Other sources suggest significantly higher draw weights. Paterson, Chairman of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries, believed the weapon had a supreme draw weight of only 80–90 lb f (360–400 N). Mildmay Stayner, Recorder of the British Long Bow Society, estimated the bows of the Medieval period drew 90–110 pounds-force (400–490 newtons), maximum, and W. Before the recovery of the Mary Rose, Count M. Draw weights Įstimates for the draw of these bows varies considerably. All but the last estimate were made before the excavation of the Mary Rose, where bows were found ranging in length from 6 ft 2 in to 6 ft 11 in (1.87 to 2.11 m) with an average length of 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m). Historian Jim Bradbury said they were an average of about 5 feet and 8 inches. Gaston III, Count of Foix, wrote in 1388 that a longbow should be "of yew or boxwood, seventy inches (1.8 m) between the points of attachment for the cord". Richard Bartelot, of the Royal Artillery Institution, said that the bow was of yew, 6 feet (1.8 m) long, with a 3-foot (910 mm) arrow. The Society of Antiquaries of London says it is of 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 metres) in length. In continental Europe it was generally seen as any bow longer than 3 ft 11 in (1.2 m). More than 3,500 arrows and 137 whole longbows were recovered from the Mary Rose, a ship of Henry VIII's navy that sank at Portsmouth in 1545.Ī longbow must be long enough to allow its user to draw the string to a point on the face or body, and the length therefore varies with the user. More than 130 bows survive from the Renaissance period, however. 1250–1450), probably because bows became weaker, broke, and were replaced rather than being handed down through generations. No English longbows survive from the period when the longbow was dominant (c. The Battle of Pontvallain (1370) had also previously shown longbowmen were not particularly effective when not given the time to set up defensive positions. They were less successful later on, as longbowmen had their lines broken at the Battle of Verneuil (1424) although the English won a decisive victory there, they were completely routed at the Battle of Patay (1429) when they were charged by the French mounted men-at-arms before they had prepared the terrain and finished defensive arrangements. English longbows were effective against the French during the Hundred Years' War, particularly in the battles of Sluys (1340), Crécy (1346), Poitiers (1356), and the Battle of Agincourt (1415). While it is debated whether it originated in England or in Wales from the Welsh bow, by the 14th century the longbow was being used by both the English and the Welsh as a weapon of war and for hunting. The English longbow was a powerful medieval type of bow, about 6 ft (1.8 m) long. English longbowmen figure prominently in the foreground on the right, where they are driving away Italian mercenary crossbowmen. A late 15th century illustration of the Battle of Crécy.
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