Към проблема за появата на огнестрелното оръжие по българските земи
Towards the problem of the emergence of firearms in the Bulgarian lands

Summary/Abstract: The present article aims at providing answers to the questions how and when the firearms emerged in the medieval Bulgarian lands. At the beginning, the text provides arguments for the thesis that regardless of the ancient Far Eastern origin of the gunpowder, the modern firearms were first constructed in Western Europe, and the Italian merchants began to export them from there to the Dalmatian coast of the Balkans around the middle of the 14th century. The study continues with an attempt for clarifying the chronology and tracing the stages of the initial spreading of the firearms in Southeastern Europe, as well as the earliest proofs of their use in the territories inhabited by the medieval Bulgarian people. After analysis of the evidence provided by a wide range of primary historical sources (including Greek, Latin, Bulgarian, Serbian, Russian, Turkish, Italian, French and German medieval documents and narratives), the article comes to the conclusion that the gunpowder weapons most probably were introduced for the first time in the Bulgarian lands in the last two decades of the 14th century.

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