Pellet and Bolt Crossbow Combined with a Wheel-Lock Gun 1545 - 1625

Jacob Floris, a Netherlandish artist, made this combination weapon, a pellet and bolt crossbow combined with a wheel-lock gun, sometime in the mid-16th century. Combining these two technologies of warfare into a single weapon reveals much about the culture that produced it. The crossbow itself was a medieval weapon, associated with mercenaries and peasant armies. The wheel-lock gun was a more recent invention, a type of firearm that was complex and expensive to produce, and which was thus associated with wealthy elites. In this context, this combination weapon speaks to the changing dynamics of warfare in the early modern period, as older forms of military organization were gradually supplanted by newer ones. The elaborate ivory inlay also speaks to the weapon's status as a luxury object, befitting a princely owner. The historian must be sensitive to the social and technological context of such an object, looking to sources such as military treatises, account books, and inventories. This can reveal the meanings that were attached to such objects in their own time.