View source for Mons Meg

{{Short description|Famous medieval bombard}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox weapon
| name               = Mons Meg
| image              = MonsMeg.JPG
| image_size         = 300
| caption            = Mons Meg with its {{convert|175|kg|adj=on}} [[Round shot|cannon balls]]
| origin             = [[Mons, Belgium|Mons]], [[County of Hainault|Hainault]], [[Wallonia]]
| type               = [[Cannon]]
<!-- Type selection -->| is_ranged          = yes
| is_bladed          = no
| is_explosive       = no
| is_artillery       = yes
| is_vehicle         = no
| is_missile         = no
| is_UK              = <!-- Service history -->
| service            = 
| used_by            = {{flag|Kingdom of Scotland}}
| wars               = <!-- Production history -->
| designer           = Jehan Cambier
| design_date        = 
| manufacturer       = 
| unit_cost          = 
| production_date    = June 1449
| number             = 
| variants           = <!-- General specifications --><!-- All data below from Schmidtchen (1977), pp. 166f. -->
| spec_label         = 
| weight             = 6.6 t
| length             = 406 cm
| part_length        = 280 cm
| width              = 
| height             = 
| diameter           = {{convert|20|in}}
| crew               = <!-- Ranged weapon specifications -->
| cartridge          = 
| cartridge_weight   = 175 kg
| calibre            = 
| barrels            = 
| action             = 
| rate               = 
| velocity           = 
| range              = 
| max_range          = 
| feed               = 
| sights             = <!-- Artillery specifications -->
| breech             = 
| recoil             = 
| carriage           = 
| elevation          = 
| traverse           = 
}}

'''Mons Meg''' is a [[Middle Ages|medieval]] [[Bombard (weapon)|bombard]] in the collection of the [[Royal Armouries]], on loan to [[Historic Environment Scotland]] and located at [[Edinburgh Castle]] in Scotland.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Royal Armouries |title=Loans out |url=http://www.royalarmouries.org/what-we-do/specialist-services/loans/loans-out |access-date=16 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171113060256/https://royalarmouries.org/what-we-do/specialist-services/loans/loans-out |archive-date=13 November 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It has a barrel diameter of {{convert|20|in}}, making it one of the [[List of the largest cannon by caliber|largest cannons in the world by calibre]].

Mons Meg was built in 1449 on the orders of [[Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy]], and sent by him as a gift to [[James II, King of Scots]], in 1454. The bombard was employed in [[Siege|sieges]] until the middle of the 16th century, after which it was only fired on ceremonial occasions. In 1680 the barrel burst, rendering Mons Meg unusable. The gun remained in Edinburgh Castle until 1754 when, along with other unused weapons in Scotland, it was taken to the Tower of London. Sir [[Walter Scott]] and others campaigned for its return, which was effected in 1829. Mons Meg has since been restored and is now on display within the castle.

== Construction ==
[[File:Boy in Mons Meg.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|The [[Gauge (firearms)| bore]] (internal diameter) of the cannon is {{convert|50|cm|in|abbr=on}}, plenty wide enough to contain a child.<ref name="def.tech,12.2016" />]]

