Archery Its History And Forms

from the earliest times mankind has used the bow to hunt for food cave paintings in France Spain and North Africa depict our ancestors hunting with bows and arrows 20,000 years ago the oldest arrowheads so far discovered were found at bol Arta in Tunisia they are fifty thousand years old but the bow could be older even than that organic matter from these distant millenia has long since decayed and we may never know how far back it's true origins lie the development of the bow was a major step in overcoming man's physical limitations and was thus a significant tool in the development of his intelligent existence the process for manufacturing Flint's for arrowheads is called napping it is the skill of the flint knapper that he can see how the flint is going to flake and is thus able to strike it in exactly the right place the edge is prepared to ensure that the chip will break away from the main core as he intends the NAPA uses a piece of stone or antler as a hammer Flint's fracture leaving curved sharp edges ideal for working into tools and weapons the next stage is called pressure flaking the Flint is wrapped in a leather pad to protect the hand and then a piece of bone or antler is used to flake away the edges of the Flint gradually creating the desired shape flint agate jasper and obsidian can all be flaked and some Stone Age cultures still existing alongside our modern civilizations have been known to use materials such as bottle glass to make arrowheads in the same fashion when ready the arrowhead is fitted into the arrow shaft with a kind of paste made from a mixture of birch resin and charcoal dust making an arrow in this way is a labor-intensive process and a Stone Age hunters arrows would have considerable value very often the head is also bound to the shaft in this instance it is being secured with metal fibers once bound it is then given a final coating of the resin and charcoal compound resulting in a very strong bond the oldest bow that has so far been found in Britain was unearthed at Muir Heath and Somerset it has been dated to around 2600 BC it is a flat bone that is to say in cross-section its limbs are wider than they are deep also found in Somerset at Ascot Heath is a bow of the same period in cross-section it is d shaped this together with length classifies it at a longbow evident at prehistoric sites throughout Europe shows that both the flat bow and the longbow were in widespread use today 5000 years later there are still those who hunt with the bow and arrow although now outlawed in Britain and much of Europe bow hunting for wild animals is still legal in many parts of the world in the United States it has a wide following as it is another form of the sport where the targets are not live animals but cardboard cutouts this is field archery it originated in America during the early part of this century a field course is usually laid out in woodland or other natural environment and consists of 28 targets many types of target faced are available and a recent development has been the introduction of three-dimensional targets field archery is popular with those who enjoy shooting babo that is without any form of sighting attachment and many archers still enjoy the challenge of shooting with the traditional English longbow in official competitions the targets are set at measured and marked distances whereas informal shoots can be set out at unmeasured unmarked distances to test the skill of the instinctive shooter there are other difficulties which can add interest to a course such as overhanging trees or narrow shooting gaps which can distract the archers aim natural features can present a range of different shooting situations shooting pegs are staked at each target and the archer must keep his left foot against the peg while he shoots a field course offers opportunities for medium and long distance shots as well as those at very short range the longbow form which occurred in prehistory appears again in Germany in Scandinavia during the Iron Age an excavated ship burial at new Dam has yielded 36 such bows this reconstruction shows one with an iron spike on the bottom limb for secondary use in battle the Vikings made extensive use of archers in battle particularly during the 9th and 10th centuries a distinctive feature of their bows is an elaborate string not on the bottom limb it requires no nock and does not slip you was the favoured bow wood but as in this example Elm was also popular the top limb was fitted with a side nock and the copper peg acted as an ingenious string keeper when the bow was unstrung archaeologists have unearthed the diversity of viking-age arrowheads most are iron though some are bone or antler in the 10th century poem the Battle of Morton the poet says both strings were busy shield parried point bitter was the battle in battle the archers generally fought behind the front ranks of spearmen they shot on the move a tactic which sometimes resulted in the chest draw at Hastings the Normans used a combination of cavalry and archers to great effect just over a hundred years later in 1169 Richard declare Earl of Pembroke led an Anglo Norman force into Ireland he took with him a large contingent of archers the Earl himself was known as Strongbow because he drew a stronger bow than any man the archers in his army were Welsh and earned great fame for their prowess with the bow Welsh archers really made their mark however during the 13th century first fighting