Steel vs Powder

The mid-16th century is really the tipping point between the Age of Steel and the Age of Powder. In the novel I am currently reading (Eclipse of the Crescent Moon), there is this scene where the captain defending the fortress at Eger is going through the list of weapons stored in the armoury with his lieutenants to make sure they can withstand the Turkish onslaught:

[...] Bronze and iron falconets from Prague and Csetnek, 300. Rifles, 93. German rifles, 194.

‘They’re worth nothing!’ croaked Cecey. ‘A good bow is worth more than any rifle.’

This caused a small controversy. The older ones approved of Cecey’s words. The younger ones were for the rifles.

Read/Write Skill

“On the map the fortresses were shown as tent-shaped figures,  and the forests had their trees sketched in them. These were good maps. They could easily be understood even by those who could not read. And at that time even among the titled nobility there were many who could neither read nor write. And why should they? It was the job of the clerk to write if anything needed writing, and if a letter arrived, to read it to his master.”

Géza Gárdonyi, Eclipse of the Crescent Moon