Petronel

thumb|A matchlock petronel, ca. 1570.

The petronel was a 16th- and 17th-century black-powder muzzle-loading firearm, defined by Robert Barret (Theorike and Practike of Modern Warres, 1598) as a "horsemans peece". It was the muzzle-loading firearm, which developed on the one hand into the pistol and on the other into the carbine. The name (French petrinel or poitrinal) was given to the weapon either because it was fired with the butt resting against the chest (, ) or it was carried slung from a belt across the chest. Petronels may have either matchlock or wheellock mechanisms.