alongside Simon de more for in the Barons war and later in guerrilla warfare against Edward the first in his efforts to subdue this unruly region the longbow was not unique to the Welsh many counties of England boasted fine bowmen at the same period even so it was the Welsh ones Barb's that Edward felt most keenly seeing their worth in battle Edward went to great lengths to recruit longbowman into his armies offering pardon to outlaws who would join his ranks and bend their bows in his service in 1277 800 archers from Gwent and Cracow joined the Kings forces new pay structures were introduced 100 hand-picked archers from Macclesfield received through pence a day in royal service at a time when the usual pay for infantry was only tuppence a day the days of the feudal army were on the wane and the need for professional bowmen was increasing by the 14th century the longbow was firmly established at a primary military weapon and regular practice at the boats was required training but swear mounds of Earth used as stops and the garland made from plaited brushwood was a common target the increasing military importance of archers and the need for trained men produced a stream of statutes making regular practice with the bow a legal obligation shooting at the boats was compulsory every Sunday for all able-bodied men between the ages of 14 and 65 a proclamation of Edward the third prohibited handball football bandy ball and other such like vain plays and urged on pain of imprisonment that those strong embody should learn the art of shooting alongside such policies there were also restrictions on the use of the bow as well as being the weapon of the soldier the bow was also the weapon of the rebel the brigand and the poacher many laws prohibited carrying bows in the Royal forests that is the Royal hunting preserves and severe penalties awaited those caught with a bow and barbed arrows the size of arms of 1252 stated that those who lived within the Royal forests at that time a substantial part of the realm and who owned bows must not carry sharp broad heads that must use blunts which though effective enough against birds and small game did not pose a threat to the king's venison the lateral Salter illustrated in the early 14th century depicts many arrows of this type one variation of shooting at the garland was to shoot at once one shooting required sharp arrowheads it was popular throughout the medieval period and is often alluded to in connection with archery competitions it is the most exacting test of the archers skill many types of wood have been used for making the longbow sometimes two or more woods are laminated together when made from a single wood it is known as a self bow during the Middle Ages self bows were the norm ash elm laburnum and you were all widely used other words included boxwood and Brazil the latter imported from India but at all times the yew tree taxus baccata has been considered supreme this mysterious sacred and poisonous tree has ever yielded up the best timber for bow staves the rich dark umber of its heartwood perfect for resisting compression and the pale honeyed cream of its upward perfect for resisting tension combined together in a natural state to form a mighty wooden spring with the potential to accumulate store and release energy once the stave has been hewn from the tree the wood is seasoned for three years or so before the bowyer begins work every bow is unique the bow here works by I alone he must see the bow in the stave the wood should be close grained without wind goals knots pins and twists today much of the best.you comes from Oregon during the Middle Ages it came mainly from Spain and Italy good English you was scarce and demand in England for top class fine grain staves was so great that they were levied as an import tax on casks of wine and other goods by the time of Richard the third this Duty was as much as ten staves for every cask of momsie wine quality you bow staves were at such a premium and bows were in such demand that one statute decreed that for every you bow a bow he produced he must make two more from other words as the wood reduces the work becomes increasingly critical too much and the stave is easily spoiled in cross-section the stave is roughed out to a high arched D shape then the limbs are gently tapered which will give the bow its ability to bend the BOA must follow the demands of the grain it is vital that the limbs bend in a smooth curve with no stiff spots or weak points either will break the bow irregularities in the grain must be accommodated so that as the bow bends the stress is evenly distributed this is the art of the master Bowyer where the thin layer of SAP wood Rises the heartwood must follow where it dips the heartwood is left proud as soon as the stave is up to bending a little it is made ready to take a string then it is put upon the tiller this allows the bowyer to stand back from his work and see how the limbs are coming around here the problem is the contradictory curves of the stave one limb reflexes the other D flexes the BOA must get this limb moving whilst at the same time maintaining a balanced curve on both limbs this curious looking implement is called a float it is a traditional tool of the boyo the worshipful company of boyars formed in the 14th century and still existing today as a city livery company displays three floats on its heraldic achievement the plump rounded part of the bows cross-section is called its belly it is the