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Home , Assize of Arms of 1181, Eadwig, English longbow, Longbow

English (Edited from Wikipedia)

SUMMARY

The , also called the Welsh longbow, is a powerful medieval type of longbow (a tall bow for ) about 6 feet long used by the English and Welsh for and as a weapon in . English use of was effective against the French during the Hundred Years' War, particularly at the start of the war in the battles of Sluys (1340), Crécy (1346), and Poitiers (1356), and perhaps most famously at the (1415). They were less successful after this, with longbowmen having their lines broken at the Battle of Verneuil (1424), and being completely routed at the (1429) when they were charged before they had set up their defensive position.

No longbows survive from the period when the longbow was dominant (c. 1250–1450 AD), probably because bows became weaker, broke and were replaced, rather than being handed down through generations. More than 130 bows survive from the Renaissance period, however. More than 3,500 and 137 whole longbows were recovered from the , a ship of Henry VIII's navy that sank at in 1545.

HISTORY

The origins of the English longbow are disputed. While it is hard to assess the significance of archery in pre-Norman Conquest Anglo-Saxon warfare, it is clear that archery played a prominent role under the , as the story of the shows. Their Anglo-Norman descendants also made use of military archery, as exemplified by their victory at the Battle of the Standard in 1138.

[In other words, and his men, when they invaded England from , used bows-and-arrows against the English. Afterwards, archery became common in England.]

During the Anglo-Norman invasions of , Welsh bowmen took a heavy toll of the invaders and Welsh archers would feature in English armies from this point on. However, historians dispute whether this archery used a different kind of bow to the later English Longbow.

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Traditionally it has been argued that prior to the beginning of the 14th century, the weapon was a self-bow between four and five feet in length, known since the 19th century as the shortbow . This weapon, drawn to the chest rather than the ear, was much weaker. The English longbow as an effective weapon system evolved in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.

The longbow decided many medieval battles fought by the English and Welsh, the most significant of which were the Battle of Crécy (1346) and the Battle of Agincourt (1415), during the Hundred Years' War [the English against the French].

These victories followed earlier successes, notably at the Battle of Falkirk (1298) and the Battle of Halidon Hill (1333) during the Wars of Scottish Independence.

They were less successful after this, with longbowmen having their lines broken at the Battle of Verneuil (1424), and being routed at the Battle of Patay (1429) when they were charged before they had set up their defenses.

The longbow was also used against the English by their Welsh neighbors. The Welsh used the longbow mostly in a different manner than the English. In many early period English campaigns, the Welsh used the longbow in ambushes, often at point blank range that allowed their missiles to penetrate armor and generally do a lot of damage.

Although longbows were much faster and more accurate than the black-powder weapons which replaced them, longbowmen always took a long time to train because of the years of practice necessary before a war longbow could be used effectively.

In an era in which warfare was usually seasonal, and non-noble soldiers spent part of the year working at farms, the year-round training required for the effective use of the longbow was a challenge. A standing army was an expensive proposition to a medieval ruler. Mainland European armies seldom trained a significant longbow corps.

Due to their specialized training, English longbowmen were sought as in other European countries, most notably in the Italian city-states and in Spain. The White Company, comprising men-at-arms and longbowmen and commanded by Sir , is the best known English Free Company of the 14th century. The powerful Hungarian king, Louis the Great, is an example of someone who used longbowmen in his Italian campaigns.

Longbows remained in use until around the 16th century, when advances in made weapons a significant factor in warfare and such units as arquebusiers

2 [early rifles] and grenadiers began appearing. Despite this, the English Crown made numerous efforts to continue to promote archery practice by banning other sports and fining people for not possessing bows. Indeed, just before the , a pamphlet by William Neade entitled “The Double-Armed Man” advocated that soldiers be trained in both the longbow and ; albeit this advice was followed only by a few town militias.

