Dulle Griet

Dulle Griet
The Dulle Griet at Ghent
Type	Bombard
Place of origin	Ghent, Holy Roman Empire
Service history
Used by	City of Ghent
Production history
Designed	First half of 15th cent.
Specifications
Weight	~ 16.4 t
Length	498 cm
Barrel length	345 cm
Diameter	90.5 cm (maximum outer diameter)
Shell weight	340 kg
Caliber	64 cm (ball diameter)

The Dulle Griet ("Mad Meg", named after the Flemish folklore figure Dull Gret) is a medieval supergun from Ghent, Belgium. The wrought-iron bombard was constructed in the first half of the 15th century from 32 longitudinal bars enclosed by 61 rings.^[1] In 1452, the bombard was employed by the city of Ghent in the siege of Oudenaarde, but fell into the hands of the defenders on the retreat and was only returned to Ghent in 1578.^[2] Today, the bombard is set up close to the Friday Market square in the old town.

Besides the Dulle Griet, a number of 15th century European superguns are known to have been employed primarily in siege warfare, including the wrought-iron Pumhart von Steyr and Mons Meg as well as the cast-bronze Faule Mette, Faule Grete and Grose Bochse.

See also

• List of the largest cannon by caliber

Footnotes

1. ^ Schmidtchen 1977, p. 165
2. ^ Schmidtchen 1977, p. 166

References

• Schmidtchen, Volker (1977), "Riesengeschütze des 15. Jahrhunderts. Technische Höchstleistungen ihrer Zeit", Technikgeschichte 44 (2): 153–173 (164–166) 

External links

Media related to Dulle Griet at Wikimedia Commons