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Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Michal Marcin The Longbow and Its Military Use Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: PhDr. Lidia Kyzlinková, CSc., M.Litt. 2013 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Michal Marcin Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor PhDr. Lidia Kyzlinková, CSc., M.Litt. for her valuable advice and guidance. I would also like to thank my family and my friends, particularly Wouter Konijn, for their encouragement. Table of Contents 1 Introduction 5 2 The Longbow and Its General History 7 3 The Longbow in Medieval England 15 3.1 The Beginnings – the Saxons, the Normans or the Welsh? 15 3.2 Edward I and the Birth of the English Military Longbow 18 3.3 The Slumber of the Longbow During the Reign of Edward II 22 3.4 Edward III and the Ripening of the Military Longbow 24 4 The Golden Age of the Longbow 29 4.1 The Battle of Crécy 29 4.2 The Battles of Poitiers and Agincourt 30 5 The Decline of the Military Longbow 33 6 The longbow in fiction 39 6.1 Viking: King's Man by Tim Severin 39 6.2 Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell 43 7 Conclusion 47 Bibliography 50 English Resumé 52 Czech Resumé 53 1 Introduction The aim of this work is to create a compact guide to people wishing to learn about the longbow and its origins, introduction to the English army, military history and eventual decline, and also to prove that the longbow was in a considerable use for a far wider period of time than merely the commonly supposed Hundred Years' War (henceforth mostly referred to as the War). There already is a great amount of texts concerning the War or some of the battles in particular, therefore, rather than to summarise these texts, I decided to cover the history of the longbow in a much wider extent. The longbow is a peculiar item. In some people it evokes a glorious past, to others it is a bitter reminder of a once mightiest kingdom's defeat and suffering and to still others it remains a trusty companion, be it for spare time or as a tool necessary for their lives. To most people these days, however, it is a nearly forgotten relic of the past, although this is not the first time people thought so. The longbow is a very simple weapon. In its typical construction it is, with the exception of the size, no different from other self-bows, i.e. bows made from a single piece of wood. Therefore, when a more sophisticated ranged weapon became common, the old-fashioned longbow was expected to be abandoned. Far from that, it rose to become a core element of a new type of armies and left most of medieval Europe wide-eyed in astonishment at its deadly effectiveness. The first chapter of the thesis describes the very beginnings of the bow and its types, the earliest findings of longbow fragments, and discusses some theories about the weapon's reoccurring disappearance throughout the history. It also demonstrates the earliest military usage of the longbow in the world and in Europe, particularly the Germanic tribes. At the end of the longbow historical background, the use of the longbow outside Europe after the Middle Ages is briefly mentioned. 5 The thesis further discusses possible nations responsible for bringing the bow into England, the introduction of the longbow into the English army and the person most responsible for it, as well as its role in the evolution of the way armies were formed and battles fought. The Golden Age of the longbow is briefly outlined, along with the three most important battles of the War – Crécy, Poities and Agincourt. However, rather than give lengthy accounts of the battles, some events preceding and following them are written about, along with the effects lasting for longer periods of time. The decline of the longbow is dealt with next, starting with the late stages of the Hundred Years' War. The role of the longbow in the Wars of the Roses is described, as well as the increasingly desperate attempts to keep the weapon a part of the English army, particularly during the reign of Henry VIII. This proved to be the final effort, after which the use of the longbow steadily declined, without any notable achievement. The thesis lists some of the main reasons for the inevitable decline and the eventual abandonment of the longbow in the military. In the final chapter, two pieces of historical fiction regarding the use of the military archery in certain battles are analysed. The Battle of Stamford Bridge, which features in Viking: King's Man by T. Severin (first published in 2005), is barely known in this respect. The depiction is examined, along with some theories on the use of the longbow in that period. The portrayal of the Battle of Agincourt by B. Cornwell in his novel Azincourt (2008) is studied next, as well as some aspects of the life of a common longbowman, as represented in the text. The chief sources are Longbow: A social and military history by R. Hardy, a detailed study of the weapon, and The Hundred Years War by D. Seward, selected for additional information on the longbow in regard to the War. 6 2 The Longbow and Its General History It is often thought that the main catalyst of the change in the way wars were fought in the late1 Middle Ages and the early modern history was the gunpowder. This notion, probably based on the belief that changes are always the outcome of new technologies, not merely new ideas for items already commonly in use, is wrong. While some cannons or handguns were in use as early as the middle of the fourteenth century (Seward 55-7), it still took a few centuries2 rather than decades for them to be commonly used, and still few more centuries to actually surpass the effectiveness of the longbow3. Cornwell mentions two wise men wishing the longbow was still widely used in their time: Benjamin Franklin, who "believed that if the American rebels had been armed with the longbow then the revolution would have been over in a matter of months rather than years" and, a few decades later, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who "wanted to raise a Corps of Longbowmen to fight Napoleon", but failed to do so due to a shortage of trained men (Hardy, foreword). In short, longbows were still the deadliest weapon for a long time after they fell out of military use, and also for a very long time before they came to be massively used in the Hundred Years' War, for the history of the (long)bow is, in great part, the history of humanity itself. The beginnings of the bow in general are closely tied to the beginnings of mankind. Early on humans figured out it was safer to attack from a distance, and have ever since kept improving upon the idea. Throwing spears with fire hardened points were already in use half a million years ago, having replaced stones and sticks (Hardy 11). It is likely that by observing a tree bending in the wind, and by realizing the force 1 Meaning about the second half of the Middle Ages, from some 1000 CE on. Not to be confused with Late Middle Ages (from roughly 1300 CE on). 2 While several cannons were used during Henry V's conquest of Normandy, it was only for sieges. However, despite being fairly powerful, they were highly erratic and it still took a few weeks to breach the walls. Seward states that "their chief weakness seems to have been unreliable powder" (172). 3 For instance, Hardy believes that where the rate of fire is concerned, the rifle surpassed the longbow only as late as by the time of the World War I (75). 7 with which a sapling would lash out after being bent and released, humans eventually came to the idea of creating a bow (Hardy 11). The oldest preserved arrowheads, made of stone, flint or obsidian, small enough not to be used for spears (bows were made from organic material and have perished over the time) are estimated to be roughly 50,000 years old (ibid. 12). There are two types of bows: self-bows, i.e. made from a single piece of wood, and composite. The composite ones are, as the term implies, pieced together from parts. As humans learnt the properties of various materials other than wood, such as that horn compresses and sinew is elastic, they started using it for their benefit. They would make the centre of the bow from wood, then glue sinew to its back (the outer side, facing the target) and horn on its belly (the inner side, facing the archer) (ibid. 14). Therefore, when the bow was drawn, the horn would compress and the sinew expand, and upon firing the two outer layers would quickly revert to their original state, thus greatly enhancing the capabilities of the bow. Properly executed, this design would outperform even the best of the wooden bows. This is proven by the fact that modern bows are based on this design, the only difference being the use of fabricated and more efficient materials (ibid. 14). The reason why those more sophisticated bows were not used all over the world is simply that they were the outcome of necessity: in many parts of the world there was not enough timber available to create self-bows, unlike the more temperate regions, where wood was plentiful (ibid.