The Longbows History

Longbows, sometimes spelled as long bows, are a type of archery bow described as running over five to six feet in length – they’re unique feature. If you’re interested in archery, you might want to find out the history of the longbow, one of the sport’s most enduring choices.

Nevertheless, the English soon decided that their infantry could use much help from the longbow, which they saw as a potentially great weapon that could destroy even the finest of armors. Tests at the time showed that the archery longbow has the power to fire an arrow with such a force as to allow it to penetrate even four-inch oak doors, the arrow’s shaft proudly exposed as testament on the other side.

Off to War With The Longbow

Centuries later, the descendants of the Englishmen who sought the power of the longbow to help soldiers successfully defend their turf were given the opportunity long due them – and this came in the form of the Battle of Falkirk, which took place in 1928, around the time William Wallace lost to Edward I, thanks to the Welsh archers who backed-up the latter and delivered fatal hails of arrows.

English archers were then given a chance to shine during the famed 100 Years War, which lasted from 1337 to 1453.

Longbows took many French lives, the enemies who had bigger armies and more advanced war technology, in the battles of Agincourt, Crecy, and Poitiers. During the fight at Agincourt alone, history books say that at least a thousand English archery arrows were shot at French soldiers every single second.

Lessons Learned From Archery

The French went home defeated, but they learned valuable lessons they would soon use to their advantage. Naturally, they did not readily exclaim their appreciation for longbows; they credited their adversaries’ victory to other military tactics. But they secretly held experiments and tried to see if the archery longbow could be as powerful in French hands as it had proven to be in English hands.

The French made some modifications. Instead of using English yew, which had been credited for the strength and power of longbows, they used staves they imported from other their neighbors, Italy and Spain.

Meanwhile, the English continued to go on with their rigorous training. If a man’s yearly income was over two pounds, he was required by law to own an archery bow. Any other sport was banned absolutely on Sundays, for this was when Englishmen, aged 12 to 65, would practice their skills in archery.

Throughout the rest of the Europe, longbows received wide attention; even the mighty Spanish Armada brought in trained archers to further cement their power in the seas. Battles and wars in Europe were never fought without the use of the archery longbow, the most powerful weapon in the world at that time, replaced only before 1600 by early firearms called harquebusiers.