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Weapons In The Elizabethan Era

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During the Elizabethan time there were a variety of weapons used for defence and leisure. Despite the end of the medieval times, many of its weapons were still in use (Mahabal). Because of this, the Queen pushed to have new, modern weapons be created in case of a war. The threat of a war was real because of the constant dispute between the Catholic Spanish and the French (Alchin). Most of the weaponry that came to be happened to influence English history forever such as the Rapier, the musket, and the cannon.
The Rapier was the sword of choice during the Elizabethan Era. It is a 42 inch sword that has a 1 inch tip. This sword mostly weighed between 2 and 3 pounds so it was light and versatile. The Rapiers tend to have a stylish and royal appeal to them with the designs that encompass the handle. A fair portion of these swords were used for fencing more than a fighting weapon. Some Rapiers had a “cutless” edge which means that they wouldn’t cut the person they were fencing against. They would typically come with a …show more content…

The musket revolutionized weaponry during the Elizabethan era. This weapon was a muzzleloader which means in order to load the gun, the user must put the musket ball in at the end of the barrel (Britannica). It was approximately five feet long and weighed 20 pounds (Britannica). The musket had a matchlock system on it that used a lit match to light gunpowder on fire and the explosion caused a musket ball go sailing out (Norman & Pottinger 168). The musket balls weighed 57 grams and came in calibres between .69 and.75 inches in diameter.(Britannica) The musket balls could fly up to 175 yards, which is almost the length of the 2 football fields (Britannica). The early muskets were not very accurate but England was able to fix this and allow them to hit a person at 80-100 yards (Britannica). The musket will go down in history as one of the most famous weapons of the Elizabethan

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