Arquebus The arquebus ( or ) ( sometimes spelled harquebus , harkbus or hackbut ; from Dutch " hakebusse " , meaning " hook gun " ) , or " hook tube " , is an early muzzle - loaded firearm used in the 15th to 17th centuries . In distinction from its predecessor the hand cannon , it has a matchlock . Like its successor the musket , it is a smoothbore firearm , but was initially lighter and easier to carry . It is a forerunner of the rifle and other longarm firearms . An improved version of the arquebus , the caliver , was introduced in the early 16th century . The word is derived from the English corruption of calibre as this gun was of standard bore , increasing combat effectiveness as troops could load bullets that would fit their guns ( before , they would have to modify shot to fit , force it in , or cast their own before the battle ) . Heavy arquebuses mounted on wagons were called arquebus à croc . These carried a ball of about . Terminology . In the early 16th century , the term " arquebus " had a confusing variety of meanings . Some writers used it to denote any matchlock shoulder gun , referring to light versions as " caliver " and heavier pieces fired from a fork rest as " musket " . Others treated the " arquebus " and " caliver " synonymously , both referring to the lighter , forkless shoulder - fired matchlock . As the 16th century progressed , the term arquebus came to be clearly reserved for the lighter forkless weapon . When the wheel lock was introduced , wheel - lock shoulder arms came to be called arquebuses , while lighter , forkless matchlock and flintlock shoulder weapons continued to be called calivers . In the mid - 17th century , the light flintlock versions came to be called " fusils " or " fuzees " . Effectiveness . As a low - velocity firearm , the arquebus was used against enemies who were often partially or fully protected by steel - plate armor . Plate armor worn upon the torso was standard in European combat from about 1400 until the middle of the 17th century . Good suits of plate would usually stop an arquebus ball at long range . It was a common practice to " proof " ( test ) armor by firing a pistol or arquebus at a new breastplate . The small dent would be circled by engraving to call attention to it . However , at close range , it was possible to pierce even heavy cavalry armor , heavily dependent on the power of the arquebus and the quality of the armor . This led to changes in armor usage , such as the three - quarter plate , and finally the retirement of plate armor from most types of infantry . The development of volley fire - by the Dutch in Europe , and by the Chinese and the Portuguese in Asia - made the arquebus of practical advantage to modern militaries . Volley fire allowed armies to turn their usual formation into a rotating firing squad with each row of soldiers firing a shot then marching to the back of the formation to reload . Inspired by reading Aelian ' s descriptions of the use of ranks and the counter march by soldiers of Imperial Rome in the context of the Roman sword gladius and spear pilium , William Louis , Count of Nassau - Dillenburg in a ' crucial leap ' realized that the same technique could work for men with firearms . In a letter to his cousin Maurice of Nassau , Prince of Orange in December 8 , 1594 he said : Once volley firing had been developed , the rate of fire and efficiency was greatly increased and the arquebus went from being a support weapon to the primary focus of most early modern armies . Mechanism . The arquebus had a larger bore than its predecessors . Until the middle of the 16th century , they were fired by a matchlock mechanism , after which the newer wheellock mechanisms were used instead . The flared muzzle of some examples made it easier to load the weapon . The name ' hook gun ' is often claimed to be based on the bent shape of the arquebus ' butt . It might also be that some of the original arquebuses had a metal hook near the muzzle that may have been used for bracing against a solid object to absorb recoil . Since all the arquebuses were handmade by various gunsmith s , there is no typical specimen . The trigger mechanism of an early arquebus most often resembled that of a crossbow : a gently curved lever pointing backward and parallel to the stock ( see illustration of Spanish arquebusier below ) . Squeezing the lever against the stock depressed a sear which was in turn linked to the base of the serpentine that held the match . The serpentine then brought the match into the flash pan to ignite the priming , firing the weapon . By the later 16th century , gunsmiths in most countries had begun to introduce the short trigger perpendicular to the stock that is familiar to modern shooters . However , the majority of French matchlock arquebuses retained the crossbow - style trigger throughout the 17th century . History . The first usage of the arquebus in large numbers was in Hungary under king Matthias Corvinus ( r . 