A common body of tactics for the use of artillery on the battlefield existed long before 1642. During the decades leading up to the English Civil Wars, a number of key European texts containing tactical theory were translated and circulated, in either manuscript or book form. English and Scottish commentators also added their opinions, or reassessed artillery tactics in the light of their own experience. Unsurprisingly – given its recent dominant position and the military adventures of Spain at the end of the sixteenth century – many ideas came from the Iberian peninsula, or from soldiers who had fought in the service of the Hapsburgs. Different versions of Don Bernadino de Mendonca’s Theorica y Practica de Guerra, originally published in Madrid in 1595, appear to have been especially influential in highlighting the importance of battlefield artillery. As he explained,

Whilst Mendoca lumps together the effects of great guns and small arms in this passage his observation that gunpowder weapons were tending to reduce the numbers of hand to hand melees between opposing armies is an important one. Moreover, from the remarks which follow, it is obvious that he saw artillery proper, as opposed to firearms in general, as an important contributor to success in battle.