“And I saw that the Lamb had removed the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four animals, saying, as it were in a thunderous voice: go and see. I looked, and, behold, a white horse, and on him a rider with a bow, and a crown was given to him; and he came out victorious, and to conquer."
(Revelation of John the Evangelist 6: 1-2)
The topic of the English bow appeared on the pages of VO completely by chance. And who understands English bows better than the British themselves? No one! Therefore, it probably makes sense to refer to English sources, which tell the following about English bows: the English bow, also called the Welsh bow, is a powerful medieval weapon about 6 feet (1.8 m) in length, which was used by English and Welsh arrows for hunting and as a weapon in medieval wars. The English bow was effective against the French during the Hundred Years War, and performed especially well at the Battle of Slays (1340), Crécy (1346) and Poitiers (1356), and perhaps the most famous Battle of Agincourt (1415). Less successful was its use at the Battle of Verneus (1424) and at the Battle of Patai (1429). The term "English" or "Welsh" bow is a modern way of distinguishing these bows from other bows, although in fact the same bows were used in both northern and western Europe.
The earliest bow known in England was found at Ashkot Heath, Somerset and dates from 2665 BC. More than 130 bows have come down to us from the Renaissance. More than 3,500 arrows and 137 intact bows were recovered from the water along with the Mary Rose, the flagship of Henry VIII, which sank in Portsmouth in 1545.
The English bow is also called "big bow" and this is really so, since its length exceeded the height of a person, that is, it was 1, 5 or 1, 8 meters in length. Richard Bartelot of the Royal Artillery Institute describes the typical English bow as a yew weapon, 6 feet (1.8 m) long, with 3 feet (910 mm) arrows. Gaston Phoebus wrote in 1388 that the bow should be "of yew or boxwood, seventy inches [1.8 m] between the attachment points for the bowstring." On the Mary Rose, bows were found in lengths from 1.87 to 2.11 meters, with an average length of 1.98 meters (6 feet 6 inches).
Archers, crossbowmen, and coolers are fighting outside the walls of New Orleans. Miniature from "Chronicles" by Jean Froissard. National Library of France.
The draw force of a bow of the medieval period is estimated at 120-150 N. Historically, hunting bows usually had a strength of 60-80 N, and combat bows were stronger. Today there are several modern bows with a capacity of 240-250 N.
Here is a description of how English boys were bowed during the reign of Henry VII:
“[My father] taught me,” writes a certain Hugh Latimer, “how to hold the bow correctly and where to pull the arrow … I had a bow that my father bought me for my age and strength, and then my bows were getting bigger and bigger. A man will never shoot well if he does not constantly train with a suitable bow."
The preferred material for bows was yew, although ash, elm and other types of wood were also used. Giraldus of Cambria from Wales wrote that the traditional onion-making technique consisted of drying yew wood for a period of 1 to 2 years and then slowly processing it. So the whole process of making onions takes up to four years. On the Mary Rose, the bows had a flat outer part. The inner side ("belly") of the bow had a rounded shape. Onions can be stored for a long time if protected with a moisture resistant coating, traditionally made of "wax, resin and lard".
The British quickly ran out of stocks of yew in England and began to buy it abroad. The first documented mention of the import of yew to England dates back to 1294. In 1350 there was a serious shortage of yew trees, and Henry IV ordered the introduction of private ownership of the lands where the yew would be cultivated. By the Westminster Statute of 1472, every ship returning from Russian ports had to bring four bundles of yew for bows. Richard III increased this number to ten. In 1483, the price of such blanks rose from two to eight pounds. In 1507, the Roman emperor asked the Duke of Bavaria to stop the extermination of the yew, but the trade was very profitable, and the duke, of course, did not listen to him, so by the 17th century almost all the yew in Europe had been wiped out!
The bowstring for English bows is traditionally made from hemp. Combat arrows were ordered in bundles of 24 arrows in a bundle. For example, between 1341 and 1359, the English crown is known to have received 51,350 of these bundles, or 1,232,400 arrows!
3,500 arrows made from poplar, ash, beech and hazel were found on the Mary Rose. Their length ranged from 61 to 83 centimeters (24-33 inches), with an average length of 76 centimeters (30 inches). The tips were mostly armor-piercing and wide, often moon-shaped, to "cut" the ship's gear.
It was difficult to learn how to shoot a bow well. Therefore, training in shooting was encouraged by the monarchs. So King Edward III in 1363 pointed out: “While the people of our kingdom, rich and poor, were accustomed to shooting a bow in their games earlier … With God's help, it is well known that honor and profit will not come to us just like that, but in order to have an advantage in our warlike undertakings … every person in this country, if he is able to work, is obliged to use a bow and arrow in his games on holidays … and so practice archery. At first, the boy was given a stone in his left hand and made to stand that way, holding him suspended. The stone became heavier over time, and the time - more! On the battlefield, English archers learned to stick their arrows vertically into the ground at their feet, reducing the time it took to reach and fire them. That is why they used quivers only for carrying them. Dirt on the tip was more likely to cause infection.
