A kartouwe (plural: kartouwen) is a siege gun used in European warfare during the 16th and 17th centuries.
[2] In the Holy Roman Empire the gun was called Kartaune in German or cartouwe in contemporary Latin usage,[4] in the Swedish Empire Kartow,[4] spelling variants include kartouw, kartouve,[5] cartow,[2] cartaun,[2] courtaun,[2] and others.
[4] The barrel of a whole kartouwe has a length of 18 to 19 times the caliber, weighs 3,000 kilograms (6,600 lb) to 3,500 kilograms (7,700 lb) and was transported on a special wagon by 20 to 24 horses, another four to eight horses were needed to transport the mount (lafette).
William P. Guthrie estimates that a single kartouwe averaged only 8 to 10 shots under sustained combat conditions, half to a third as much as the more common 3 to 6 pounder field guns, though in all cases "well-drilled troops could shave these times.
[11] As such, they were featured in contemporary poems,[11] e.g. in Am liebsten bey der Liebsten by Sibylla Schwarz ("grausame Kartaune", "gruesome kartouwe") and Tränen des Vaterlandes, anno 1636 by Andreas Gryphius ("donnernde Karthaun'", "thundering kartouwe").