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The Liber Ignium ad Comburendos Hostes (translated as On the Use of Fire to Conflagrate the Enemy, or Book of Fires for the Burning of Enemies, and abbreviated as Book of Fires) is a medieval collection of recipes for incendiary weapons, including Greek fire and gunpowder, written in Latin and allegedly written by a certain Marcus Graecus ("Mark the Greek")—a person whose existence is ...
Prior to the discovery, nitraries were widespread all over the Kingdom of Naples. Manure was collected by the government and used to make saltpeter, which was a key ingredient for gunpowder. After the discovery, it was suggested that manure could be used for agriculture, in order to increase the production, rather than to make gunpowder. [10]
Gunpowder is a low explosive: it does not detonate, but rather deflagrates (burns quickly). This is an advantage in a propellant device, where one does not desire a shock that would shatter the gun and potentially harm the operator; however, it is a drawback when an explosion is desired.
Portrait identifying Schwarz as the "inventor of artillery" Berthold Schwarz O.F.M. (sometimes spelled Schwartz), also known as Berthold the Black and der Schwartzer, was a legendary German (or in some accounts Danish or Greek) alchemist of the late 14th century, credited with the invention of gunpowder by 15th- through 19th-century European literature.
His formulation (dubbed Schultze Powder) was composed of nitrolignose derived from nitrated wood grains, impregnated with saltpetre or barium nitrate. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] In 1882, the Explosive Company of Stowmarket introduced EC Powder , which contained nitro-cotton and nitrates of potassium and barium in a grain gelatinised by ether alcohol.
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A 1044 military book, Wujing Zongyao (Compilation of Military Classics), described various gunpowder recipes in which one can find, according to Joseph Needham, the prototype of the modern hand grenade. [5] Earliest known representation of a gun (a fire lance) and a grenade (upper right), Dunhuang, 10th century AD [6] [7]
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