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A Musketeer

60 second histories

This video covers:

A description of a musketeer, a roundhead in Cromwell's army; his clothing, equipment and the workings of a matchlock musket

So then, I am a musketeer in the army of Parliament, at this time engaged in this most uncivil war. Now as you can probably see I am not wearing any armour, I am just wearing a soldier’s coat. I’m armed with a short sword called a hangar, I have a bandolier of gun powder bottles, there are twelve in all, each carrying a measured charge of gunpowder which together with this flask of priming powder gives me twelve shots for my musket. The piece I have here is from the beginning of the war and as you can see is rather large so needs to be placed on a rest to be fired, fortunately though I’ve just been issued with a replacement musket that is much lighter and better made. They’re both matchlock muskets, so let me explain how they work. You pour down the muzzle your measured charge, then you ram down a wad of paper followed by the ball like so. You then prime the pan with a little gunpowder, close it and then blow upon your lit match cord fasten it in the serpent present take aim open pan and pull the trigger.
Eras: 
17th Century
English Civil War
Topics: 
Uniforms & Equipment
Weapons
Civil War
Character: 
Musketeer
Key words: 
Musketeer, Parliamentarian, Roundhead, Civil War, armour, hangar, sword, bandolier, gunpowder, musket, matchlock, prime, match, serpent, trigger, 17th Century, KS3, key stage 3, key stage 3 history, secondary, KS3 videos, KS3 clips, KS3 history, KS3 videos, KS3 history film, KS3 history clip, 17th Century, 17thC, 17C, 17th C, civil war, English civil war, Y7, Y8, Y9, Year 7, year 8, year 9