmeyer refers to the work of Kohler when she says:
“It is not impossible that G. Kohler in his work: Die Entwicklung des
Kriegswesens und der Kriegsfiihrung, Breslau 1887, was right in his
suppositions that the Arabs rather early introduced not only gunpowder
but even fire-arms to Spain, from whence they passed to Italy
(coincidence with the documentation from Florence) and from Spain and
Italy to France and Germany. (The routes from Hispano- Moorish
Andalusia, passing through Murcia, the Levantine coasts of Spain, Aragon
to Italy is nothing strange in the 14th century, when the Mediterranean
was a «Mar Aragones».) “ [52]
The main incidents we are concerned with in the following account had
taken place during the tenure of Sultan Abu al-Walid Isma`il ibn Nasr
(713 AH/ 1314 AD-725 AH/1325 AD), the Nasrid king of Granada who waged a
number of successful campaigns between the years 1324 and 1325. In
724/1324 he besieged the fort city of Huescar using cannon in his siege,
of which Lisan al-Din ibn al-Khatib (1313-1374) who was a youth at the
time, and who became later a minister in Granada, relates:
“He headed towards the enemy territory and challenged the fort of
Huescar that stands as a bone in the throat of Baza, which he besieged
and attacked. He struck the arch of the invincible tower with a red-hot
iron ball bombarded by the great engine that operates by naft
(gunpowder). “ [53]
To celebrate the occasion, the scientist and poet, Abu Zakariyya Yahya
ibn Hudhayl [54] whom Ibn al-Khatib highly praised, being his teacher,
had composed a poem complementing the sultan for the conquest of Huescar:
"They thought that the thunder and the lightning had come down from the
skies; whereas the thunder and lightning are all around them being
created by man.
These are things of wondrous shapes, sent high by Hermes[55] and
engineered to demolish mountains when they hit.
Yes, it is this world that always shows you miracles, since nature’s
innate powers are destined to appear “
Based on the reports of these eyewitnesses McJoynt concludes that:
“Granada must have been in the forefront of technical innovation in the
world at this time. The new weapon was a success, for Huescar hastened
to surrender”.[56]
Lomax concludes also that “The capture of Huescar had seen the first use
of gunpowder and cannon in European warfare.” [57]
After the conquest of Huescar, Sultan Isma`il waged a number of
campaigns in which he captured a number of cities and forts including
Baza and Martos in which he used cannon also.
In 732 /1331 Sultan Muhammad IV laid siege to the city of Alicante, of
which the Spanish historian Zurita (1512-1580) maintains that “when the
Moorish king of Granada besieged Alicante he used a new machine that
caused great terror. It threw iron balls with fire.” [58] Hoffmeyer
finds the report of Muslim gunpowder weapons at Alicante to be
“difficult to deny”, given obvious awareness of such weapons at the time.
In a confrontation, known as the battle of Tarifa or the battle of Rio
Salado in 1340, the Moors lost heavily to the Castillian armies and
their allies. The Spanish historian Conde relates that in the battle of
Tarifa the Moors had employed machines of thunder that launched iron
balls propelled by nafta, causing extensive damage to the towers and the
fortifications of the city.[59]
However, the main objective of the Spaniards was to occupy and hold on
to the strategic port city of Algeciras (al-Jazira), situated next to
the straight of Gibraltar. They had engaged the aid of their allies in
Europe in a crusade against the Arabs, to which France and England were
among respondents by sending army contingents. The siege of the city
lasted twenty months, from 1342 to 1344, during which time the Moors
defended the city courageously, using cannon profusely and engaging the
enemy in daring encounters.
The Spanish historian Juan de Mariana (1536-1623) described the use of
gunpowder and cannons during the capture of Algeciras. [60] He states:
“The besieged did great harm among the Christians with iron bullets they
shot. This is the first time we find any mention of gunpowder and ball
in our histories.”
De Mariana also relates that the English Earl of Derby and Earl of
Salisbury had both participated in this siege. Richard Watson[61] thinks
that the two earls had conceivably transferred the knowledge about
cannon and gunpowder and their use as effective firearms to England, and
that the English adopted this new weapon and used it in the battle of
Crecy in 1346. Furthermore, Prescott in his book Ferdinand and Isabella
[62] emphasizes that the Spaniards had adopted their knowledge of
gunpowder from the Moors of Granada who were familiar with its
utilization for a considerable time before their encounter with the
Spanish in this siege. Ada Bruhn Hoffmeyer finds it “fully trustworthy”
that King Alfonso XI of Castile and the Muslims used “gunpowder as
propulsor for projectiles” at Algeciras in 1342.[63]
The use of gunpowder and cannon spread quickly in Spain. The Spanish
kings at the initial stages enlisted the help of Moorish experts.
Hoffmeyer says:
“The first artillery-masters on the Peninsula probably were Moors in
Christian service. The king of Navarra had a Moor in his service in 1367
as «maestro de las guarniciones de artilleria. The Morisques of Tudela
at that time had fame for their capacity in reparaciones de artilleria.”
[64]
Fireworks, a brief note
The use of gunpowder in fireworks in festivities by the public in the
Moorish cities took place at the same time as it was used for military
purposes. This is evident from the titles of treatises giving the
composition of gunpowder. The majority of recipes given in the
thirteenth century by al-Rammah and in the Karshuni manuscript are for
fireworks. Similarly the gunpowder treatises of the fourteenth century
deal mostly with fireworks. There are a very large number of recipes for
fireworks. The names of the different kinds fireworks are varied to a
large extent and this will be the subject of a separate study.
