Kyeser, a well-educated military engineer in Bavarian Franconia, was the author of a Latin treatise entitled Bellifortis, dating from the early 1400s and dedicated to Robert, Elector of the Palatine and King of Germany. Kyeser was the first engineer to make systematic use of the language of images. The treatise offers a visual compendium of the classical authors?notably Vegetius and Frontinus?in the area of tactics and poliorcetics. The text devotes considerable attention to firearms (then being tested for the first time on the battlefield), to projects for heated public baths, and to oil lamps.
.................................
|
