🏰 The Accidental Discovery That Made History
Matthias Dasse wasn't looking for fame when he walked the grounds near Kletzke Castle in 2023. The volunteer heritage conservator was conducting routine fieldwork in Brandenburg, Germany — the kind of methodical survey that usually turns up pottery shards and rusty nails. Instead, he spotted something that would challenge everything historians thought they knew about early firearms.
Bronze fragments. Just 6 centimeters long. Cast metal that looked deliberately shaped, not random debris. Dasse immediately handed his find to Gordon Thalmann, head of the Lower Monument Protection Authority of Prignitz. What followed was an analysis that stunned archaeologists across Europe.
The fragments belonged to the barrel of a hand cannon dating to around 1390 — potentially nine years older than the Tannenberg gun of 1399, previously considered Europe's earliest surviving portable firearm. The weapon, dubbed the "Kletzker Handrohr" (Kletzke hand cannon), marks the moment gunpowder arrived in Brandenburg.
Christof Krauskopf, head of the Brandenburg State Office for Heritage Management, put the discovery in perspective: "We had no written or archaeological evidence of firearms use from that period in Brandenburg." This single find rewrote 630 years of regional military history.
💡 Did You Know?
The earliest European firearms looked more like soda bottles than modern rifles. They measured about three feet long with barrel diameters of just 2 inches — primitive by today's standards but revolutionary for their time!
⚔️ The Siege of 1390: When Gunpowder Met Stone
The hand cannon's connection to the historic siege of Kletzke Castle in 1390 makes the discovery even more compelling. Franciscan monk Detmar of Lübeck recorded the brutal conflict: two dukes led 1,100 men against the fortress, controlled by the powerful von Quitzow family.
This wasn't just another medieval skirmish. The battle represented a period of intense regional conflicts in Brandenburg, where traditional siege warfare was beginning to incorporate revolutionary gunpowder technology. The castle's defenders ultimately repelled the attackers and maintained control of their stronghold, but they left behind evidence of warfare's evolution.
Centuries of renovations buried the battle's secrets beneath new construction. The castle was rebuilt and expanded, creating archaeological layers that preserved fragments of that pivotal moment when gunpowder weapons first appeared on German battlefields.
If the connection between the siege and the hand cannon proves definitive, the artifact becomes rare physical evidence of early firearms use in late medieval warfare. Krauskopf noted that the weapon likely wasn't manufactured locally but brought by external attackers — suggesting these new technologies spread rapidly across Europe's military networks.
🔬 The Technology That Changed Everything
Europe's first firearms represented a revolutionary shift in military technology. The transition from traditional weapons to gunpowder arms was built on three fundamental insights that forever changed warfare.
First, craftsmen realized that gunpowder's propulsive force could be used more effectively by containing it within a tubular barrel. This came from understanding that gunpowder's explosive energy didn't act instantaneously on the projectile — it needed time and space to develop its full force.
Second, they discovered that construction techniques from barrel-making could be adapted to create tubular gun barrels from wrought iron. Third, they concluded that a spherical projectile was optimal for these new weapons.
What seems simple today required medieval engineers to abandon everything they knew about siege warfare. Medieval engineers had to abandon centuries of accumulated knowledge about catapults, crossbows, and siege engines to embrace an entirely new paradigm.
🛠️ Forging the Future of War
The earliest cannons were probably cast from brass or bronze. Bell-casting techniques would suffice to produce the desired shapes, but copper alloys were expensive and initially not well-adapted to containing high-temperature, high-velocity gases.
Wrought iron solved both problems. Construction involved shaping several longitudinal rods into a tube by hammering them around a form called a mandrel and welding them together. Alternatively, a single sheet of iron could be wrapped around the mandrel and then welded.
The tube was then reinforced with a number of rings or hoops. These were forged with an internal diameter roughly equal to the tube's external diameter, heated to red or white heat, and slipped into position over the cold tube, where they were held fast by thermal contraction.
This technique allowed the construction of weapons far larger than had been possible previously. By the last quarter of the 14th century, wrought-iron siege bombards were firing 450-pound (200-kilogram) stone projectiles and more.
Forging Technique
Craftsmen used traditional blacksmithing techniques to create the first gun barrels from iron, adapting methods from barrel-making to forge weapons of war.
Heat Treatment
Metal rings were heated to extreme temperatures before being placed on the barrel, ensuring tight fit through thermal contraction as they cooled.
Structural Reinforcement
Multiple layers of metal rings provided the necessary strength for barrels to withstand the explosive pressure of gunpowder ignition.
📜 The Evolution of Artillery Technology
The hoop-and-stave construction method enabled the creation of weapons far larger than anything previously possible. These massive siege weapons were only feasible with stone projectiles. Cast iron has more than two and a half times the density of marble or granite, and gunners quickly learned that a cast-iron projectile with a good granular powder charge behind it was dangerous in any gun large enough for serious siege work.
Partly because of the difficulties of constructing a long, continuous barrel, and partly because of the relative ease of loading a powder charge into a short breech section, gunmakers soon learned to construct cannons in which the barrel and powder chamber were separate.
The breakthrough fixed several problems at once. Separate chambers allowed for easier loading, better powder management, and reduced manufacturing complexity. The modular design also meant that damaged components could be replaced without scrapping the entire weapon.
By the 15th century, these technological advances had transformed siege warfare completely. Castle walls that had stood for centuries became obsolete overnight. The age of gunpowder had begun, and there was no turning back.
💰 The 17th Century Treasure Trove
In another remarkable German discovery, construction workers installing a new sewage system on a farm in Wettin uncovered a hidden hoard of 285 silver coins. The coins, dating between 1499 and 1652, likely belonged to Johann Dondorf, who served as mayor of Wettin in the late 1660s.
The hoard contained a mix of large silver coins, including silver thalers minted by the Holy Roman Empire and foreign coins. While most finds were regional Saxon coins, there were some rarer pieces — a handful of Schreckenberg groschen coins, an Italian scudo from 1630, and a tallero minted in 1620 by the Grand Duke of Tuscany.
These coins tell a story of wealth accumulation during one of Europe's most devastating conflicts. The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) ravaged Central Europe, killing an estimated 8 million people. Yet some, like Dondorf, managed to prosper even in these dark times.
When the court assessed Dondorf's estate after his death in 1675, they discovered he had accumulated more than 2,500 thalers and 500 ducats (gold coins), which he had hidden in rooms throughout his house. The buried coins represent just a fraction of his total wealth.
⚖️ Discovery Comparison
🗺️ Implications for European History
Together, these finds reveal how quickly Europe adapted to gunpowder technology. The Thirty Years' War, referenced in connection with the Wettin treasure, was a conflict fought largely in Central Europe that resulted in an estimated 8 million deaths.
Wettin was an "exceptionally wealthy brewing town during and after the Thirty Years' War," and Dondorf's wealth became apparent at his death in 1675. The contrast between widespread devastation and individual prosperity illustrates the complex economic dynamics of wartime Europe.
The Kletzke hand cannon represents the technological foundation that made such conflicts possible. Gunpowder weapons didn't just change how wars were fought — they changed who could fight them. Traditional knightly warfare gave way to professional armies equipped with increasingly sophisticated firearms.
Both discoveries were presented on February 27 at the annual conference of the State Department of Archaeology. Krauskopf plans to continue studying the fragments, while Brandenburg authorities are working to develop the Kletzke site for archaeological tourism.