[RightWhale]

Gunpowder is one of the four great inventions in ancient China along with paper, printing and the compass.

Interesting. The three great inventions for Europe have been considered the compass, firearms, and moveable type.
-Thomas More, who also wrote the first modern utopia.

"Sir Thomas More was one of the most scintillating and contradictory examples of the Renaissance man: lawyer, statesman, humanist, ascetic, author of Utopia , advocate for equal rights for women, enlightened teacher, Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor and, finally, the role which was highlighted in the Robert Bolt play A Man For All Seasons : Roman Catholic martyr." --Francis Gilbert (in The Guardian , 26 February 1998).

[Restorer]

Don't forget advocate of religious persecution.

[judywillow]

Interesting. The three great inventions for Europe have been considered the compass, firearms, and moveable type. -Thomas More, who also wrote the first modern utopia.

The Mongols invented cannon, and the first really workable cannons were used in the Turkish assault on Constantinople.