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Position:Home>History> History - English Archer?Question: History - English Archer!? Does anyone have any ideas as to why England was the only European country to be capable of producing 'Longbow men'!? The laws that came into force making archery practice mandatory were clearly a response to the decline in its use by the general population, but what made its use so popular in the first place!? Why were country's such as France unable to produce many of them!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: An interesting question and one that has prompted people to trot out the same old garbage about longbows - including the writings of Robert Hardy, who should be considered an enthusiast rather than an expert (for example he supports the "Welsh origin of the longbow theory" without proposing a scrap of evidence)!. The fact is that the English, Scots, Welsh, Normans, French, Vikings and so on all had BOWS from an early date!. No evidence currently exists for longbows in England (or Wales, for that matter) from the Bronze Age to the 13th century, when it seems to be widely used in both England and Wales!. The term "longbow" first appears in Anglo-Norman French during the 13th century - no such term existed in any language prior to that time!. It was archery that was "popular in the first place" as your question states - missile weapons were used to varying degrees by all the groups I mentioned and their effectiveness was not lost on anyone!. Study the 1138 Battle of the Standard between Anglo-Norman and Scots forces at Northallerton and you will see how effective the bow could be when used in numbers!. A weapon is only "popular" when it is effective - consider the sling, which was still being used in battle during the 12th century; its value was more about disrupting enemy formations and upsetting the horses than killing en masse - so it soon went out of use!. Bows kill at a distance, so the user is less likely to be involved in hand-to-hand combat; enemies died while your own troops survived!. As to why French armies were not equipped with bows to the same extent - it was a matter of aristocratic fear!. The kings and nobles of Europe feared uprisings by stinky peasants armed with such a devastating weapon, so they did not encourage its adoption!. English kings seem to have seen the potential benefits rather than the potential disasters!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Longbows as such have been used by every nation and group in the world!. The true English longbow is a bit longer and harder to use then the average bow and arrow type!. Upside to the bow and arrow is any sharp stick can be used as an arrow!. Cheap and effective to use, maintain and carry!. Downside was less power then its battle replacement, the crossbow!. The crossbow used by many in Europe had an advanage of being able to punch holes into armor very easily!. DOwn side was they are heavey to carry and slow to load to re-fire!. Although the English had crossbows in their weapons, they did cling to the use of the Longbow after many had switched to the newer technolgy!. Perhaps that is the real question!.Www@QuestionHome@Com the longbow is about 6 foot tall and has about 200 pounds of draw power the only wood(im pretty sure) that could do this was yew, and it was avliable in large quantitys to the british!. also the power of the longbowman was noticed by the king and so enacted the laws to force people to train on sunday giving them the huge numbers of bowmen, it takes about 10 years to train an effective bowman!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I'm pretty sure the main reason for the prominence of the longbow in the British Isles was the types of wood available in different countries at that time!. Britain had trees with wood that was much better for bows than what was on the mainland!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Materials and craftsmen both Then some one that could use them The big thing about them was their range Accurate or not fire at a thousand people you were going the hit something from 600 yards to 5 feet it was a very handy weapon Archers actualy had deformed joints from useing them ,I cant rem how many pound pull they were at full drawWww@QuestionHome@Com I think the Welsh were the best "longbowmen" for most of history!. At least, most mercenaries who used the longbow were Welsh rather than English!. That is not to say the English were no good with the bow!. It was indeed the law (which I don't think has been repealed yet!) that all able-bodied men over the age of 12 years should practice with the longbow six days a week!. This law, I believe, was similar to our more recent "national service", in that if you did have a war, either internal or with another country, then you wanted men who had already been trained in the use of the main weapon of the time!. The best bows were not made of English yew, but of Italian wood, which was then of much better quality!. Nowadays, most longbows are laminated, and it is rare to find a bow made totally from yew!. This wood can also be extremely dangerous to work with!. Yew dust in your lungs, or even on your skin, can put you in hospital! The powers-that-be in France chose the cross-bow because it was, in general terms, more accurate than the longbow!. However, a decent longbow-man could loose five, six, or even more arrows to each cross-bow bolt!. The way that wars were fought in those days meant simply that the longbow could score more hits than a cross-bow!. This is just a few ramblings from a longbow enthusiast!. I happen to believe that if we had not had the longbow, we in England would now be eating snails and frogs legs, and speaking French ! But if you want to know more, then I can thoroughly recommend the book by Robert Hardy (yes, the actor !) called "The Longbow"!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |