Artyleria i ręczna broń palna zamku kamienieckiego w epoce jagiellońskiej
Artillery and manual firearms of the Kamianets-Podilskyi fortress in the Jagiellonian era

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the artillery and firearms which were deployed and stored in Kamianets-Podilskyi fortress (then Podolian Voivodeship, today the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi of the Khmelnytskyi district in Ukraine) in the Jagiellonian era. This fortress was a key element of the defense system of the Jagellonian state, in particular the Podolia region. The article is based on the source studies and statistical analysis of the descriptions of the fortress from 1494, 1535, 1543, 1544, 1570 and 1572 stored in the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, mostly published by the Polish and Ukrainian researchers. The descriptions demonstrate that in the earlier period the castle artillery consisted of older medieval cannon types like tarasnica and hufnica (howitzer), but starting from the 3rd decade of the 16th century it had been gradually modernized by introduction of newer cannons of different types: serpentines, falconets, veuglaires and ribauldequins. From time to time the armaments of Kamianets fortress were reinforced by additional supplies of cannons and shells from Krakow and Lviv arsenals, while the garrison of Kamianets also occasionally transferred some of its cannons and handguns to the neighboring castles if needed. The stocks of small arms were also gradually expanded, and the garrison simultaneously used older types of weapons (hand cannons, hackbuts,) as well as more modern arquebuses. Though a considerable part of armaments was not completely functional, it had not been decommissioned, since it could have been repaired. Artillery, firearms, supplies and spare parts were stored in the towers and other castle premises.

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