Abstract
During the Renaissance, engineering techniques for shipbuilding were of enormous civilian and military interest. At the time, ships were still powered by traditional systems of sails and oars, but new possibilities started to be proposed. These were mostly exploratory in nature and would only come to fruition centuries later, with the emergence of the steam engine.
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Notes
- 1.
Anonymous Le cose della guerra. (Introduction, Text, Translation and Commentary: Giardina A) (1989) Mondadori, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla
- 2.
The description of the paddle wheel version of the liburna is reported in Chapter XVII. Expositio liburnae. 1. Liburnam navalibus idoneam bellis, quam pro magnitudine sui virorum exerceri manibus quodammodo imbecillitas humana prohibebat, quocumque utilitas vocet ad facilitatem cursus, ingenii ope subnixa animalium virtus impellit. 2. In cuius alveo vel capacitate bini boves machinis adiuncti adhaerentes rotas navis lateribus volvunt, quarum supra ambitum vel rotunditatem extantes radii, currentibus iisdem rotis, in modum remorum aquam conatibus elidentes miro quodam artis effectu operantur, impetu parturiente discursum. 3. Haec eadem tamen liburna pro mole sui proque machinis in semet operantibus tanto virium fremitu pugnam capescit, ut omnes adversarias liburnas comminus venientes facili attritu comminuat.
Description of a liburna. 1. The liburna is a vessel suitable for sea battles, but of such size that the strength of the men was insufficient to move it and ride it where the need recalled: with the help of intelligence, has been used the energy of animals for an easier navigation. 2. In her womb, therefore and in the interior space two oxen are introduced, they are linked to the systems that spin the wheels fitted to the hips (outside) of the boat. Above the band of these or the roundness of their circumference there are ledges as spokes, which rotate with the same wheels, and cleaving the water the same way the blows of oars and working for the wonderful effect of art, they open with their impetus the surface of the water. 3. This same liburna, however, because of its size and the machines that operate within it, is used to attack in the battle with such a tremor of forces that easily destroys all opposing ships that come on its way.
- 3.
Morrison JS,Coates JF (1996) Greek and Roman Warships 399–30 B.C. Oxbow Books. Oxford
- 4.
Giuliano da Sangallo, Codice Vaticano Barberiano Latino 4424, Barb. lat. 4424, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Roma, f. 35r. Giuliano da Sangallo. A reproduction of the codex has been realized with the title: Il libro di Giuliano da Sangallo: Codice Vaticano Barberiniano Latino 4424 (The book of Giuliano da Sangallo), Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1984.
- 5.
Codex Escurialensis, Ms. 28-I-11. Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de El Escorial, Madrid, Spain.
- 6.
At least 12 manuscript copies of Konrad Kyeser’s work are known; they reproduce, generally in a modified version, the original work.
- 7.
The De Re Militari of Roberto Valturio was published in Verona in Latin in 1472. In 1483 the first translated copy in Italian was printed. Leonardo used this printed edition.
- 8.
The illustrations were not done by Roberto Valturio but very likely by Matteo de’ Pasti, an artist working at the Malatesta court in Rimini.
- 9.
The SS Savannah was also equipped with sails.
- 10.
Needham J (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics. Taipei, Caves Books.
- 11.
Crisman KJ, Cohn AB (1998) When Horses Walked On Water: Horse-Powered Ferries in Nineteenth-Century America. Smithsonian Institution Press, USA
- 12.
Settia A (2004) Entry Guido da Vigevano. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Treccani. Volume
- 13.
Vigevano is a small city close to Milan. In Italy it was common to add to the first name the place of birth, as in the case of Leonardo, who is known as da Vinci because the village of Vinci is his birth place. In the case of Guido da Vigevano, notwithstanding the name, it seems that his original place of birth is another city close to Milan, Pavia. In several documents, in fact, he is indicated as “de Papia,” from Pavia.
- 14.
The manuscript of Guido da Vigevano is: Texaurus regis Francie acquisicionis Terre sancte de ultra mare necnon sanitatis corporis eius et vite ipsius prolongacionis ac etiam cum custodia propter venenum. Fonds lat. 11015 of the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris. Another manuscript, which is a partial copy of the original in Paris, is conserved at the British and Art Center, rare books and manuscript of the Yale Library, Paul Mellon Collection, Military Mss., 1375 (http://hdl.handle.net/1079/bibid/4510397). This copy contains only the second the part of the Texaurus which regards the siege warcraft and was owned by Guglielmo Libri.
- 15.
Hall A R (1976) “Guido’s Texaurus, 1335.” In: Humana Civilitas: Sources and Studies Relating to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Volume 1: On Pre-Modern Technology and Science. A Volume of Studies in Honor of Lynn White, Jr., eds. Bert S. Hall and West DC, Malibu, Undena Publications, p. 10–52.
- 16.
Ostuni G (1993) Le macchine del re. Il “Texaurus regis Francie” di Guido da Vigevano; trascrizione, traduzione e commento del codice Lat. 11015 della Biblioteque Nationale di Parigi. Diakronia, Vigevano.
- 17.
Liber notabilium illustrissimi principis Philippi septimi, Francorum regis, a libris Galieni per me Guidonem de Papia, medicum suprascripti regis atque consortis eius inclite Iohanne regine, extractus, anno Domini 1345, papa vivente sexto Clemente. The codex is conserved in the Condé Museum of Chantilly in France (ms. 569).
- 18.
The Fall of Acre in 1291, the last stronghold in Palestine, marked the end of the Christian presence in the Holy Land; from that time, there were several attempts to prepare a new crusade, such as that of Philip VI.
- 19.
Liber conservacionis sanitatis senis
- 20.
Modus acquisicionis Terre sancte, Christi nomine invocato, regi Francie intitulatio
- 21.
Capitulum Viii. De Modo Faciendi Naves Per Omnes Aquas Navigantes /. Et Super. Equo Involutas Aportare
- 22.
Original text (Manuscript B, folio 11br): “Nave da usare a sfondare navili collo strumento [che] sai. E fassi quel rilievo in mezzo, perchè ti schifi il frugare colle lance dallo schifoRico[r]dati [ch]e entri e che serri, di mandare fori la l t, e che ripigli della quantità del vacuo.”
- 23.
Original text: “Come e perchè io non iscrivo il mio modo di star sotto l’acqua quanto io posso star senza mangiare; e questo io non poblico e divolgo, per le male nature de li omini, li quali userebbero li assassinamento ne’ i fondi de’ mari, col. rompere i navili in fondo e sommergerli insieme colli omini che vi son dentro.”
- 24.
Original text: “strumento per cavare terra.”
- 25.
Original text: “Il voltare del mani[c]o n volta una rocchetta, e questa rocchetta volta la rota dentata f, e questa rota f è congiunta colla croce delle casse, portatrice della terra del pantano, che si scarica sopra le barche. Ma le due corde m f e m b s’avvoltano al polo f e fa[n] camminare lo strumento colle 2 barche contro al m; e queste corde per tale uffizio sono utilissime, ecc.”
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Innocenzi, P. (2019). Paddle Boats, Submarines, and Other Sea Vessels. In: The Innovators Behind Leonardo. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90449-8_6
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