powerhouse the muscles of the bow the pale SAP wood which holds everything together forms the back of the bow its strong flexible spine during manufacture a stave will be put on the tiller many times before it is the back must be smooth to minimize the risk of any fibers lifting trying a stave on the tiller is always a tense moment how will it look will it hold will it come round compass yes now it is a bow a fine bow it will be fitted with knocks of horn to protect the wood from the string and its limbs will be waxed to keep out the damp then it will be ready for service as a military weapon the longbow had its finest hour during the Hundred Years War the armies of Edward the Black Prince one famous victories at play see in 1346 and at wat EA in 1356 it was Edwards reliance on archers that carried the day a Frenchman Philippe tak Amin wrote of the English bowmen they are the flower and hope of the armies the most sovereign thing in the world when it comes to battles the range of the longbow depends on many things the skill of the archer the wind the draw weight of the bow and the type of arrow fantastic distances can be claimed for heavy bow shooting lightweight arrows but in war relatively heavy arrows were used capable of carrying iron Bodkins or broadheads so at what range would an advancing army expect to encounter a storm of arrows probably at no more than two hundred yards the strongest men with strong bows could shoot much further but a few long-range arrows landing amidst the enemy is not an effective or efficient use of precious arrow reserves to be effective an arrow storm requires mass volume saturating the target zone the procurement problems of keeping a medieval army supplied with arrows were enormous in 1356 no bows or arrows were to be found in the county of chester because the king had taken them all to France in 1359 eight hundred and fifty thousand arrows were supplied to the Arsenal at the Tower of London good quality ash and Aspen were in great demand for making Harrow shafts in 1369 the Fletcher's were given a royal reprimand for using green unseasoned wood during 1418 the tower sent out orders to the counties for 1 million one hundred and ninety thousand goose feathers for fletching three years earlier the longbow had had one of its greatest triumphs in 1415 the bowmen of henry the fifth army found immortal glory in their defeat of the French at a shank or five thousand archers and just a thousand men at arms defeated a force estimated at some fifty to sixty thousand they did so with a bow and thousands upon thousands of handcrafted arrows compared to the crossbow and to early forms of gunnery an advantage of the longbow was its rate of shooting but its very ability to shoot arrows in volume meant that its tactical use had to be regulated in line with available supplies in a time minute these archers each shot twelve arrows they were by no means shooting as fast as they could they were simply asked to shoot fluidly at a rate they could keep up for several minutes and repeat again and again to get an idea of the military significance of this rate of shooting a man wearing full plate armor was timed as he crossed 200 yards of ground the ground was fairly steep and wet though not poked with mud as it might have been in battle each shot was ranged to take account of an advancing army the pace of the advance was regulated to conserve sufficient energy to be able to fight when the top of the rise was reached without armor the same distance can be covered with little effort in around 90 seconds with full armor it took 2 minutes 17 seconds if we take 12 arrows as the average shot per minute by each man then an archer Corps of 5000 men as a dodging core could loose arrows into the air at the rate of 1,000 shafts per second shooting consistently at this rate a supply of half a million arrows would be exhausted in just over eight minutes in other words against four or five enemy attacks at crécy the French attacked 17 times it therefore seems likely that long-range volleys would be used sparingly and the bulk of the arrow stocks would be conserved until the enemy were within a hundred or even 50 yards a further advantage of shooting at closer ranges is that fair quantities of arrows can be retrieved before the next attack a range of arrowheads were used in medieval warfare these are broad heads they were capable of causing savage wounds particularly against horse flesh the production of arrowheads was a major industry at times of high demand Aerosmith's would work by day and by night in a shift system reminiscent of modern industrial practices Fletcher's also applied their craft by day and night though the boyars were forbidden by statute to work after dark lest they turn out bows of inferior quality most medieval arrowheads fitted over the arrow shaft with a tubular socket like this others less common were fitted with a tank that is a spike which inserts into the shaft one type of Arrowhead made exclusively for war had a needle-like profile it was called a bodkin Bodkins were designed to attack armor in particular they were designed to attack plate armor by the second half of the 15th century a night could be clad from head to toe in plate armor and tests have shown that plate can be pierced by a bodkin indeed in an experiment set up in 1984 by Peter Jones of the Defense Research agency it was found that there could be considerable penetration there is still much to learn both about the armor-piercing capabilities of medieval arrowheads and the ways in which medieval armor has sought to defeat them in considering arrow penetration a number of factors have to be taken into account one of which is the nature of medieval steel up until around 1480 by which time English bowmen had been a supreme force for over a hundred and fifty years Armour was relatively soft and contained many impurities in fact it had similar properties to Victorian wrought iron which is what was used in the 1984 experiments another consideration is the thickness of the armor here at the Wallace Collection in London a 15th century sallet is being gauged where it protects the skull armor was at its thickest usually around three millimeters but where mobility was required such as for arms and legs much thinner gauges were used beneath the outer casing of his armor a knight wore a thick padded arming doublet this was to absorb the shock of heavy blows but it also meant that an arrow had to penetrate to a considerable depth to have any disabling effect the angle that an arrow strikes the curved glancing surface of an armor is crucial to its success and arrow shot from longer ranges are more likely to strike at oblique angles when the target plate is set at an oblique angle the effect on the arrow is remarkable as we have seen in the right circumstances the Botkin could defeat plate armor but only a small proportion of a medieval army Warfel plate it was expensive various combinations of plate mail and padded jackets with a more usual attire male of course was easily defeated by the bodkin an alternative form of armour was the Brigantine it consisted of a number of small plates individually fixed to a tough recovering brigand Dean's were specially favoured by archers they gave good protection and at the same time allowed the necessary mobility for shooting Jean de vivre who fought with the French at Agincourt wrote I am of the opinion that the most important thing in battle is the archers it was a view shared by a succession of English commanders as a result archers were well paid by the standards of the day coupled with this were the rewards of war looting and plunder were a legitimate means for the rank and file to improve their fortunes professional soldiering could be a profitable business and archers are invariably depicted in manuscripts wearing good-quality clothing and equipped with good-quality weapons even more prosperous was the mounted Archer he traveled by horse but dismounted to fight throughout the 14th and 15th centuries mounted archers were recruited in great numbers Edward the third had a contingent of over 4,000 at the siege of Calais the reputation of English bowmen put them in high demand the dukes of burgundy employed several companies in their Wars against the Swiss and one Burgundian captain wrote with some indignation the English have been more watched and admired in our army and better esteemed than were our robes of gold and costly adornments although mounted archers generally dismounted for battle there is some evidence to suggest that this was not always so this figure on the Bayeux Tapestry shoots his bow from a galloping horse and there is at least one 15th century manuscript that depicts armored Knights shooting the long bow from horseback but such tactics are against the general tradition of fighting in the west where the approach to warfare has usually been one of stolid defence walls of archers entrenched behind their defensive positions four walls of armor lakhs of heavily armored troops moving as solid units like mobile fortresses this is quite different to the fluid style of warfare encountered in the East here the traditions of nomadic peoples gave rise to the supremacy of the mounted Archer Citians path Ian's Abbas Tartars Mongols magaz and Huns all are famed for their horse archers and none more so than the celje Turks the renown of Turkish archery and the regard in which they hold it as much to the magnificence of their composite bows the traditional composite bow occurs in many different national forms it is made from laminations of horn wood and sinew a particular feature is that it is recurved which makes the limbs work with extraordinary efficiency since the development of glass fiber in the 1950s bows made for archers in the West have mimicked this ancient design the wooden frame or core of a traditional composite bow may consist of up to seven separate pieces each joined with a V splice a scraper is used to make one surface of the core convex so that it will but perfectly with the concave surface of the horn the toothed scraper the Tushin is then used to prepare the surface with deep parallel grooves ready to receive the hot glue some traditional glues are made from hides but the glue that has been most widely used is one called icing glass it is made from the swim bladders of fish boiled in water a strip of horn is shaped and prepared to form the tough compression resistant belly to the bow supplies of horn are plentiful in both Asia Minor and the steppe lands of Eastern Europe the best horn that is the most flexible and resilient comes from the water buffalo the scored surfaces are intended to increase the surface area of the bond and to prevent sideways slipping a first sizing coat is allowed to dry and then a second coat is added before putting the two together the adhesion is critical and the two components must be lashed together as tightly as possible while the glue sets the bow is bound with twine to