szultáni ágyúöntő műhelyben (Tophâne-i Âmire) folyó tevékenység a 16. század elején (Fordította: Papp Sándor)
Activities at the Imperial gun-foundry (Tophâne-i Âmire) in the early 16th century. Translated by Sándor Papp

Summary/Abstract: One of the important questions in the literature on Ottoman military history is when they started using guns in the Turkish army at all. Western and Turkish historians hold differing views on the subject. Most recent researches in Turkish archives and the studies based on them indicate that the first period of the Ottoman artillery can be dated to the late 14th and the early 15th centuries. The paper directs attention to the importance of the sources concerning the economic history of this early period which are expected to yield further information on the development of Ottoman artillery. The rest of the paper introduces the activities of the gun-foundry of the Sultan (Tophânei Âmire). The author discusses the military events during the time of Yavuz Sultan Selim, such as the Persian campaign with the battle of Çaldiran as well as the military operations against Egypt, connecting to them the data concerning the guns founded and carried to the battlefield during the said military operations. The paper provides numerical data on the size of the material burden a major Turkish campaign placed on the central administrative apparatus. It is possible to see what immense sums the Ottoman Empire was able to invest in order to have the most up-to-date military branch at its disposal on the battlefield. Using the same methods, the author discusses the military campaigns of Kânunî Sultan Süleymân and the activity of the gun-foundry in the Tophâne. It would seem from the data that 1014 guns of various sizes were cast in the Tophâne between the capture of Belgrade (1522) and the battle of Mohács (1526). There is no information concerning the number of old cannons in battle order at the time, but that was also probably in the thousands. The paper concludes with lists of the instruments used in the Tophâne, and the crafts of the workers that were employed therein.

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