When the Byzantine Empire first used firearms is not known. There are indications that cannons were used in 1390 in the civil conflict between John E and John Z Palaiologos.
Cannons and early rifles apparently reached Byzantium from the West, probably via the Venetians and Genoese. There is much more information about the use of these weapons during the final siege of the City. The eyewitness of the siege, the Greek cardinal Leonardo of Chios, reports that the Byzantines could not use their cannons effectively as they did not have enough gunpowder and projectiles.
He states that the larger cannons could not be used again because their strong recoil hit the walls . Chalkokondylis also cites this testimony and adds that the Byzantine cannons fired projectiles weighing approximately 41 kilograms.
Byzantine cannons were much smaller than Turkish ones. Chalkokondylis adds that the largest Byzantine cannons "exploded" during use, apparently either due to poor construction, or due to the inexperience of the gunners.
The historian of Alosis Michael Doukas also mentions the use of early "rifles". "... and other shooters with small balls, 5 or 10 together, about the size of a Pontus walnut, which had great piercing power, so as to strike some iron fenced body, piercing both the shield and the flesh and moreover they passed through themselves and continued in another body, if there was another in their course.
"This would continue until the power of the gunpowder weakened and with one shot he could kill two and three. The Turks also knew how to use these (weapons) and even used them better," he says.
However, it is not known what kind of weapons were mentioned as there were various variations. Others resembled small cannons, sometimes manned by two men, others resembled metal pipes carried on the shoulder, and others, the most modern, resembled the later arquebuses. All were fired by a fuse firing mechanism.
The Byzantines called the firearms funnels, funnels and skejas. Kritoboulos characterizes the cannons as "helipoles" (those that capture cities) or "launchers" (missile-launching machines). Other Byzantine authors also speak of "petrobolas", as the cannons of the time fired stone projectiles, or "telebolas" as they were fired from a distance.
