The English Longbow was one of the deadliest tools on the planet. These bows were one of the main tools that made England one of the most powerful countries in the past. They used these longbows for many reasons. They could penetrate through steel plate armor, which made these bows effective against armored knights. The longbows had a draw weight of up to 150 pounds. The longbows that the English traditionally used had a draw weight of about 90 pounds. The English completely showed off their longbow in the beginning of “The Hundred Year War”“. The Longbow proved to be a great weapon by dominating he opposition in battle.
The longbow was such an important tool to the English that they were teaching children how to shoot before they even turned seven. Longbows were so powerful that England had armies 7,500 strong of all archers. The great power of the longbow combined with 100 archers shooting was a devastating combination. Being shot from one of these bows was lethal enough. Now imagine a storm of 200 arrows being shot at the opposition at once. On top of the deadly storm of arrows being shot at the opposition all at once, skilled archers could shoot up to 12 arrows a minute. That ombined with a powerful bow, and large army, would destroy the opposition.
These bows were powerful enough to penetrate plate armor. The blades on the end of the arrow (Broadheads) were what killed the person. Once they penetrate through you, you cant just take them out. If you survive being shot, the broadhead will be stuck under your skin. They could cause lethal infections, or make the poor soul bleed out. The Welsh are believed to be the first people who invented the longbow, in 1180 AD. The English first introduced it into their arsenal in 1300 AD. Although deadly, the longbow is a very simple weapon to raft. They are made from wood and string – that’s it. They were often made of many different kinds of wood, but the most common was yew. This type of wood was chosen because the honey colored side of it was flexible while the cream colored side was the spine of the bow, insuring it wouldn’t snap when drawn.
The crafting process was also quite simple, people would peel the bark off of the sticks, boil the limbs of the bow (to make them more flexible), carve nocks in the tips of the sticks where the string could rest. The creation of the longbow was a family business. The people who crafted the bows were called Bowyers”. The people who crafted the arrow were called fletchers, and the people who made the broadheads were called arrowsmiths. The creation of the arrows were also very important. They were made from skinny sticks of any kind of wood. During the 1350s, longbows were being made so much to the point where there was a shortage of yew (The go to bow crafting wood). They began to tax traders 4 bow staves for every ton of goods they sold.
This was increased to ten bow staves later on. There are three main parts to an arrow. The main part of the arrow is called the shaft. On one end, people make a mall slit so that the string can go in. On the other end, a tight slit so that the broadhead can be tied into the nock. Another part of the arrow is called the fletching. It is made from trimmed feathers, and it helps the arrow soar through the air. The next part of the arrow is called the broadhead. This is the triangular blade that is at the tip of an arrow. It penetrates its targets so that they cant rip the arrow out. The other kind of broadhead that is used is a field point. This can be ripped out, but it is not used in combat. It is used for target practice.
In the 1100s, King Henry I issued a law to absolve an archer if he kills another archer while practicing. As much as these longbows were used before 1340, the English really showed off the longbow in The One Hundred Year War. In many of their battles, they destroyed the French opposition. While the longbow was better at close range, the archers always were behind cover. They hid in places such as towers, forts, and swamps. They practically hid anywhere that could give them protection from the armored knights. They were also typically in groups together, which would help them unleash the famous “Storm of Arrows” – which ould kill the enemies and un-horse the armored knights. Depending on what the battle calls for, the archers used different kinds of arrows. They used long broadhead arrows, which would penetrate through chainmail armor and light armor. To make sure he had a large supply of archers, King Edward I encouraged his people to practice archery.
This was to make sure that he would always have a supply of archers. King Edward I also banned all sports other than archery to be practiced on Sunday. The English longbow was also very difficult to use, unless you’ve had many years of training. If you were raining to shoot this hefty bow, you couldn’t just pick it up. It could take people a decade to be able to shoot the 150-pound draw weight bow. This was to discourage people from learning to shoot an English longbow. King Edward I supported the longbow as much as he could during his reign as king (1272 – 1307). Next to the simple old sword, the longbow was the key to England’s dominance in battles. It was because of the longbow that the English won the battles of Crecy (1346), Poitiers (1356), and Agincourt (1415). It is also because of the archers weakness that the English lost the battle of Patay in (1429).
The last English battle involving longbows took place in 1644. After the battle of Tippermuir, the musket became more popular and the English longbow became obsolete, for numerous reasons. One of the main reasons was the training. As we know, the English longbow took years of training to perfect. The musket on the other hand did not take long to perfect, which allowed large armies to be made in much shorter amounts of time. The downside of the musket was the fire rate, unlike the longbow.
The longbow was still used after it was replaced, just not by the English. While the English longbow as in its prime, the recurve bow was also. Mostly the Mongolian empire, on horseback, used it. The longbow was also used by the native americans as a deadly combat weapon and a deadly hunting weapon. In those years, archery was still thriving. It became a very popular and social sport. It was not until the 1900 Olympic games that archery became a widely recognized sport. In 1904, it was also one of the first Olympic sports to include women.
Archery stayed for 20 years as an Olympic sport until it just vanished. For 50 years, archery was forgotten as an Olympic sport. In 1961, Inger Frith was elected president f the international archery foundation (IAF). She was also the first woman to serve as the president of any international sports federation. It was because of her that archery returned to the 1972 summer Olympics. It has been an Olympic sport ever since. In modern day media, archery has made a major comeback. We see it in all of our movies, games, tv, books, and more. It has become very popular because of movies and shows such as The Hunger Games Series, Disney’s Brave, Robin Hood, and the movie Rambo.
It has also been featured in TV shows such as Arrow, Game of Thrones, and The Walking Dead. These shows ruly demonstrate how powerful and great the sport of archery is. Archery is also a common weapon to see in video games. Some of these video games are Far Cry 3 & 4, Assassins Creed 3, Tomb Raider, warframe, Skyrim, and many other Role Playing Games (RPGs) and many other Massive Multiplayer Online games. These games show off why the bow is a primitive weapon with little to no noise when shot, and a very powerful weapon. The sport of archery has come a long way. In the beginning, it was a deadly weapon that required many years of training. Now, archery is a thriving sport thanks to the Olympics, and the medias.