Reports about the use of fireworks in Moorish & Arab cities can be found
in non-military treatises. Al-Dimashqi (d. 1327) who was contemporary
with al-Rammah describes in his cosmography (written second half of 13th
century) the joint use of fireworks by the Muslims and Christians of
Hama in central Syria on the eve of the birthday of Jesus.[65]
In a book on various trades and crafts, that was not noticed until
recently, dating from the same period of al-Rammah and al-Dimashqi, we
find a description of a gunpowder cracker and a gunpowder fireworks
device. This book was compiled by King al-Muzaffar Yusuf ibn `Umar ibn
Rasul (d. 694/1294) of Yemen. The title of the book is al-Mukhtara` fi
funun min al-suna` (Inventions from the Various Industrial Arts). The
description of the gunpowder cracker runs thus:
“Description of a furqa`a (cracker): fold a sheet of paper four or five
folds on a mould. The mould is a rod that is turned to the thickness of
a finger. Fold it very tightly, five or six plies. Take it off the
mould. Seal its head very tightly, and fill it with barud and the
charcoal of willow tree mixed together, and close its end very securely.
If you want to give it fire pierce the head with a small piercing iron
and insert a fuse that has been twisted very well. Glue the fuse to the
hole, give it fire and move away. It will crack and move with explosive
noise.” [66]
The use of fireworks by the Caliph's in public celebrations in the
fourteenth century and later is reported in the history books of that
period.[67] Fireworks were called in these reports harraqat al- naft or
harraqat al-barud.
When the French traveller Bertrandon de la Brocquiere arrived in Beirut
in 1432 the inhabitants were celebrating the `Id. He was surprised to
see the fireworks for the first time. He says:
“The Moors held a celebration, which is, I understand, an old custom. It
started at nightfall. There was a great crowd of people singing and
shouting. The men of the castle shot off the cannon and those of the
city shot some kind of fire very high and very far. It was bigger than
the biggest lantern I have ever seen. They say that they use it
sometimes on the sea, against enemies to burn the sails of a ship. It
would easily burn a house or a town with straw roofs, it seems to me. In
a cavalry engagement it would terrify the horses. It is easy and cheap
for someone who knows what they are doing. “ [68]
We infer from his story that fireworks were un-known in France at that
time (in 1432). Brocquiere says then that he was able, against a bribe,
to learn the secret of these fires and he took the information with him
to France.[69] The first recorded fireworks in England were at the
wedding of Henry VII in 1486. They became very popular during the reign
of Queen Elizabeth I.
The people of Granada and other cities in al-Andalus used fireworks in
their celebrations,[70] as was the custom in the cities of Syria and Egypt.
Arabic Manuscripts and References:
- Beshir Agha MS No. 441, Istanbul, Risala fi jarr al-athqal wa ghayriha
min al-`aja’ib, unknown author.
- al-Dimashqi, Shams al-Din Muhammad al-Ansari, Nukhbat al-dahr, edited
by Mehren, Leipzig, 1923.
- Enan, Muhammad Abdulla, al-athar al-andalusiyya al-baqiya, Cairo, 1961.
- Al-Hiyal fi-al-hurub wa fath al mada’in wa hifz al durub, ms. Ahmet
III, Serai No. 3469, Istanbul, author uncertain. Several other
manuscripts of this treatise exist in Istanbul, Leiden, and Ribat.
Sulayman al- Rahili, Saudi Arabia, published this MS in 1418/1997. He
attributed it by error to Ibn Mankali..
- Ibn Abi Usaybi`a, `Uyun al-Anba’ fi tabaqat al atibba’, ed. Nizar
Rida, Beirut, 1965
- Ibn Aranbugha al-Zaradkash, al-aniq fi al-manajiq, ed. Ihsan Hindi,
Aleppo, 1985.
- Ibn Iyas, Muhammad ibn Ahmad, al-mukhtar min bada’i` al-zuhur,vol. I,
Cairo,1960.
- Ibn Khaldun, Kitab al-`ibar ..., vol. VII, Beirut, 1971.
- Ibn al-Khatib, Lisan al-Din, al-ihata fi akhbar ghirnata, vol, I,
Cairo, 1319/1901.
- Ibn Mankali, Muhammad, al-adilla al-rasmiyya li al-ta`abi al-harbiyya,
Istabul, Aya Sophia MS 2875. It was edited by Mahmud Shith Kattab, and
published by the Iraqi Academy, Baghdad, 1988.
- Ibn Yahya, Salih, Tarikh Bayrut, ed. Kamal Salibi, Beirut, 1969.
- Istanbul MS. Revan Koshku 1933.
- `iyarat al-naft part of a collection of manuscripts (majmu`a) under
the title of al-aniq, Ahmet III 3469, Istanbul, pages 94-132.
- Al-Maqqari, Ahmad ibn Muhammad, Nafh al-tib min ghusn al-andalus
al-ratib, Bulaq, 1279/1862
- Al-Maqrizi, Al-Mawa`iz wa al-‘i`tibar, vol. I, Cairo, n.d.
- Paris Arabe 2826, Kitab al-makhzun li arbab al-funun
- Paris Arabe 2824, Kitsab al-makhzun jami` al-funun
- al-Qalqashandi, Ahmad ibn `Ali, Subh al-a`sha, vol. II, Cairo, 1963.
- Al-Rammah, Najm al-Din Hasan, Al-Furusiyya wa al-manasib al-harbiyya,
edited with analytical introductory chapters by Ahmad Y. al-Hassan,
Aleppo, 1998
- Rasul, al-Malik al-Muzaffar Yusuf ibn `Umar ibn `Ali ibn ,
al-mukhtara` fi funun min al-suna`, ed. Muhammad Isa Salhiyyeh, Kuwait,
1989.
- St. Petersburgh MS. Al-Makhzun jami` al-funun, uncertain author.
- al-`Umari ibn Fadl Allah, al-Ta`rif bi al-mustalah al-sharif, Cairo,
1312/1894.
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