1458 – 1490 ) . Every fourth soldier in the Black Army had an arquebus in the infantry , and every fifth regarding the whole army , which was an unusual ratio at the time . Although they were generally present in the battlefield King Mathias preferred enlisting shielded men instead , as the arquebus had a low rate of fire . The same applied for the primitive cannons and bombards , which were ineffective compared to siege engines , especially against a stone stronghold . Arquebusiers were very effective against cavalry and even other infantry , particularly when placed with pikemen in the pike and shot formation , which revolutionised the Spanish military . An example of where this formation was used and succeeded is the decisive Battle of Cerignola ( 1503 ) , which was one of the first battles to utilise this formation , and was the first battle to be won through the use of gunpowder - based small arms . The Arquebus also evolved in Russia in the early 1500s as a smaller version of a larger , hand - held artillery weapon . The arquebusiers , or pishchal ' niki as the Russians called them , were seen as integral parts of the army and ‘ One thousand pishchal ' niki were outfitted at treasury expense and participated in the final annexation of Pskov in 1510 , as well as the conquest of Smolensk in 1512 , but were disbanded after each campaign . They were revived in 1545 when two thousand pishchal ' niki ( one thousand on horseback ) were levied by the towns and outfitted at treasury expense . ’ Their use of mounted troops was also unique to the time period . The Russians developed their pishchal ' niki as a skilled tradesman and gave them extra incentives through farming and made their trade something passed on from father to son and not something for which one was conscripted . Arquebuses were used in the Italian Wars of the first half of the 16th century . Portuguese and Spanish conquerors also made use of the weapon overseas . Arquebuses were carried by some of the soldiers of Hernán Cortés in his conquest of Mexico in the 1520s , and arquebuses played an important role in the victories of Cristóvão da Gama ' s small and outnumbered army in his 1541 – 42 campaign in Ethiopia . Arquebuses were also used in the Moroccan victory over the Songhai Empire at the Battle of Tondibi in 1590 . Arquebuses were introduced to Japan in 1543 by Portuguese traders , who landed by accident on Tanegashima , an island south of Kyūshū in the region controlled by the Shimazu clan . By 1550 , copies of the Portuguese arquebus referred to as " tanegashima , teppō or hinawaju " were being produced in large quantities . The tanegashima seems to have been based on snap matchlock s that were produced in the armory of Goa India , which was captured by the Portuguese in 1510 and within ten years of its introduction upwards of three hundred thousand tanegashima were reported to have been manufactured . The tanegashima eventually became one of the most important weapons in battles all over Japan . Oda Nobunaga revolutionized musket tactics in Japan by splitting loaders and shooters and assigning three guns to a shooter at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575 . Tanegashima were widely used during Hideyoshi ' s unification of Japan and later the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592 . Maurice of Nassau increased the effectiveness of the arquebus in military formations when he adapted standardized weaponry and utilized volley fire techniques . After outfitting his entire army with new , standardized arms in 1599 , Maurice of Nassau made an attempt to recapture Spanish forts built on former Dutch lands . In the Battle of Nieuwpoort in 1600 , he administered the new techniques and technologies for the first time . The Dutch marched onto the beach where the fort was located and fully utilized the countermarching tactic . By orienting all of his arquebusiers into a block , he was able to maintain a steady stream of fire out of a disciplined formation using volley fire tactics that until then had not been utilized in combat . The result was a lopsided victory with 4000 Spanish casualties to only 1000 dead and 700 wounded on the Dutch side . Archery . The arquebus was unable to match the accuracy of a bow in the hands of a highly skilled archer . The arquebus did , however , have a faster rate of fire than the most powerful crossbow , a shorter learning curve than a longbow , and was more powerful than either . The arquebus does not rely on the physical strength of the user for propulsion of the projectile . This makes it easier to find a suitable recruit . It also means that an arquebusier loses less of his battlefield effectiveness than an archer or crossbowman when he loses strength due to fatigue , malnutrition or sickness . The arquebusier also had the added