part, and it is rumored that he wrote its manuscript before his death. It is also rumored that he was killed by members of the metallurgy/gunsmith/pyrotechnics guilds, who were opposed to him publishing a book about their secrets, and that they hid or destroyed the manuscript of the second part. Guilds aggressively protecting their production secrets was widespread in these times, as we can see from James Stirling having to flee Venice in 1725 for fear of being assassinated after finding out a trade secret of the glassmakers of Venice. Siemienowicz disparaged what he saw as a culture of secrecy based on "canting Alchymists of the times Past...they dealed in nothing but Smoke, yet arrogantly took upon them to be Professors of so noble and excellent an art as Chymistry."Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima was first printed in Amsterdam in 1650, was translated to French in 1651, German in 1676, English and Dutch in 1729, and Polish in 1963. In the first part of his work he wrote that the second one would contain the "universal pyrotechnic invention, containing all of our current knowledge." According to his short description, this invention was supposed to greatly ease all measurements and calculations. For over two centuries this work was used in Europe as a basic artillery manual / handbook. Its pyrotechnic formulations were used for over a century. The book provided the standard designs for creating rockets, fireballs, and other pyrotechnic devices. It discussed for the first time the idea of applying a reactive technique to artillery (rocket artillery). It contains a large chapter on caliber, construction, production and properties of rockets for both military and civil purposes, including multistage rockets, batteries of rockets, and rockets with delta wing stabilisers (instead of the common guiding rods). It was the first book in the world to systematically present knowledge about the development of multistage rockets and rocket artillery. See also Vannoccio Biringuccio (1480–1539), Italian author on metallurgy, gunpowder and glassware production etc. Conrad Haas (1509–1576), military engineer, wrote a treatise on rocket technology Johann Schmidlap, 16th-century Bavarian fireworks maker and rocket pioneer Konstanty Ciołkowski (1857–1935), Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory Clan of Ostoja, group of knights and lords in late-medieval Central and Eastern Europe Ostoja Coat of Arms References External links Engraved title page and plate illustrations from a 1650 edition of Artis Magnae Artilleriae'' (all images