keep the two layers under tension a special tool called the ten jack is used to keep an even pressure on the binding the recurved shape of the finished bow is created by tying the ends of the bow together with a cord thus setting it in a reflex state while the glue dries it is left for at least a fortnight the sinew is first prepared by hammering until it becomes fibrous this will form the elastic tension resistant back to the well it is teased apart and combed into very fine strands the best sinew comes from either the Achilles tendons or the back tendons of oxen when ready it is thoroughly saturated with the hot glue effectively creating this substance very like modern fiberglass and resin great care must be taken at this stage a 15th century Persian manuscript says that all of the skill lies in the laying of the sinew the fibers of each bundle of sinew must overlap with those of the next so that it forms one long continuous strip a bow may have up to three layers of sinew and at least six weeks drying time must be left between each layer after the final layer the bow must be left for a year before stringing for years for the best flight bows the dry of the sinew the more elastic it becomes after a year or so of natural drying the very best bows are put into bread ovens and baked for 24 hours once the bow has been strung shot and adjusted it is then covered with vellum or with birch bark the materials used in a composite bow make it very sensitive to climate particularly damp and it must be sealed from the elements it is then lacquered the finest bows are highly prized and often exquisitely decorated in European art composite bows appear widely in representations of biblical or classical themes in this portrait of Queen Elizabeth the first she is depicted as the ancient goddess of hunting Diana Diana was a symbol of feminine power and emancipation it became highly fashionable for influential women to have themselves portrayed in her image in the 18th century Madame de Stael a celebrated courtesan and society hostess nurtured a deep passion for archery it has said that she practiced constantly dressed in classical guys in this age of Romanticism Diana the Roman incarnation of the Greek Artemis represented an ideal of womanhood both the Romans and the Greeks used mercenary archers in their armies indeed Scythian archers had been recruited into the Grecian armies from as early as the 6th century BC the Citians and the roman cohort a sega terry Oram used various forms of the composite bow in 1795 Mahmud Effendi secretary to the Turkish ambassador in London shot an arrow a distance of 480 yards in a field behind Bedford Square it was shot of course with a composite bow in order to string the immensely powerful bows that are necessary for shooting such distances the Boers first partially bent around wooden blocks called temple --ax the pursuit of distance records is called flight shooting for the Turks it is a hallowed tradition three years after Muhammad Effendi's demonstration in London the sultan selim is said to have shot an arrow 972 yards his feet was witnessed by Sir Robert Ainsley British ambassador to the Ottoman Court this attachment is called a C / it allows the short flight arrow to be drawn back into the bow itself giving maximum power to the minimum size of arrow the standard method of shooting the composite bow is with a thumb release the thumb is protected by a thumb ring which in turn is hooked over the string thumb rings have been made in bone horn and a host of semi-precious materials they occur in many forms the cylindrical ones are Chinese to draw the bow the thumb is supported and locked into position by the fingers because of the immense distance is attainable with these bows a special form of practice arrow was developed called an eBrush the spiral awan fletching prevents the arrow from traveling too far composite bows are capable of delivering formidable power with relatively short limbs which also made them suitable as the bows for crossbows the knowledge of composite bows brought back from the Crusades enabled Europeans to build crossbows which were both powerful and compact earlier crossbows had wooden bows but to have any great power a wooden bow needs long limbs clumsy on a crossbow so their strength was limited with the more powerful composite bows some form of mechanism was required to span them this one is called a Gothel or goats foot lever on average it gives a power advantage of around five to one an alternative device is the cord and pulley system which attaches to a belt some versions are fitted with double pulleys working side by side although relatively quick in operation and cheap to produce the cord and pulley only gives a power advantage of two-to-one here at the Wallace Collection there is an array of crossbows and spanning devices this one known variously as a German winch a rack a creek or a chronic in is the most powerful of all it has a power advantage of a hundred and forty five to one it was in use from the late 14th century onwards improvements in steel manufacture which took place during the 15th century when that it also became possible to make steel prods four crossbows these could be tremendously powerful producing battlefield weapons of greater range than before they were also quicker and cheaper to make this spanning device is known as an English windlass it gives a power advantage of 45 to one crossbowmen were deployed in massive numbers at poitiers the French used