CHARLES V’S PISTOL
The ornate firearm once wielded by Spanish royalty
One of the most powerful monarchs of all time, the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500-58) ruled over much of Europe during the 16th century. His territories did not just include the Imperial heartlands of Germany but also Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, Burgundy, much of Italy and the new Spanish colonies in the Americas. A supremely wealthy man, Charles was able to afford the best military technology, not just for his armies but also for himself. This included a new invention: the pistol.
One of the earliest types of pistol was the wheellock. This was a firearm with a frictionwheel mechanism that created a spark to cause the pistol to fire. A major development from the matchlock pistol, the wheellock was developed in Europe around the year 1500 and was subjected to the first gun-control laws by Charles’s predecessor Emperor Maximilian I during 151718. Its most likely inventor was a now-unknown German mechanic, although Leonardo da Vinci has also been suggested based on drawings he made in the 1490s and 1500s. Charles himself bought this pictured wheellock at some point between 1540-45 from a German gunsmith and watchmaker called Peter Peck.
Based in Munich, Peck made the elaborate double-barrelled pistol for Charles. Made of steel, gold, cherry wood and staghorn, the pistol’s two wheel-locks are combined in one mechanism to provide the barrels with separate ignition. It is decorated with Charles’s dynastic and personal emblems, including the double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, and the pillars of Hercules. It is also engraved with the emperor’s Latin motto “PLUS ULTRA” (“More Beyond”).