Curve balistiche di Tartaglia in una edizione del 1600.
gunner’s quadrant
A right-angled instrument held in the mouth of a gun as it was raised, until a plumb line showed the correct muzzle elevation for the estimated range to target. It may have been invented by Niccolo` Tartaglia.
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A major battle was not arguably decided by guns until Cerignola in 1503. And it was not until Marignano in 1515 that Swiss squares, dominant for 200 years, were decisively broken by pistol wielding cavalry and still more, by point-blank cannonades into their ranks. It was at Marignano that gunpowder weapon superiority was finally proven, and even then it was a close-run thing with guts as much as guns deciding the issue. After Marignano older weapons systems survived on the battlefield for many decades. This is best explained by cultural rather than technological factors: the old ways were still favored by the conservative warrior nobility whose exceptional status on and off the field of battle was threatened by the leveling power of musketry.
