The Faule Mette or Faule Metze was a medieval

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 supergun

Supergun

A supergun is an extraordinarily large artillery piece. This size may be due to a large bore, barrel length or a combination of the two. While early examples tended to have a fairly short range more recent examples sometimes had an extremely high muzzle velocity resulting in a very long...

 of the city of Brunswick

Braunschweig

Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Cast by the gunfounder Henning Bussenschutte on the central market square Kohlmarkt in 1411, it was fitted with a conically tapered muzzle (calibre of 67–80 cm) which allowed the use of projectiles of varying size. Thus, it could fire stone balls weighing between 322 and 423 kg with a gunpowder load ranging from 24 to 33 kg.

On 1 November 1717, the Faule Mette reportedly shot a 341 kg stone ball 2,442 m. The cast-bronze cannon was melted down in 1787 and recast to several lighter field guns, having fired only twelve times in its history.

Besides the Faule Mette, a number of 15th century European superguns are known to have been employed primarily in siege warfare, including the wrought-iron Pumhart von Steyr

Pumhart von Steyr

The Pumhart von Steyr is a medieval supergun from Styria, Austria, and the largest known wrought-iron bombard by caliber. The cannon was produced in the early 15th century and could fire, according to modern calculations, a 690 kg stone ball around 600 m, loaded with 15 kg of powder and set up at...

, Dulle Griet

Dulle Griet

The Dulle Griet is a medieval supergun from Ghent, Belgium. The wrought-iron bombard was constructed in the first half of the 15th century from 32 longitudinal bars enclosed by 61 rings...

 and Mons Meg

Mons Meg

Mons Meg is a medieval bombard which can be classed as a supergun, now located at Edinburgh Castle, Scotland. There are conflicting theories about its origins, but it appears from the accounts of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy that it was made to his order around 1449 and sent as a gift 8 years...

 as well as the cast-bronze Faule Grete

Faule Grete

The Faule Grete was a medieval supergun of the Teutonic Order. The bronze bombard was cast in 1409 in the cannon foundry of the Marienburg by the gunfounder Heynrich Dumechen...

 and Grose Bochse

Grose Bochse

The Grose Bochse was a medieval supergun of the Teutonic Order. It was cast from June to September 1408 in several pieces and was presumably assembled by a screw or plug connection...

.