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The Musketeer
Though on the field 'the Gentlemen of the Pike craveth
the precedence', musketeers increasingly held the key
to seventeenth-century warfare.
Two basic patterns of musket were in use: The ordinary
musket with a barrel length of 4 ½ feet (1.4 metres),
and the lighter 'clavier' (harquebus) with a 3 ½ foot
(1.1 metre) barrel. Muskets were principally of the
matchlock pattern in which ignition of the powder charge
was achieved by plunging a burning length of 'Matchcord'
into the priming pan, the match held in a spring-loaded
metal jaw attached internally into the trigger. To
prevent the musket becoming useless by the extinction of
it's match, it was usual to keep both ends alight, one
in the jaws of the 'lock' and one in the musketeer's
hand, with a spare length of match wrapped around his
waist or hung on his bandolier. Loading and firing the
heavy musket with powder and ball was a slow but
uncomplicated manoeuvre with different 'postures', these
were used mostly for ceremonial occasions; a good
competent musketeer would know, without having to be
ordered, how to prepare his weapon for firing, to load
and prime it to blow on the matchcord until it glowed
red, to aim and fire, so that instructions in action
would be reduced to 'Make ready', 'present' and 'give
fire'. Because of the weight of the musket it was usual
to employ a 'rest', a spike-ended pole with u-shaped end
which was used to support the musket barrel when planted
vertically in the ground, most rests were discarded as
the war carried on. The cost of a new musket with
fittings was set in 1632 at 15 shillings and sixpence
and 10 pence for the rest though in 1645 the New Model
Army was buying muskets at 10 shillings each. There was
no standardisation of bore, despite attempts like that
of 1639 when the ordnance officers recommended lighter
muskets (3 ½ foot (1.1 metres) barrel, 10 ¼ - 11lbs in
weight with reduced charges to lessen recoil, to which
the counsel of war responded by ordering 5000 muskets
with 4 1/2feet (1.4 metre) barrels at 14lbs and 1000
with 3 ½ foot (1.1 metre) barrels at 12lbs; and in 1643
the King
 commanded
that 'the muskets be all of a bore, the pikes of a
length', but as material was scarce these orders were
only to come into effect when 'the arms shall be
decayed, and must be renewed'. Nevertheless, the heavy
lead ball (10 to the pound tight-fitting or 12 to the
pound 'rowling') could inflict the most terrible
injuries. The musketeer's equipment usually included a
buff leather bandolier from which hung 12 wooden or
leather tubes, each containing a measured amount of
powder sufficient for one shot, which the musketeer
could pour directly into the muzzle of his musket. These
tubes , were a constant hazard; when moving or in a
strong wind a regiments tubes would rattle together so
much as to announce the presence of the soldiers and
even drown shouted orders; worse still, they could
accidentally take fire, damaging the wearer and all
around him and causing (in Gwy'ns words) 'an incredible
confusion'. On the bandolier went one or two powder
flasks (one to use when the tubes ran out and one to
take finely-ground priming powder), a bullet bag, a
priming wire to clean the touch hole of the musket, and
often a small oil bottle; total cost of this assemblage
in 1629 was set at 2 shillings and sixpence., but the
New Model Army bought many in 1645 at half that price.
Musketeers were also issued with swords, (a good stiff
tuck not very long) and considered 'despicable' by
Turner, who recommended instead that they used the
musket butt as a club, which seems to have been an
acknowledged British tactic.
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