English historians have suggested that the range of an arrow from a professional archer of the time of Edward III could reach 400 yards (370 m), but the farthest shot at the London training ground in Finsbury in the 16th century was 345 yards (320 m). In 1542, Henry VIII set a minimum shooting range for adults at 220 yards (200 m). Modern experiments with analogs of the Mary Rose bows have shown that it is quite possible to shoot from them at 328 m (360 yards) with a light arrow, and with a heavy one, weighing 95.9 g, at a distance of 249.9 m (270 yards).
In 2006, Matthew Bane fired 250 yards with a 330 N bow. Shooting was carried out at the armor of the brigandine type, while the tip penetrated the obstacle by 3.5 inches (89 mm). The moon-shaped tips do not penetrate the armor, but can, if hit, cause deformation of the metal. The results of firing at plate armor were as follows: with the "minimum thickness" of steel (1, 2 mm), the tips penetrated the obstacle very insignificantly and not always. Bane concluded that thicker armor (2-3 mm) or armor with additional padding would be able to delay any arrow.
In 2011, Mike Loades conducted an experiment in which a shot at armor was fired from 10 yards (9.1 m) from a 60 N bow. The target was "armor" of 24 linen layers glued together. As a result, none of the arrows pierced the “textile armor”! The experimenter, however, came to the conclusion that a long, awl-shaped tip would penetrate this obstacle.
Gerald of Wales described the use of the Welsh bow in the 12th century:
“… [In] the war against the Welsh, one of the men was struck by the arrow of a Welshman. It went right through his thigh, high where it was protected from the outside by his armor, and then through his leather tunic; then it penetrated through that part of the saddle which is called the alva or seat; and finally hit the horse so deep that she killed the animal."
Archery was described by contemporaries as ineffective against plate armor at the Battle of Neville Cross (1346), the Siege of Bergerac (1345), and the Battle of Poitiers (1356); however, such armor was not available to European knights until the end of the XIV century. D. Nicole, in his research on the Hundred Years War, wrote that it was enough for a knight to tilt his head so that the arrows bounced off his helmet and shoulder pads, but could hit him in the thigh. But they struck knightly horses in the croup and in the neck, and they could not run and simply lay down on the ground.
Also, the enemy crossbowmen at the Battle of Crecy were forced to retreat under a hail of arrows, since they did not have pavese shields. Historian John Keegan directly states that the bow was not a weapon against people, but against the horses of the French knights.
It should be noted that each archer had 60 - 72 arrows during the battle. First, they fired with volleys along a hinged trajectory in order to hit the riders and their horses from above. When the latter were in the immediate vicinity (50-25 m), the archers fired independently and at maximum speed. That is why a number of English historians call the bow "the machine gun of the Middle Ages."
If the arrow got stuck in the wound, the only way to remove it was to lubricate the shaft with water or oil and push it so that the tip came out on the other side, which was extremely painful. There were specialized tools used during medieval history to extract arrows if they got stuck in the victim's body. Prince Hal, later Henry V, was wounded in the face by an arrow at the Battle of Shrewsbury (1403). Court physician John Bradmore removed the arrow from the wound, stitched it up and covered it with honey, which is known to have antiseptic properties. Then a poultice of barley and honey mixed with turpentine was made on the wound. After 20 days, the wound was free of infection and began to heal.
Training of English archers. Miniature from Luttrell's Psalter. OK. 1330-1340 Painting on parchment. 36 x 25 cm. British Museum Library, London.
Were there shorter bows in England? In 2012, Richard Wage, based on an analysis of extensive iconographic material and archaeological evidence, concluded that short bows coexisted with longer ones between the Norman conquest and the reign of Edward III, but powerful bows that fired heavy arrows were rare until the end of the 13th century. The Welsh themselves used their bow in ambushes, often firing from it at point-blank range, which allowed their arrows to pierce any armor and generally caused the British a lot of harm.
Bows remained in service until the 16th century, when progress in the development of firearms led to a change in combat tactics. The last recorded example of the use of bows in combat in England was during a shootout at Bridgnorth in October 1642 during the Civil War, when the city militia, armed with bows, proved effective against unarmored musketeers. Archers were used in the Royalist army, but were not used by the "roundhead".
Subsequently, many advocated the return of the bow to the army, but only Jack Churchill succeeded in using it in France in 1940, when he landed there with his commandos.
The tactics of using archers among the British during the Hundred Years War were as follows: the infantry (usually dismounted knights and soldiers in armor, armed with pollaxes - battle axes with hammers on a long shaft), became in the center of the position.
Modern English archers.
Archers deployed primarily on the flanks, sometimes in front of the infantry under the cover of sharpened stakes. The cavalry stood either on the flanks or in the center in reserve to attack any of the breached flanks. In the 16th century, the archers were supplemented by arrows-coolers, who frightened the horses with their shots.
In addition to the Mary Rose bows, five 15th century bows have survived to this day, which allowed English researchers to study them well.
The bow has entered traditional English culture, as evidenced by the legends of Robin Hood, where he is portrayed as the "main archer of the country", as well as "The Song of the Bow" - a poem by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from his novel "The White Company".
It has even been suggested that the yews were specially planted in English cemeteries in order to always have wood for bows.
Typical English yew bow, 6 ft 6 (2 m) long.