The bombard was manufactured from 25 longitudinal staves of iron, held together with iron hoops [[Shrink-fitting|shrunk]] into place, to form one piece.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Owen |first1=Charles Henry |last2=Dames |first2=Thomas Longworth |title=Elementary Lectures on artillery |date=1859 |publisher=John Boddy |location=Woolwich |page=25|oclc= 18037111}}</ref><ref name=tech>{{cite web |title=Technique: Hoop and Band |url=https://royalarmouries.org/collection/facet/technique/Hoop%20and%20Band |website=royalarmouries.org |publisher=[[Royal Armouries]] |language=en |access-date=29 January 2024}}</ref> A separate [[Chamber (firearms)|breech]] for loading is [[Screw thread|screw-fitted]] into the rear of the barrel.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bombard and carriage—Mons Meg—1449 |url=https://royalarmouries.org/collection/object/object-2703 |website=royalarmouries.org |publisher=Royal Armouries |access-date=29 January 2024 |language=en}}</ref> The barrel is attached to the powder chamber by means of a groove on the powder chamber into which lugs on the end of the barrel staves fit, and then bound permanently together by the hoops. The powder chamber itself is made from small pieces of iron hammer-welded together to make a solid wrought-iron forging.<ref name="royalarmouries">{{cite book |title=Bombards: Mons Meg and her sisters|last1=Smith |first1=Robert D |last2=Brown |first2=Ruth Rhynas |series=Royal Armouries Monograph number 1 |year=1989 |publisher=Royal Armouries |isbn=0948092092}}</ref> Mons Meg has a diameter of {{convert|19|in}}, one of the largest ever built,<ref name="def.tech,12.2016">{{cite journal |last1=Lewtas |first1=Ian |last2=McAlister |first2=Rachael |last3=Wallis |first3=Adam |last4=Woodley |first4=Clive |last5=Cullis |first5=Ian |title=The ballistic performance of the bombard Mons Meg |journal=Defence Technology |date=April 2016 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=59–68 |doi=10.1016/j.dt.2015.12.001|doi-access=free }}</ref> weighs {{convert|15366|lb}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Bradbury |first=Jim |title=The Medieval Siege |year=1992 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-0-85115-357-5 |page=287 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fKFRvUiLEQYC&pg=PA287 |language=en}}</ref> and is {{convert|13|ft}} in length.<ref>{{cite web |title=Edinburgh Castle, Mons Meg {{!}} Canmore |url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/52069/edinburgh-castle-mons-meg |website=canmore.org.uk |access-date=24 November 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Mons Meg, Medieval Bombard, Edinburgh, Scotland. Pic 01.jpg|thumb|Sideview. The oval slots in the breech were for levers to unscrew it from the barrel.<ref name=tech/>]]
[[File:Mons Meg, Medieval Bombard, Edinburgh, Scotland. Pic 03.jpg|thumb|Burst iron ring which put the cannon out of use, revealing the iron staves forming the barrel]]
Mons Meg was constructed by Jehan Cambier, artillery maker to the Duke of Burgundy.<ref>Morvern French & Roger Mason, 'Art, Artefacts, Artillery', Alexander Fleming & Roger Mason, ''Scotland and the Flemish People'' (John Donald, 2019), pp. 110-2.</ref> It was tested at [[Mons, Belgium|Mons]] in the [[County of Hainault]] in what is now Belgium, in June 1449; the duke did not take delivery of the Mons Meg until 1453. He gave the bombard to Scotland's King James II in 1457 as a sign of his support for the Scottish king, whose marriage he had helped negotiate.<ref>{{cite book |last=McGladdery |first=Christine |title=James II |date=2015 |publisher=Birlinn Ltd |location=Edinburgh, Scotland |page=201 |edition=2}}</ref>

An alternative legend about its manufacture is that it was built by a local blacksmith for the siege of [[Threave Castle]] in the [[Stewartry of Kirkcudbright]]. According to this tale, which was lent credence by Sir Walter Scott, when King James arrived at Threave to besiege the [[William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas|Earl of Douglas]], the [[Clan MacLellan]] presented him with this bombard. The first shot fired is said to have passed clean through the castle, severing the hand of [[Margaret Douglas, Fair Maid of Galloway|Margaret, Countess of Douglas]], on the way. The gun was subsequently named after "Mollance", the lands given to the blacksmith for his service and "Meg", the name of his wife. Later historians have not taken this legend particularly seriously, not least because of the improbability that such a weapon could be forged by a village smith, as well as there being ample provenance showing its history.<ref name="royalarmouries"/><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.kirkcudbright.co/historyarticle.asp?ID=191&p=29&g=5 |title=The Ancient Bombard, Preserved at Edinburgh Castle |journal=The Archaeological Journal |volume=10 |year=1853 |access-date=16 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=McGladdery |first=Christine |title=James II |date=2015 |publisher=Birlinn Ltd |location=Edinburgh, Scotland |isbn=9781904607892 |page=208}}</ref>

The {{convert|20|in|mm|-diameter|adj=mid}} cannon accepted stone [[Round shot|balls]] that weighed {{convert|175|kg}}. In April 1497, John Mawer elder, one of the castle gunners, made new wheels for Mons Meg and the bombards. The cannon was drawn down the [[Royal Mile]] to the sound of minstrels playing, placed on a new carriage or "cradle" and taken to assault [[Norham Castle]] in August 1497.<ref>Thomas Dickson, ''Accounts of the Treasurer'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 328, 347–350.</ref> [[John Stewart, Duke of Albany|Regent Albany]] brought Mons Meg to [[Stirling Castle]] in August 1515 to threaten [[Margaret Tudor]], who kept her son [[James V of Scotland]] in the castle.<ref>J. S. Brewer, ''Letters and Papers, Henry VIII'', 2:1 (London, 1864), clxxix, 209 no. 788.</ref>

