Editing Arquebus (section)

===Europe===
The arquebus was used in substantial numbers for the first time in Europe during the reign of King [[Matthias Corvinus]] of Hungary (r. 1458–1490).{{sfn|Bak|1982|pp=125–40}} One in four soldiers in the infantry of the [[Black Army of Hungary]] wielded an arquebus, and one in five when accounting for the whole army,{{sfn|Janin|2013|p=41}} which was an unusually high proportion at the time. Although they were present on the battlefield King Mathias preferred enlisting shielded men instead due to the arquebus's low rate of fire. While the Black Army adopted arquebuses relatively early, the trend did not catch on for decades in Europe and by the turn of the 16th century only around 10% of Western European infantrymen used firearms.<ref>Vajna-Naday, Warhistory. p. 40.</ref><ref>Courtlandt Canby: ''A History of Weaponry''. Recontre and Edito Service, London. p. 62.</ref> Arquebuses were used as early as 1472 by the Portuguese at Zamora. Likewise, the Castilians used arquebuses as well in 1476.{{sfn|Partington|1999|p=123}} The French started adopting the arquebus in 1520.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stevenson|first=Cornelius|date=1909|title=Wheel-Lock Guns and Pistols|journal=Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Museum|volume=7|issue=25|pages=6–9|doi=10.2307/3793657|jstor=3793657}}</ref> However, arquebus designs continued to develop and in 1496 Philip Monch of the Palatinate composed an illustrated ''Buch der Strynt un(d) Buchsse(n)'' on guns and "harquebuses".{{sfn|Partington|1999|p=160}}

The effectiveness of the arquebus was apparent by the [[Battle of Cerignola]] of 1503, which is the earliest-recorded military conflict where arquebuses played a decisive role in the outcome of the battle.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=167}}

In Russia, a small arquebus called ''pishchal'' ({{Langx|ru|пищаль}}) appeared in 1478 in [[Pskov]]. The Russian arquebusiers, or ''pishchal'niki'', were seen as integral parts of the army and one thousand ''pishchal'niki'' participated in the final annexation of the [[Pskov Republic]] in 1510 as well as the [[Siege of Smolensk (1514)|conquest of Smolensk]] in 1512. The Russian need to acquire gunpowder weaponry bears some resemblance to the situation the Iranians were in. In 1545, two thousand ''pishchal'niki'' (one thousand on horseback) were levied by the towns and outfitted at treasury expense. Their use of mounted troops was also unique to the time period. The ''pishchal'niki'' eventually became skilled hereditary [[tradesmen]] farmers rather than conscripts.<ref>Michael C. Paul (2004). "The Military Revolution in Russia, 1550–1682". ''Journal of Military History'', Vol. 68, No. 1. pp. 24–25</ref>

Arquebuses were used in the [[Italian Wars]] in the first half of the 16th century. Frederick Lewis Taylor claims that a kneeling volley fire may have been employed by [[Prospero Colonna]]'s [[arquebusier]]s as early as the [[Battle of Bicocca]] (1522).<ref>Taylor, Frederick. (1921). ''The Art of War in Italy, 1494–1529''. p. 52.</ref> However, this has been called into question by [[Tonio Andrade]] who believes this is an overinterpretation as well as a mis-citation of a passage by [[Charles Oman]] suggesting that the Spanish arquebusiers knelt to reload, when in fact Oman never made such a claim.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=350}} This is contested by Idan Sherer, who quotes [[Paolo Giovio]] saying that the arquebusiers kneeled to reload so that the second line of arquebusiers could fire without endangering those in front of them.{{sfn|Sherer|2017|p=190}}