Editing Miquelet lock (section)

==History==

In the disastrous [[Algiers expedition (1541)|1541 campaign of Algiers]], weather conditions prevented the firing of [[arquebus]]es. Problems were caused on both wheellocks and matchlocks, firstly by wind blowing away the [[gunpowder]] when the [[Fire pan|pan]] cover was opened during priming, and secondly, by rain wetting matches and gunpowder. The earliest known appearance of the miquelet lock was in Spain within  three decades of the Algiers military disaster.<ref name="Robertson1857">{{cite book|author=William Robertson|title=The history of the reign of the emperor Charles the Fifth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2XdAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA382|access-date=26 June 2011|year=1857|publisher=Phillips, Sampson, & company|pages=382–}}</ref>

The poet/novelist [[Ginés Pérez de Hita]], in his historical novel ''Civil Wars of Granada'', alludes to his "{{lang|es|escopeta de rastrillo}}" being in common use in [[Xàtiva]] and [[Valencia]] prior to and during the [[Morisco Revolt|Alpujarras Rebellion]] (1567–1571).<ref name="Hita1833">{{cite book|author=Ginés Pérez de Hita|title=Guerras civiles de Granada|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5vACAAAAYAAJ|access-date=26 June 2011|year=1833|publisher=D. Leon Amarita|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5vACAAAAYAAJ/page/n474 469]–}}</ref><ref name="Hita1972">{{cite book|author=Ginés Pérez de Hita|title=Guerras civiles de Granada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BwUdzVQWavEC&q=rastrillo&pg=PA400|access-date=12 March 2011|year=1972|publisher=Editorial MAXTOR|isbn=978-84-9761-679-9|pages=400–}}</ref>

In his 1605 work ''[[Don Quixote]]'', [[Miguel de Cervantes]] says that in [[Catalonia]] their name was [[petronel|pedrenyal]],<ref name="Sirvent">{{cite book|author1=Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra|author2=Diego Clemencín|title=El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pVFKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA228|access-date=1 July 2011|year=1839|publisher=E. Aguado, impresor de cámara de S.M. y de su real casa|pages=228–}}</ref> to the extent that pedrenyal lock means miquelet lock, the long-barreled [[wheel lock]] pistols were not called [[petronel|pedrenyal]]s.

As both de Hita and Cervantes allude to pistols, pedrenales, and escopetas being in use that were not wheellocks, it is reasonable to suggest some form of flint-against-steel gunlock was in use by the late 16th century. Indeed, from about 1580 on, the listings in estate auctions increasingly referred to "arcabuces de rastrillo" and "escopeta de rastrillo". "Rastrillar", to comb or rake, perfectly describes the action of a flint down a battery (frizzen) face. Some listings used the term "llaves de chispa" (meaning spark locks, applied to all manner of flintlocks, miquelets included). Contemporaries did not use the term "miquelet" to describe any type of lock or firearm.<ref>Lavin 1965:158-159</ref>

Probably the oldest surviving example of what certainly qualifies as a patilla miquelet lock is item No.I.20 in the Real Armería, [[Madrid]]. That unique item is a combination [[lance]] and double-barreled gun; its origin unknown, dated almost certainly before 1600.<ref>Lavin 1965:157-8; Spencer 2008:30; and Blackmore 1965:Fig 780-781</ref>

The archaic form of Spanish lock was further developed by Madrid and provincial gunmakers, almost certainly including the Marquart family of Royal gunmakers, into the Spanish patilla style now most associated with the miquelet.<ref>Neal 1955:II-5 and Lavin 1955:266-267</ref>