six thousand Genoese then came on the cruel company of crossbowmen making the darkness in the skies with a multitude of quarrels which they shot fire arrows were used both in siege warfare and as a mainstay of naval engagements paradoxically just as the longbow reached its zenith on the battlefield the age of gunpowder dormant the first major battle at which the use of gunpowder was recorded was Crecy in 1346 one chronicler wrote the English struck terror into the French army with five or six pieces of cannon it being the first time they had seen these thundering machines it took another hundred years for the gun to completely oust the bow from the battlefield not least of all because early handguns were so slow to load however by the end of the 15th century the more easily trained hand gunner was becoming an increasingly familiar sight the bow remained popular for hunting firearms were considered an chivalrous good enough for war but not against noble quarry Huntsman often rode out with their bows from one 14th century book the leve de la module shows them shooting the longbow from horseback [Music] the type of Arrowhead necessary for hunting large game was broad in his celebrated treatise on hunting written in 1387 Gaston Phoebus count of foix declared that there should be a width of four fingers between the barbs ladies of rank enjoyed their hunting on equal status with men and the bow was a favorite weapon the more usual practice when hunting with a bow was to take stand and wait crossbows were also extremely popular for hunting this remarkable example is 15 century German in England crossbows were banned by Magna Carta and many subsequent statutes continued to outlaw them to all but the wealthiest landowners they were the weapon of the poacher and the assassin in 1087 William Rufus King of England had been killed by a crossbow bolt while out hunting in the new forest most crossbows were fitted with horn clips to prevent the bolt from slipping out of its shallow groove this was a particular advantage when shooting from horseback [Music] an alternative version of the crossbow is the pellet crossbow or stone bow as it is otherwise known a stone or pellet was placed in this cradle the rear loop of which hooked onto the trigger release pellets were made either from LED or baked clay they were used predominantly for shooting birds just thought that the stone bow was invented by the Chinese and introduced into Europe by Portuguese traders oh for a stone bow to hit him in the eye Christ sir Toby belch in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night made in all manner of sizes for men women and children they were immensely popular throughout the 16th and 17th centuries another Chinese invention was the repeating crossbow here at Her Majesty's Tower of London displayed among the collections of the Royal Armouries are some rare examples of the English longbow they were salvaged in 1841 from Henry the eighth's warship the Mary Rose which sank in the murky waters of the Solent in 1545 during a major excavation of the site in the 1970s a further hundred and 38 bows were brought to the surface since no actual medieval bows are still in existence these are the closest evidence we have to the great bows of the Hundred Years War originally fitted with horn Knox now long dissolved by the sea the bows provide vital clues as to the nature of the medieval longbow most are from single staves and are of deep stack D cross-section they are all made of yew there is no sign of any binding on the Han grip and unlike modern bows the limb action works right through the centre of the bow the modern style of longbow is slightly stiff through its center section the majority of work being done by the limbs whereas the mary-rose style longbow curves in a smooth arc working right through the hand Henry the eighth actively promoted the use of the longbow outlawing both the crossbow and the hand gun in 1510 he sent to Venice for forty thousand of the best quality used Apes and in 1534 he commanded that thirty thousand long bows be made and stored in the tower most of the bows found on the mary-rose have been calculated to have draw weights in a range of 70 pounds to 140 pounds they are a remarkable legacy in 1544 Roger Askim a tutor in Greek and Latin to Henry the eighth's children wrote a treatise on archery it was called toxo phyllis and it captured for posterity an age when men knew and used the bow ask him five principles standing knocking drawing aiming and loosing remained the foundations for all good shooting but Henry's preferment of the longbow was against the tide of change in 1549 Bishop Latimer preached a sermon lamenting the decline in the nation's archery it was too late a generation were walking to the butts for the last time ever mindful of the defense of his realm Henry had already capitulated on his earlier ban of handguns and crossbows in 1537 he incorporated the guild of st. George to encourage the study and practice of all shooting namely with long bows crossbows and handguns this was to become the Honourable Artillery Company it still exists today as an adjunct to the territorial army and thus has the distinction of being the oldest Regiment in the British Army preserved here at its London headquarters is the last roving mark to have been removed from nearby Finsbury fields roving is cross-country shooting from one mark to another today roving is the most informal of all arteries many forms and the marks tend to be