English Longbow Research Paper

The English Longbow From about the beginning of the 14th century to the late 16th century, the English longbow became the most prevalent weapon of the time. Its rapid rate of fire and long distance shooting range secured victories for the English in many battles against the French. These longbows in the hands of the English Longbowmen were the crucial element of the English victories in the Hundred Years’ War; notwithstanding, England was at a sizeable disadvantage militarily. The longbows not only provided an advantage militarily, but they were also economically effective in their cheapness and in the simplicity of making them. While the English longbows were eventually bested by the French adaptation to the newly invented firearms, these

The mountainous country of Wales made it necessary for the Welsh to hunt from great distances, so they increased the length and thickness of their bows until they got the ideal hunting range (Featherstone 25). The longbow is a bow that is at least over four feet in length, and its overall length is much debated but is generally said to be anywhere from five and half to seven feet in length. In the article The Longbow, it states, “Around 1300, during a skirmish with the Welsh, an English knight received a wound from an arrow that had penetrated his chain mail, passed through his thigh, the chain mail on the other side of his leg, a wooden saddle and wounded the horse” (The Longbow). England decided to adopt the longbow since it saw that the common peasant could handle a weapon that could take out a knight in full armor (The Longbow). The English began to realize that the knights of old were not entirely invulnerable as they once had been against the common infantry. The English quickly picked up the compulsory practicing of archery with the longbow after this encounter with the

The “History of the English Longbow” states, “The Plantagenet King Edward III took . . . [the archery laws] further and decreed the Archery Law in 1363 which commanded the obligatory practice of archery on Sundays and holidays!” (“History of the English Longbow”). The Archery Law threatened pain of death for anyone who took up time better spent on archery practice (“History of the English Longbow”). The English’s dedication to the constant training and development of skilled archers made a formidable opponent in the centuries to come. The English took archery seriously, and this seriousness led to a high degree of expertise for the English