advantage of frightening enemies ( and horses ) with the noise . Wind can reduce the accuracy of archery , but has much less of an effect on an arquebus . Perhaps most important , producing an effective arquebusier required much less training than producing an effective bowman . During a siege it was also easier to fire an arquebus out of loopholes than it was a bow and arrow . It was also possible to load an arquebus ( and indeed any smoothbore gun ) with small shot rather than a single ball . Small shot did not pack the same punch as a single round ball but the shot could hit and wound multiple enemies . The arquebus required a much lower level of skill than the typical archer . Most archers spend their whole lives training to fire with accuracy , but with drill and instruction , the arquebusier was able to learn his profession in months as opposed to years . This low level of skill made it a lot easier to outfit an army of them in a short amount of time as well as expand the small arms ranks as the technology and tactics made them more viable in combat . This idea of lower skilled , lightly armoured units was the driving force in the infantry revolution that took place in the 16th and 17th centuries and allowed early modern infantries to phase out the longbow . An arquebusier could carry more ammunition and powder than a crossbowman or longbowman could with bolts or arrow s . Once the methods were developed , powder and shot were relatively easy to mass - produce , while arrow making was a genuine craft requiring highly skilled labor . The arquebus was more sensitive to humid weather . At the Battle of Villalar , rebel troops lost the battle badly partially due to having a high proportion of arquebusiers combined with the battle taking place in a rainstorm which rendered the weapons nigh - useless . Gunpowder also ages much faster than a bolt or an arrow , particularly if improperly stored . Also , the resources needed to make gunpowder were less universally available than the resources needed to make bolts and arrows . Bows do not really consume anything the way an arquebus consumes gunpowder . Finding and reusing arrows or bolts was a lot easier than doing the same with arquebus bullets . This was a useful way to reduce the cost of practice , or resupply oneself if control of the battlefield after a battle was retained . A bullet must fit a barrel much more precisely than an arrow or bolt must fit a bow , so the arquebus required more standardization and made it harder to resupply by looting bodies of fallen soldiers . Gunpowder production was also far more dangerous than arrow production . An arquebus was also significantly more dangerous to its user . The arquebusier carries a lot of gunpowder on his person and has a lit match in one hand . The same goes for the soldiers next to him . Amid the confusion , stress and fumbling of a battle , arquebusiers are potentially a danger to themselves . Early arquebuses tended to have a drastic recoil . They took a long time to load making them vulnerable while reloading unless using the ' continuous fire ' tactic , where one line would shoot and , while the next line shot , would reload . They also tended to overheat . During repeated firing , guns could become clogged and explode , causing pieces of metal and wood to break off , which could be dangerous to the gunner and even those around him . In this context it should be added that reloading an arquebus requires more fine motor skills and movements than reloading a bow or crossbow . This is a disadvantage in a combat situation since stress has a very negative impact on fine motor skills . Furthermore , the amount of smoke produced by black - powder weapons was considerable , making it hard to see the enemy after a few salvos , unless there was enough wind to disperse the smoke quickly . ( Conversely , this cloud of smoke also served to make it difficult for any archers to target the opposing soldiers that were using handguns ) . Prior to the wheellock , the need for a lit match made stealth and concealment nearly impossible , particularly at night . Even with successful concealment , the smoke emitted by a single arquebus shot would make it quite obvious where a shot came from – at least in daylight . While with a crossbow or bow a soldier could conceivably kill silently , this was of course impossible with an explosion - driven projectile weapon like the arquebus . The noise of arquebuses and the ringing in the ears that it caused could also make it hard to hear shouted commands . In the long run , the weapon could make the user permanently hard of hearing . Bows and crossbows could shoot over obstacles by firing with high - arcing ballistic trajectories in order to reach the enemy when the person or object had some frontal but no overhead cover ( such as when troops are in melee with the enemy ) — albeit with much less accuracy .