Why Apostles?

[Billnpatti]

Does anyone know why the powder containers that were carried on a bandolier were called "Apostles"?

 

[Grenadier1758]

Most depictions of a musketeer carrying the cartridges on his bandolier had twelve. So they were referred to as the twelve apostles.

No emojis at that time to let people know that the reference was humorous.

 

[Billnpatti]

Thanks. I kind of thought it was something like that. I was not sure since I had read that they usually carried anywhere from 10 to 14 apostles. The number 12 was not consistent but I guess it was common enough to give rise to the name "Apostles".

 

[coloradoclyde]

The term "twelf apostles" for the powder bottles, which is frequently referred to in modern secondary source literature, came into use only in more recent times. There is no single source during the thirty years war mentioning this term. The number of the powder charges with early 17. century musketeer bandoliers also was not limited to 12, but varied between 8 and 14.

http://www.ecwsa.org/miltherewerenotwelveapostles.html

 

[tenngun]

Apostle means ”˜sent forth one’. I don’t know if it’s related. I can think of other terms such as holy water sprinkler not directly related to religion. Ambassadors and envoys had often been referred to as apostles.
Could the apostle in this case refer to it designed to be shot and not to being twelve. :idunno:

 

[BrownBear]

Strikes me as being in the same league with the old name for clubs used to dispatch fish: Priests.

 

[Grenadier1758]

I like the link to "sent forth" term better than my explanation. The containers on the bandolier hold that which is to be sent forth. The number on the bandolier is approximate.

 

[coloradoclyde]

It is likely that, "Musketeers" being French won the favor of a Jesuit missionary or Priest and so they were renamed with the religious connotation..
This seems to have been popular among conquers of the 17th-18th centuries....
The Apostle islands in Northern Wisconsin on lake superior is another example where something was renamed "apostles" by a Jesuit priest.

Of course this practice halted with the French revolution.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Does anyone know why the powder containers that were carried on a bandolier were called "Apostles"?

Because carrying "72 Virgins" would have been too heavy a load!
The "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" would have been too few

 

[Semisane]

I suspect it has more to do with the visual similarity of the tubes lined up on a bandolier with the early carvings and paintings of the Apostles standing side-by-side.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I suspect it has more to do with the visual similarity of the tubes lined up on a bandolier with the early carvings and paintings of the Apostles standing side-by-side.

I wondered the same thing....But is the horse in front of the cart or behind it?