Franz Helm

Franz Helm (ca. 1500–1567) was an artillery master who lived and worked in what is now Germany in the first half of the 16th century. By his own account, he was born in Cologne, perhaps around 1500. Described as a "shooter, cannonier and fireworker," Helm fought with the armies of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V against the Ottoman Empire. He subsequently moved to Landshut in the then Duchy of Bavaria, where he served the dukes William IV, Louis X and Albert V. He later served John II, Count Palatine of Simmern.

Two of Helm's works have survived to the present day. In the 1520s he wrote a comprehensive description of an 'ideal' armoury which, though it has not survived as a stand-alone work, is found incorporated into some texts of his later surviving work, the Buch von den probierten Künsten ("Book of the practical arts"). This was given in manuscript form to his patron, Duke Albert V, some years before the end of Helm's career. Whether it had any practical influence on the duke's army is unclear but it is possible that the later construction of the royal armoury at Munich's Marstallplatz followed Helm's recommendations. The book follows a format that had become quite traditional by that point, albeit with the inclusion of modern elements. It is organised in the same fashion as the highly influential Feuerwerkbuch of 1420, reproducing many of the earlier book's instructions verbatim. Helm writes in several places that he had drawn on old "art books" in compiling his own book. Although he treats the older material respectfully, he does not shy away from criticising outdated methods – for instance, describing some old-style artillery pieces as curiosities and calling one method of shooting described in the Feuerwerkbuch as "strange" – and provides updated information on modern methods and equipment. In various places, he explicitly calls new artillery methods "novel" and "superior". Although his book circulated widely in manuscript form, it was not until 1625 that it appeared in print under the title Armamentarium principale oder Kriegsmunition und Artillerie-Buch ("Principles of armament, or book of war munitions and artillery").

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