In the 13th century the English armies of Edward I began using the
longbow, which they had discovered during their wars in Wales.
Due to its incredible improvement in performance over the typical brown
English king initially hired Welsh bowmen to fight in their armies.
By the fourteenth century, the English had learned how to handle the
longbow themselves and were producing as many of them as they could.
English longbows were more than 6 feet (2 meter long and made of yew
wool with a hemp or silk string. In the 14th and 15th centuries all
English men were require by law to practice archery after church on
Sundays to be ready for war.
The traditional English longbow occupies a special position in archery’s
evolution. The secret of longbow lay in the natural properties of yew
which was cut in such a way that layer of sapwood was left the flattened
back of the bow.
English longbow
The most popular articles
-
The development of farming led to superior horses and better harnessing. Horses were more readily available. By the thirteenth century wagon... -
London was a busy city in 1666. It was very crowded. The streets were narrow and dusty. The Great Fire of London is one of the most well-kno... -
The Anglo Saxon Petroleum Company was a branch of the “Shell” Transport and Trading Company. Shell was a British company founded by Marcus S... -
London remained the principal residence of the monarch, and hence the main seat of government. The old Palace of Whitehall was all but des... -
In January 1066, Saxon monarch Edward the Confessor died, signaling the next and final successful invasion of England. Windsor Castle was bu... -
The Aryans who first came to Britain were the Celts. They came in two waves, starting about 700 B.C. The first wave – the Goidelic Celts or ... -
In 1839, nearly 35 years after the Battle of Trafalgar (20 October 1805), British Parliament decided to commemorate Admiral Horatio Nelson’s... -
Amesbury is an ancient town of Wiltshire, England, seven miles north of Salisbury and 78 miles southwest from London. Stonehenge is about 2 ...
Arts & Culture | Smithsonian