Wheellock pistol and new era of assasination

Assassination by pistol (not related to Robert Packington)
Source: publicdomainreview.org

It was a misty morning on November 13th, 1536. Robert Packington passing streets in Tudor era London to attend  Mass in Mercers Chapel. Robert was a prominent merchant, member of parliament, Thomas Cromwell associate who carried messages between him and evangelical activist in Europe.

"Packington's route took him past the Great Conduit, a square building in the middle of Cheapside containing the fountain that provided the nearby houses with their water supply. As he crossed the thoroughfare, only a few metres from his destination, a single shot rang out and he fell dead upon the instant." Source: The hunt for the Tudor hitman by Derek Wilson, BBC History Magazine 6/2013

Mysteriously no one saw hitman. As this was at this time crowded place, full of workers hoping for getting a job, a gunman using most popular firearms of those time - arquebus - cannot be unnoticed.

"In fact, poor Robert Packington probably holds the dubious distinction of being the first person in England to be killed with a handgun [wheellock pistol]." Source: The hunt for the Tudor hitman by Derek Wilson, BBC History Magazine 6/2013

Wheellock pistol
Source: wikimedia commons

It was obvious execution however both hitman and his master wasn't identified. The most probable is bishop John Incent, who served this time as Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London.

"The bishop was clever enough, rich enough, powerful enough and ruthless enough to organize an attack on a Bible smuggler who was a confidant of that loathsome creature, Thomas Cromwell." Source: The hunt for the Tudor hitman by Derek Wilson, BBC History Magazine 6/2013

In fact, most probably he was the first person ever assassinated by a handgun. First wheellock pistol was constructed around 1500, some scholars claim that by Leonardo da Vinci. The first account of its existence comes from gun control law proclaimed by Emperor Maximilian I in 1518. Similar laws appear in Italy in the 1520s and 1530s. Others assassinations using pistols in the XVI century were:

• 1572 - some victims during  St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of French Huguenots was killed using wheellock pistol;
• 1584 - the assassination of William the Silent of the Netherlands;

Primary sources:

[1] Wilson, D. The hunt for the Tudor hitman , BBC History Magazine 9/2013

[2] Foxe J., Townsend G. Acts  and Monuments of the Christian Religion , Google Books