The Genesis Of The English Longbow

The Longbow became popular when it was first used by the Welsh in the Norman English Invasion

. The English were impressed by its accuracy and range thus began drafting welsh archers into the armed forces. The Longbow was a weapon that ranged in length from 4 feet to six, though British sources put the weapon at five feet.

The Longbow was traditionally made from yew wood that had been seasoned for two years, then gradually worked into shape. In select cases the process was extended up to four years. During the Longbow era, there were shortcuts to working the wood which expedited the process. One of these was wetting the wood. The bow stave was crafted from about half a branch, often with the sapwood on the outside and the heartwood on the inside. The reason for this was: the sapwood was good in handling tension while the heartwood was found to be resilient and handled compression better. Linen or hemp was used for the bow string.

During its era, the long possessed sufficient accuracy and range, though never both at once. A number of scholars put approximate the longbow range to be between 190 to 260 yards. There is no assurance that the accuracy could be sustained beyond 76 to 80 yards. For longer ranges, the effective strategy was to unleash volleys of arrows to the enemy battalions. During the 14th and better part of the 15th centuries, English military archers were required to shoot 10 arrows a minute during combat. Expert archers superseded that by two. The archers were provided with 70 arrows which enabled them to shoot continuously for six minutes.

Archers were particularly vulnerable from close ranges because they lacked the armor and weapons of the infantry. As such, longbow equipped archers were frequently positioned behind field fortifications or physical barriers, such as swamps, which could afford protection against attack. On the battlefield, longbow men were frequently found in an enfilade formation on the flanks of English armies. By massing their archers, the English would unleash a "cloud of arrows" on the enemy as they advanced which would strike down soldiers and unhorse armored knights.

To make the weapon more effective, several specialized arrows were developed. These included arrows with heavy bodkin (chisel) heads which were designed to penetrate chain mail and other light armor. While less effective against plate armor, they generally were able to pierce the lighter armor on knight's mount, unhorsing him and forcing him to fight on foot. To speed up their rate of fire in battle, archers would remove their arrows from their quiver and stick them in the ground at their feet. This permitted a smoother motion to reload after each arrow.

The Longbow was an effective weapon that required extensive training to effectively use. To ensure that they always had sufficient supply of competent archers, the English encouraged people from all levels in society to develop their archery skills. The government went further by allocating special days for people to practice archery skills, a good example is that of King Edward 1 who banned sports on Sundays and instead encouraged people to practice archery. The extensive training required to master archery discouraged many countries of the time from adopting the longbow to the advantage of the English.

by: Mathieu Courchesne

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