First used in China during the Song Dynasty (960??279 ), cannon were among the earliest forms of gunpowder artillery, and over time replaced siege engines?mong other forms of aging weaponry?n the battlefield. The first hand cannon appeared during the 1260 Battle of Ain Jalut between the Mamluks and Mongols in the Middle East. The first cannon in Europe were probably used in Iberia, during the Reconquista, in the 13th century, and English cannon were first deployed in the Hundred Years' War, at the Battle of Cr矇cy, in 1346.