black-powderAs an enthusiast in black-powder firearms, as well as Renaissance and early modern Europe, I read a lot about the tactics of that time period. I know that the flintlock musket replaced the matchlock arquebus, and in most usage I observed that people just use “arquebus” for matchlock and “musket” for flintlock, even if that relation is not always completely accurate.
In the tercio formation, however, both arquebusiers and musketeers were used in the same formation together: musketeers in a line in front of the pike square, and arquebusiers in the corners, both types used the matchlock mechanism. This means that they were used together and had different roles. What were the technical differences and possible causes why both were used instead of just the better one?
Maybe this sounds like a history question, but I’m interested in it from a more technical point of view.
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