How was it that ordinary men in medieval England and Wales became such skilled archers that they defeated noble knights in battle after battle? The archer in medieval England became a forerunner of John Bull as a symbol of the spirit of the ordinary Englishman. He had his own popular literature that left us a romantic version of the lives and activities of outlaws and poachers such as Robin Hood. This remarkable development began 150 years after the traumatic events of the Norman Conquest transformed the English way of life, in ways that were almost never to the benefit of the English. This book is the first account of the way ordinary men used bows and arrows in their day-to-day lives, and the way that their skills became recognised by the kings of England as invaluable in warfare.

This history of the archer in the Middle Ages, from the Norman Conquest to the Wars of the Roses, challenges the assumption that the longbow was a new and devastating weapon adopted by English armies from the 13th century onwards.

A fascinating guide to strange-but-true jobs.

First full study devoted to the archery and crossbow guilds which grew up in Flanders in the middle ages.

Thomas of Lingen, a young archer in the army of the Earl of March does the Earl a service and is promoted He takes part in the Battle of Mortimer's Cross and the Earl now proclaimed King asks him to spy for him.After many adventures he is knighted on the battlefield of Towton and determines to find and wed his love. The Countess of Hambye. She has vanished. He must track her to France and rescue her.Eventually the story is resolved.

A fascinating and lively history of four bows that changed warfare – the composite bow, the longbow, the crossbow and the Japanese bow, the yumi – by a world-renowned expert. War bows dominated battlefields across the world for centuries. In their various forms, they allowed trained archers to take down even well-armoured targets from great distances, and played a key role in some of the most famous battles in human history. The composite bow was a versatile and devastatingly effective weapon, on foot, from chariots and on horseback for over a thousand years, used by cultures as diverse as the Hittites, the Romans, the Mongols and the Ottoman Turks. The Middle Ages saw a clash between the iconic longbow and the more technologically sophisticated crossbow, most famously during the Hundred Years War, while in Japan, the samurai used the yumi to deadly effect, unleashing bursts of arrows from their galloping steeds. Historical weapons expert Mike Loades reveals the full history of these four iconic weapons that changed the nature of warfare. Complete with modern ballistics testing, action recreations of what it is like to fire each bow and a critical analysis of the technology and tactics associated with each bow, this book is a must-have for anyone interested in ancient arms.

Archery in Medieval England is an account of how archery developed amongst ordinary people in England and Wales after the Norman Conquest. In the 300 years after that traumatic event, Englishmen became such skilled archers that they could defeat the most heavily armoured noble knights in battle after battle – feats of arms unequalled by the combatants of any other European country. Here Richard Wadge describes how men used bows and arrows in their everyday lives in the centuries between the arrival of the Normans and the start of the 100 Years War in Edward III's reign. Many contemporary records provide accounts of the illegal use of bows and arrows: unlawful hunting is shown to have been particularly important as a school for the development of battle- winning archery skills. In the process of investigating these accounts, light is shed on the background to the stories of Robin Hood and other outlaws. Evidence from archaeology, manuscript illustrations, church wall paintings and carvings provides an insight into the actual bows and arrows and their use. Richard Wadge shows how the archer came to symbolise the spirit of the ordinary Englishman, how he became a forerunner of John Bull and how he remains part of the national identity even today.

An in-depth, illustrated history and technical study of this iconic weapon of the Middle Ages. The crossbow is an iconic weapon of the Middle Ages and, alongside the longbow, one of the most effective ranged weapons of the pre-gunpowder era. Unfortunately, despite its general fame it has been decades since an in-depth history of the medieval crossbow has been published, which is why Stuart Ellis-Gorman’s detailed, accessible, and highly illustrated study is so valuable. The Medieval Crossbow approaches the history of the crossbow from two directions. The first is a technical study of the design and construction of the medieval crossbow, the many different kinds of crossbows used during the Middle Ages, and finally a consideration of the relationship between crossbows and art. The second half of the book explores the history of the crossbow, from its origins in ancient China to its decline in sixteenth-century Europe. Along the way it explores the challenges in deciphering the crossbow’s early medieval history as well as its prominence in warfare and sport shooting in the High and Later Middle Ages. This fascinating book brings together the work of a wide range of accomplished crossbow scholars and incorporates the author’s own original research to create an account of the medieval crossbow that will appeal to anyone looking to gain an insight into one of the most important weapons of the Middle Ages.

This book chronicles the overwhelming importance of the military archer in the late medieval period. The longbow played a central role in the English victory at the battles of Crecy and Agincourt. Completely undermining the supremacy of heavy cavalry, the longbow forced a wholesale reassessment of battlefield tactics. Richard Wadge explains what made England's longbow archers so devastating, detailing the process by which their formidable armament was manufactured and the conditions that produced men capable of continually drawing a bow under a tension of 100 pounds. Uniquely, Wadge looks at the economics behind the supply of longbows to the English army and the social history of the military archer. Crucially, what were the advantages of joining the first professional standing army in England since the days of the Roman conquest? Was it the pay, the booty, or the glory? With its painstaking analysis of contemporary records, Arrowstorm paints a vivid portrait of the life of a professional soldier in the war which forged the English national consciousness.

"An overview of one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of European and non-European archery-related materials in the world. This book presents color photos and descriptions of some 300 items - including bows, arrows, quivers, and thumb rings- that represent traditional archery techniques, practices, and customs from around the world"--Provided by publisher.