The (1513) was a landmark in the , as the last battle on English soil to be fought with the longbow as the principal weapon. The last recorded use of bows in an English battle may have been a skirmish at Bridgnorth, in October 1642, during the Civil War, when an impromptu town , armed with bows, proved effective against un-armored musketeers. The Battle of Tippermuir (1644), in Scotland, may have been the last battle involving the longbow. Longbowmen remained a feature of the Royalist Army, but were not used by the Roundheads.

[The English Civil War (1642-1651) was fought over what form of government England should have: a monarchy with a king, or a republican form of government ruled by Parliament, which is similar to the Congress in the United States. “Roundheads” were those who supported the Republican form of government, and the Royalist army supported the King. They were called “Cavaliers.”]

Longbows have been in continuous production and use for sport and for hunting to the present day, but since 1642 they have been a minority interest, and very few have had the high draw weights of the medieval weapons. Other differences include the use of a stiffened non-bending centre section, rather than a continuous bend.

Serious military interest in the longbow faded after the seventeenth century but occasionally schemes to resurrect its military use were proposed. was a proponent in the 1770s; and a man named Richard Mason wrote a book proposing the arming of militia with pike and longbow in 1798. There is a record of the use of the longbow in action as late as WWII, when Jack Churchill is credited with a longbow kill in France in 1940. The weapon was certainly considered for use by Commandos during the war but it is not known whether it was used in action.

SOCIAL IMPORTANCE

The importance of the longbow in English culture can be seen in the legends of , which increasingly depicted him as a master archer, and also in the "Song of the

3 Bow", a poem from by Sir [author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries].

The Assize of Arms of 1181 was a proclamation of King Henry II of England concerning the obligation of all freemen of England to possess and bear arms in the service of king and realm. They had to swear allegiance to the king, on pain of "vengeance, not merely on their lands or chattels, but on their limbs".

The assize stipulated precisely the military equipment that each man should have according to his rank and wealth. The Assize established restrictions on weapon ownership by Jews, terms of inheritance, and prohibition of exports of arms, ships and timber.

"Every knight was forced to arm himself with coat of mail, and shield and lance ; every freeholder with lance and hauberk, every burgess and poorer freeman with lance and iron helmet. This universal levy of the armed nation was wholly at the disposal of the king for the purposes of defense."

During the reign of Henry III the Assize of Arms of 1252 was passed and required that all "citizens, burgesses, free tenants, villeins and others from 15 to 60 years of age" should be armed. The poorest of them were expected to have a and a knife, and a bow if they owned land worth more than two pounds. This made it easier for the King to raise an army, but also meant that the bow was a weapon commonly used by rebels during the Peasants' Revolt. From the time that the class of England became proficient with the longbow, the nobility in England had to be careful not to push them into open rebellion.

It has been conjectured that yew trees were commonly planted in English churchyards to have readily available longbow .

ROLLO AND THE

Rollo (c. 846 – c. 930) was a Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy, a region of France. Charles the Simple, the king of West Francia [the Western portion of the Holy Roman Empire that had split off after the death of Charlemagne], gave them land in exchange for Rollo agreeing to end his fighting. Rollo would also provide the Franks with his protection against further incursion by Norse war bands. In return for formal recognition of the lands he possessed, Rollo agreed to be baptized and assist the king in the defense of the realm. Rollo took the baptismal name Robert. The seal of

4 agreement was to be marriage between Rollo the Viking and Gisla, daughter of Charles of France.

Rollo is first recorded as the leader of these Viking settlers in a charter of 918, and he continued to reign over the region of Normandy until at least 928. He was succeeded by his son, William I Longsword in the Duchy of Normandy that he had founded. The offspring of Rollo and his men became known as the Normans. After the Norman conquest of England and their conquest of southern Italy and Sicily over the following two centuries, the descendants of Rollo and his men came to rule Norman England (the House of Normandy), the Kingdom of Sicily (the Kings of Sicily) as well as the Principality of Antioch from the 10th to 12th century. They left behind an enduring legacy in the historical developments of Europe and the Near East.

