page_title: Petronel
hierarchical_section_title: Petronel
caption_attribution_description: English: Hand cannon for a knight, called a petronel, from a manuscript in the ancient library of Burgundy. The articulated plate armour is characteristic of the latter half of the fifteenth century, though the bassinet has a movable vizor. These hand cannons were in use at the same time as the serpentine arquebuse, and even as the flint and steel arquebuses and muskets, i.e. till the beginning of the sixteenth century, as may be seen from the drawings, by Glockenthon, of the arms of the Emperor Maximilian I. (1505).
context_page_description: A Petronel is a 16th and 17th century Black powder muzzle loader firearm, defined by Robert Barret as a horsemans peece. It was the muzzle-loading firearm which developed on the one hand into the pistol and on the other into the carbine. The name was given to the weapon either because it was fired with the butt resting against the chest or it was carried slung from a belt across the chest. Petronels are found with either matchlock or wheellock mechanisms.
  The sclopus was the prototype of the petronel. The petronel is a compromise between the harquebus and the pistol. Early petronel dates back to the end of the 14th century, with rudely fashioned buttstock. Generally the touch hole is on the right side, and fired by separate match. Sometimes they had small hinged plate cover to protect the priming from damp. By extension, the term petronel was also used to describe the type of light cavalry who employed the firearm. The petronel was used to give support the Heavy Cavalry such as demi-lancers and cuirassiers. The petronel was succeeded by a similarly armed cavalryman called the harquebusier.
context_section_description: A Petronel is a 16th and 17th century Black powder muzzle loader firearm, defined by Robert Barret (Theorike and Practike of Modern Warres, 1598) as a horsemans peece. It was the muzzle-loading firearm which developed on the one hand into the pistol and on the other into the carbine. The name (French petrinel or poitrinal) was given to the weapon either because it was fired with the butt resting against the chest (French poitrine, Latin pectus) or it was carried slung from a belt across the chest. Petronels are found with either matchlock or wheellock mechanisms.
  The sclopus was the prototype of the petronel. The petronel is a compromise between the harquebus and the pistol. Early petronel dates back to the end of the 14th century, with rudely fashioned buttstock. Generally the touch hole is on the right side, and fired by separate match. Sometimes they had small hinged plate cover to protect the priming from damp. By extension, the term petronel was also used to describe the type of light cavalry who employed the firearm. The petronel (cavalryman) was used to give support the Heavy Cavalry such as demi-lancers and cuirassiers. The petronel was succeeded by a similarly armed cavalryman called the harquebusier.
caption: Early petronel, from a manuscript in the ancient library of Burgundy, by Glockenthon, of the arms of the Emperor Maximilian I (1505).
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