Faule Mette
The Faule Mette or Faule Metze was a medieval large-calibre cannon of the city of Brunswick, Germany.
Cast by the gunfounder Henning Bussenschutte on the central market square :de:Kohlmarkt |Kohlmarkt in 1411, it was fitted with a conically tapered muzzle which allowed the use of projectiles of varying size. Thus, it could fire stone balls weighing between with a gunpowder load ranging from.
On 1 November 1717, the Faule Mette reportedly shot a stone ball The cast-bronze cannon was melted down in 1787 and recast to several lighter field guns, having fired only twelve times in its history.
Besides the Faule Mette, a number of 15th-century European superguns are known to have been employed primarily in siege warfare, including the wrought-iron Pumhart von Steyr, Dulle Griet and Mons Meg as well as the cast-bronze Faule Grete and Grose Bochse.Footnotes