SWEYN FORKBEARD

Sweyn Forkbeard (960 – 3 February 1014) was king of Denmark, England, and parts of Norway. He was the son of King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark, and the father of .

In the mid-980s, Sweyn revolted against his father and seized the throne. Harald was driven into exile and died shortly afterwards in November 986 or 987. In 1000, with the allegiance of Trondejarl, Eric of Lade, Sweyn ruled most of Norway. In 1013, shortly before his death, he became the first Danish king of England after a long effort.

During his childhood England the Confessor, of England, was the target of Viking raids and invasions under Sweyn Forkbeard and his son, Cnut.

Following Sweyn's seizure of the throne in 1013, young Edward’s mom, Emma of Normandy, fled to Normandy, followed by Edward and his brother Alfred, and then by his father and former king of England, Æthelred.

Sweyn died in February 1014, and leading Englishmen invited Æthelred back on condition that he promised to rule 'more justly' than before. Æthelred agreed, sending Edward back with his ambassadors. Æthelred died in April 1016, and he was succeeded by Edward's older half-brother , who carried on the fight against Sweyn's son, Cnut.

According to Scandinavian tradition, Edward fought alongside Edmund; as Edward was at most thirteen years old at the time, the story is disputed. Edmund died in November 1016, and Cnut [son of Sweyn] became undisputed king. Edward then again

5 went into exile with his brother and sister. His mother, Emma of Normandy, grew tired of hiding, and in 1017 she married Cnut Forkbeard. In the same year Cnut had Edward's last surviving elder half-brother, Eadwig, executed, leaving Edward as the leading Anglo-Saxon claimant to the throne.

Edward spent a quarter of a century in exile, probably mainly in Normandy. He probably received support from his sister. In the early 1030s Edward witnessed four charters in Normandy, signing two of them as king of England. According to the Norman chronicler, William of Jumièges, Robert I, Duke of Normandy attempted an invasion of England to place Edward on the throne in about 1034, but it was blown off course.

After much effort, Edward eventually became King of England in 1042 AD.

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR

William I (circa 1028 – 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror, was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. A descendant of Rollo [the Viking invader who became ruler of Normandy in France], he was Duke of Normandy from 1035 onward. After a long struggle to establish his power, by 1060 his hold on Normandy was secure, and he launched the Norman conquest of England six years later. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands and by difficulties with his eldest son.

In the 1050s and early 1060s William became a contender for the throne of England, then held by the childless , his first cousin once removed.

There were other potential claimants, including the powerful English earl , who was named the next king by Edward on the latter's deathbed in January 1066. William argued that Edward had previously promised the throne to him, and that Harold had sworn to support William's claim. William built a large fleet and invaded England in September 1066, decisively defeating and killing Harold at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066.

After further military efforts William was crowned king on Christmas Day 1066, in London. He made arrangements for the governance of England in early 1067 before returning to Normandy. Several unsuccessful rebellions followed, but by 1075 William's hold on England was mostly secure, allowing him to spend the majority of the rest of his reign on the continent [in Normandy, France].

6 William's final years were marked by difficulties in his continental domains, troubles with his eldest son, and threatened invasions of England by the Danes. In 1086 William ordered the compilation of the Domesday Book, a survey listing all the landholders in England along with their holdings. William died in September 1087 while leading a campaign in northern France, and was buried in Caen.

His reign in England was marked by the construction of castles, the settling of a new Norman nobility on the land, and change in the composition of the English clergy. He did not try to integrate his various domains into one empire, but instead continued to administer each part separately.

The impact on England of William's conquest was profound; changes in the Church, aristocracy, culture, and language of the country have persisted into modern times. The Conquest brought the kingdom into closer contact with France and forged ties between France and England that lasted throughout the . Another consequence of William's invasion was the breaking of the formerly close ties between England and Scandinavia [the land of the Vikings]. William's government blended elements of the English and Norman systems into a new one that laid the foundations of the later medieval English kingdom.

William's lands were divided after his death: Normandy went to his eldest son, Robert, and his second surviving son, William, received England.

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