features of the landscape like a patch of Earth a stick or a leaf the archer whose area lies closest to the mark chooses the next the distances are random according to the whim of the shooters whereas it Finsbury feels the distances were fixed between each stone mark there is a map belonging to the Honourable Artillery Company which shows the layout of this ancient shooting ground in great detail the distances between each mark are noted in scores and yards so that the distance between say Scarlett and the white hallmark is 12 score and two which is two hundred and forty yards the distance between the Lambuth mark and the Turks wale mark is threescore and thirteen a mere 73 yards the permanent stone markers were surmounted by wooden posts or crosses to make them visible from a distance closely allied to roving is clout shooting the clout was a canvas target stretched over a hoop and shot at from long distances at these longer ranges it can be difficult for the archer to gauge exactly where his arrow has landed and thus correct his aim for this reason a marker is set to stand near the mark and signal where each shaft Falls for instance one bow length short or to bow lengths over and so on for a perfect hit a dead man an order-in-council of 1598 directed that all bows be exchanged for muskets and calibers this officially marked the disappearance of the longbow from the battlefield though throughout the following century there were many who called for its revival it was argued that the longbow could get off six shots for every one fired by a musket Charles the first renewed old statutes insisting on archery practice and he took measures to safeguard ancient shooting grounds during the Civil War he tried in vain to raise a company of archers from the undergraduates at Oxford University before the battle at Stowe in the Wold said Jacob Astley had an arrow land between his feet it was a rare event the fashion was for gunpowder and the bow was no more to be bent in anger after the Civil War archery was kept alive by a few diehard enthusiasts one such was Sir William wooden at his burial in 1691 three flights of whistling arrows were shot over his grave he was the marshal and celebrated champion of the Finsbury archers they were a body of men once described as a most heroic rarity whistling arrows were more common in Japan in particular for the Hakim a ceremony intended to drive away evil and bring peace and happiness the ceremonial and religious aspects of archery have always played an important role in Japanese society bamboo of course is the traditional material for both bows and arrows q Jitsu war archery was central among the ideologies of the samurai both mounted and infantry archers were used in battle where individual accuracy was considered more important than mast flight of arrows this is kyudo the way of archery above all the archer strives for beauty of form and dignity in the shooting attitude the Japanese set great store by the mental and spiritual disciplines involved in shooting the bow in particular Zen philosophy is thought by many to hold the key to infallible accuracy in a Zen approach the archer empties his consciousness and seeks to become a single entity with the target thus there is no distance between them [Music] [Music] shooting at targets became popular in Britain during the Regency period the Prince Regent was an enthusiastic Bowman then fashion conscious society was quick to follow his lead targets were constructed with pasteboard and target faces varied in both size and coloring scoring systems such as existed were idiosyncratic and haphazard the revival of archery has a cultivated diversion amongst the elegant beaumond also prompted the formation of a number of prestigious archery societies the Royal Kentish Bowman and the Royal British Bowman both enjoyed royal patronage in 1766 sir Ashton lever and a group of enthusiastic Archer friends founded the toxify lights they have an unbroken history to this day and are now the Royal toxify light society the royal company of archers in Scotland had had the Royal Charter since 1704 in 1791 two of its members fought to duel each shooting three arrows at the other no harm came to either party since 1822 the royal company has been the sovereigns official bodyguard in Scotland the Prince Regent's most enduring legacy to archery was in introducing an orthodox scoring system and in regulating the distances at which the target should be shot the distance as he said was 60 80 and 100 yards called the princes lengths they are the Rangers still shocked for a York round today the target face he designed would also be familiar to any Archer today the prince is reckoning as it is known remains a standard for scoring one for the outer white three for the black five for the inner white or blue the red scores seven and the gold nine a form of archery popular in 18th century Europe was to shoot at popinjays that is wooden Birds set high upon a pole popinjays have also been a favorite target for the crossbow since at least the 13th century this example of a target crossbow is Flemish and dates from the 18th century during the Middle Ages many European towns formed guilds and fraternities of crossbowmen for their defense a number of these guilds remain to this day and carry on the tradition of shooting at the popinjay the popinjay can also be shot with the longbow though this is rarely done today the popinjay does not seem to have been as widely used in England as it was on