Sully gave greater development to this arm of service, improving its materials, and increasing its efficiency.

Then, as at most other periods, the French were in advance of most other nations in artillery.
It was near the close of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century, that the heavy and ill-shaped artillery began to give place to more wieldy and useful pieces.

A certain M.de Linar demonstrated, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, that cannon twelve feet in length would give a greater range than those seventeen feet in length, the calibre being the same; but some years elapsed before advantage was taken of this discovery.

In 1624, Gustavus Adolphus caused experiments to be made to verify this point, and, on being convinced of its truth, caused his batteries to be furnished with shorter and lighter pieces.

This great king introduced, about the same time, a new and lighter kind of artillery, made of sheet iron and leather.