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