In early years the gun, like the other royal cannon, was painted with [[Lead(II,IV) oxide|red lead]] to keep it from rusting, which cost 30 shillings in June 1539.<ref name="Accountsof">''Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland'', vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), 222.</ref> From the 1540s Meg was retired from service and was fired only on ceremonial occasions from Edinburgh Castle. When it was fired on 3 July 1558, soldiers were paid to find and retrieve the shot from [[Trinity, Edinburgh|Wardie Muir]], near the [[Firth of Forth]], a distance of two miles.<ref name="royalarmouries"/> The salute marked the solemnisation of the marriage of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], to the French [[Francis II of France|Dauphin]].<ref>''Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), ccxxiii footnote; vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1913), lxxv–lxxvi, 367.</ref>

The gun was fired on 30 October 1680 to celebrate a visit by [[James II of England|James, Duke of Albany and York]] (later King James VII), but the barrel burst.<ref name="def.tech,12.2016"/> An English cannoneer had loaded the charge and many Scots believed that the damage was done on purpose out of jealousy, because the English had no cannon as big as this. The incident was also seen as a bad omen for the future King.<ref>Chambers, Robert (1885). ''Domestic Annals of Scotland''. Edinburgh : W & R Chambers. p. 329.</ref>

The cannon was left outside Foog's Gate at Edinburgh Castle. It was next taken, with other disused ordnance, to the [[Tower of London]] in 1754, as a result of the disarming acts against [[Jacobitism|Jacobites]] aimed at removing weapons or spare cannon from the reach of rebellious folk.<ref name="royalarmouries"/> It was returned to the castle in 1829 by order of [[George IV]] after a series of campaigns by Sir Walter Scott and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.<ref name="royalarmouries"/> Following a restoration, it sits outside [[St Margaret's Chapel]]. During the Edinburgh's annual [[Hogmanay]] celebrations Mons Meg is fired at the start of the firework display, although the effect is largely theatrical and the gun is not discharged.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/PeopleInDefence/shannonTheCannonEdinburghsDistrictGunner.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100423180419/http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/PeopleInDefence/shannonTheCannonEdinburghsDistrictGunner.htm |archive-date=23 April 2010 |title='Shannon the Cannon' – Edinburgh's District Gunner |date=3 February 2009 |publisher=Ministry of Defence |access-date=14 May 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{{blockquote|Mons Meg was a large old-fashioned piece of ordnance, a great favourite with the Scottish common people; she was fabricated at Mons in Flanders, in the reign of James IV. or V. of Scotland. This gun figures frequently in the public accounts of the time, where we find charges for grease, to grease Meg's mouth withal (to increase, as every schoolboy knows, the loudness of the report), ribands to deck her carriage, and pipes to play before her when she was brought from the Castle to accompany the Scottish army on any distant expedition. After the Union, there was much popular apprehension that the [[Regalia of Scotland]], and the subordinate Palladium, Mons Meg, would be carried to England to complete the odious surrender of national independence. The Regalia, sequestered from the sight of the public, were generally supposed to have been abstracted in this manner. As for Mons Meg, she remained in the Castle of Edinburgh, till, by order of the Board of Ordnance, she was actually removed to Woolwich about 1757. The Regalia, by his Majesty's special command, have been brought forth from their place of concealment in 1818, and exposed to the view of the people, by whom they must be looked upon with deep associations; and, in this very winter of 1828–9, Mons Meg has been restored to the country, where that, which in every other place or situation was a mere mass of rusty iron, becomes once more a curious monument of antiquity.|Notes to ''[[Rob Roy (novel)|Rob Roy]]'', Sir Walter Scott}}

===Naming===
[[File:Dulle Griet - Mad Meg.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Dulle Griet]]'' on display in [[Ghent]]]]

The gun is not called "Mons Meg" in any contemporary references until 1678. In 1489, she first appears in record as "Monss" and in the painter's account of 1539 she is called; "Monce in the castell", the only piece with an individual name. In 1650 she was noted as "Muckle Meg".<ref name="Accountsof"/><ref>''Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland'', vol. 1, Edinburgh (1877), ccxx–ccxxiii, 115.</ref> "Meg" may either be a reference to [[Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland|Margaret of Denmark]], queen of [[James III of Scotland]], or simply an alliteration, while Mons was one of the locations where the cannon was tested. McKenzie records that this class of artillery was known as a ''murderer'' and Mons Meg was certainly described as such.<ref>McKenzie, Page 319</ref> Mons Meg was made in the town of Mons (now the Walloon French-speaking part of Belgium) or Bergen (in Dutch as in those days it was part of Flanders). Three cannons were founded, one resides in Edinburgh, one in the Flemish town of Ghent at the Friday Market and one in France but this disappeared ages ago. The one in Ghent can be visited today, undamaged. The cannon is named "[[Dulle Griet]]" which translates into "Mad Meg".

