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Weapons of Warre: the armaments of the Mary Rose (2 vols) – Edited by Alexzandra Hildred

Although third in the running order of the Mary Rose project’s 5-part initial publishing schedule, this is the final pair of volumes in the series to be completed. That all have now finally come to fruition is a significant milestone not only for the project, but for nautical archaeology and naval history more generally. Very few shipwreck excavations on this scale have yet been published in anything approaching definitive form. Not that this will be the last word on this longterm and multi-faceted investigation which began more than three decades ago. The Mary Rose Trust has very properly emphasized that much more work, particularly on the study and analysis of the ship and its associated equipment, remains to be done. However The Archaeology of the Mary Rose, in spite of shortcomings and gaps in some areas, now provides a foundation upon which future scholars can confidently build, together with the extensive archaeological resource to be housed in the new museum at Portsmouth, expected to open within two years. But Weapons of Warre, which many will consider one of the project’s highlights, has covered its own specialized ground so thoroughly that it will probably generate the fewest opportunities for fresh research, though it is ripe for further synthesis and incorporation into the mainstream of Tudor naval history. A vast corpus of material relating to the ship’s varied armament is exhaustively presented and described in these two volumes, and the associated analyses are comprehensive, detailed, and perceptive. Alexzandra Hildred’s credited status as editor is curious, however, for this is manifestly her book, most of it being written by her or in productive collaboration with other experts. From the early days of the project she has specialized in the ship’s weaponry and led its subsequent study all the way to publication. She is the star, and surely should have been billed not as editor but as lead author, albeit one with a large and distinguished supporting cast who are individually credited where appropriate. The over-arching theme is that these weapons are not just an unparalleled collection of military hardware from a pivotal moment in the evolution of warfare (though they are certainly that), but component parts of an integrated weapons-system. This reflects conscious processes of human minds grappling with the reality of looming strategic threats and adapting technologies spawned by Renaissance inventiveness and energy to create weapons and tactical concepts with which to counter them. Dominant among those minds was the brilliant, overbearing, often prejudiced, and sometimes irrational psyche of Henry VIII himself. The first volume (Part 1) is devoted to the ship’s operational background and her ordnance. The Mary Rose was launched in 1510, the first year of Henry’s reign, as one of a new breed of carrack-built warships in which artillery constituted a major part of their offensive and defensive capabilities. Much of this was of the small wrought-iron breech-loading variety which had evolved during later medieval times, but modern cast-bronze muzzle-loading heavy ordnance was an obsession of the king’s, and he amassed (in the words of the Venetian ambassador) ‘cannon enough to conquer hell’. These came first from continental sources but increasingly from England as bronzefounding facilities were established, often under the guidance of imported foreign experts. In 1536 the Mary Rose was rebuilt to carry what was then considered to be a state-of-the-art complement of weaponry. By 1540 further additions had been made. A few years later the ship was depicted and her armament listed in the Anthony Roll (dated 1546, the year after she went down) (facsimile edition reviewed in IJNA 40.2, 454), and this is presumably what was on board when she sank. Next comes a lengthy examination of the ship’s bewildering variety of ordnance. Her core firepower as recorded by Anthony consisted of 15 muzzle-loading guns ‘of brass’. Of the ten bronze pieces recovered from her wreck (six during the recent excavation, and four by the Deane brothers in 1836) five post-date 1536, which suggests that the rebuilding and re-arming of the ship in that year had not halted a continuing process of adjustment in the light of experience, technical development, availability, and evolving ideas. The ten bronze muzzle-loaders are described in terms of their physical attributes, dimensions, heraldic embellishment, and inscriptions. All carry the emblems of Henry VIII, seven showing the rose-and-crown device and Reviews The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (2012) 41.1: 203–234 doi: 10.1111/j.1095-9270.2011.00333.x