the continent although Henry the eighth's charter to the fraternity of st. George specifically states that they may use and exercise the shooting in their long bows crossbows and handguns at all manor marks and butts and at the game of the popinjay in scotland however there is a strong tradition of shooting at the popinjay or popping go as it is known locally the Irvine toxify Lights formed in 1814 shot at an elevated target fixed to the top of a 30-foot pole at nearby Kilwinning in a custom dating to the 15th century the bird was perched atop the abbey tower in 1841 Prince Albert became patron of the Kilwinning archers although in 1870 the popping go was raised on the abbey tower for the last time until a recent revival of the custom in 1950 in 1856 Horace Ford published his famous book archery its theory and practice he has been described as the father of modern target shooting target shooting at precisely measured distances was the only form of archery that he would countenance he described clout and roving as a refuge for the destitute a deeply religious man he practiced every day of the week except Sundays he changed many aspects of the shooters stance and action Ford was 12 times champion of Great Britain and consistently shot record scores once when asked why don't I improve I'm always practicing Ford replied ah that is the reason you use your arms too much in your head too little and so you go on repeating and confirming your faults instead of mending them target archery flourished during the Victorian era and away from the grand national archery meetings that Ford frequented it was also fashionable as a country house amusement the grand national archery Society was formed in 1861 and to this day it is the governing body of target archery in Great Britain the greatest difference between the archery of Horace Ford and that of today is the changes in tackle made possible by modern materials and technology bows constructed of tubular steel made regular appearances on the archery field from the 1920s to the 1960s superb steel bows had been produced in India and Persia as far back as the 18th century they were a flat cross-section with reflex limbs and beautifully decorated by contrast the European steel bow seemed rather utilitarian but in its time it was considered a most modern and innovative weapon during the 30s and 40s a group of american archer scientists developed a new style of flat bow it had echoes of the past their version of the flat bow was based on the bows of an american daeun tribe from the west coast called the Hooper's it became known as the American longbow and enjoyed universal popularity until superseded by the reflex composite bow introduced in the 1950s such bows are today made in take apart form the limbs attaching to the central riser by means of bolts modern engineering and lightweight materials such as carbon fibre and aluminium have given rise to all manner of elaborate bow designs in 1969 Wilbur Allen an American patented the compound bow using a system of eccentric wheels to distribute the load the archer only holds a percentage of the weight at full draw so that at full draw a bow of 50 pounds may let down to 25 with this embrace of new technologies for the bow has come other developments such as all manner of mechanical release aids and aids such as kisses to ensure absolutely consistent anchor points precisely calibrated sighting systems have been developed some even incorporate scopes and levels forests of pokers vie bars and torqueflite compensators not gently on the modern target line stabilizing the bow damping down the kick and smoothing the shot the effect of new technology on arrows has been of particular significance molded plastic nox have given a uniform precision to the way the arrow leaves the string they have also given Hollywood the means for countless historical faux pas tubular aluminium arrows can be made with matching specifications impossible to achieve with wood and today even more exacting specifications are produced in carbon fibre the consistency offered by every arrow being exactly the same produces relentless accuracy at championship levels archery was an Olympic event from 1908 to 1924 ten fell into decline and was not reintroduced until the 1972 Games in Munich today it thrives and is enjoyed by millions in many countries throughout the world in this brief survey we have touched on just some of its history one character who cannot go unmentioned however is Robin Hood countless versions of the legend for film and television have reduced noble sentiment to cliche even so he continues to capture the imagination of succeeding generations and from target line to Greenwood his spirit resides in every archers heart first mentioned in the 14th century poem Piers Plowman tales of the great bowmen occur throughout the Middle Ages and scholars have long debated whether or not he actually existed some place him in the reign of Richard the first others argue persuasively that he was active during the reign of Edward ii the legend persists but the man himself remains shrouded in mystery [Music]

Channel: The Mike Loades Channel

Views: 253,382

Rating: 4.8599396 out of 5

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Id: 2D1GkX1T6gQ

Length: 71min 50sec (4310 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 18 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/General_Strategy_477]

Amazing book, if you have a spare century to read it. Amazingly in depth