English longbow

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