===Evolution of the carriage===
[[File:Mons Meg 1885.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|left|[[Engraving]] of Mons Meg at [[Edinburgh Castle]] in the 1680s, showing details of the carriage construction]]

For a while in its early days the Mons sat on a plain box without any wheels. Evidently, when Mons Meg was removed from Edinburgh Castle in 1754, her carriage had long since rotted away. A contemporary account describes her as lying "on the ground" near the innermost gate to the castle.<ref>Blair, Claude (1967) "A New Carriage for Mons Meg" ''Journal of the Arms and Armour Society London'' V(12) pages 431–452</ref> Presumably the Ordnance Board fabricated a new carriage after her arrival at the Tower. In 1835, after the return of Mons Meg to Edinburgh Castle, the London-made carriage rotted away too and fabrication of a cast-iron replacement was undertaken; the new carriage weighed three-and-a-half tons and cost £53.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lead |first=Peter |title=Mons Meg - a symbol of Scotland |publisher=Stenlake Publishing Ltd |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-84033-920-8 |location=Catrine |pages=41 |language=English}}</ref> Mons Meg is now mounted on a reproduction of the carriage depicted in a carving of {{c.}} 1500 on a wall of Edinburgh Castle, built in 1934 at a cost of £178 and paid for by the [[Lord Provost of Edinburgh]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Mons Meg Cannon at Edinburgh Castle to have a 'MOT'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-30882612|website=BBC|date=19 January 2015|access-date=21 January 2015}}</ref>

{{Clear}}

==See also==
* [[List of the largest cannon by caliber]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* Gaier, Claude (1967) ''The Origin of Mons Meg.'' Journal of the Arms and Armour Society London '''V'''(12) 425–431
* Grose, Francis (1801) ''Military Antiquities respecting a History of the English Army from the Conquest to the Present Time.'' T. Egerton and G. Kearsley London, UK
* Hewitt, J (1853) ''Mons Meg the ancient bombard, preserved at Edinburgh castle.'' Archeological Journal '''10''' 25–32
* Lead, Peter (1984) ''Mons Meg: A Royal Cannon.'' Mennock Publishing Cheshire, UK
* Lead, Peter (2021) ''Mons Meg - a symbol of Scotland.'' Catrine: Stenlake Publishing Ltd
* McKenzie, Agnes Mure (1948). ''Scottish Pageant 1513–1625''. Edinburgh : Oliver & Boyd.
* Norris, John (2003) ''Early Gunpowder Artillery 1300–1600'' Motorbooks International
* [[James Balfour Paul|Paul, James Balfour, Sir]] (1915–1916) ''Ancient Artillery. With Some Notes on Mons Meg.'' Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland '''50''' 191–201
* Sands, Kathleen (1999) ''Though one of the best-documented of medieval bombards, Mons Meg was the subject of exaggeration and legend Military History.'' '''16'''(3) 22–23
* [[Walter Scott|Scott, Walter, Sir]] (1817) ''Waverley Novels, Rob Roy'' (Notes G) Edinburgh
* {{citation
  | last = Schmidtchen
  | first = Volker
  | title = Riesengeschütze des 15. Jahrhunderts. Technische Höchstleistungen ihrer Zeit
  | journal = Technikgeschichte
  | pages = 153–173 (166–168)
  | volume = 44
  | issue = 2
  | year = 1977}}
* Smith, Robert D and Brown, Ruth Rhynas ''Bombards- Mons Meg and her sisters'' Royal Armouries Monograph 1 {{ISBN|0-948092-09-2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Mons Meg}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150902071553/http://www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk/ The official Edinburgh Castle website]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20201205184708/https://www.edinburgh-royalmile.com/destination-pages/castle/mons-meg/ Mons Meg at Edinburgh Castle]}}
* [http://www.rampantscotland.com/edinburgh/bledin_meg.htm Photo of Mons Meg] from RampantScotland.com

{{Early firearms}}
{{Artillery of the Middle Ages}}

[[Category:560 mm artillery]]
[[Category:Artillery of Belgium]]
[[Category:Artillery of Scotland]]
[[Category:Edinburgh Castle]]
[[Category:History of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Individual cannons]]
[[Category:Medieval artillery]]
[[Category:Military history of Scotland]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Edinburgh]]