Main Discussion Area > English Warbow
How or why did the English become a bow culture?
Rod:
--- Quote from: Len on August 17, 2007, 07:58:53 pm ---Rod the term myth implies no basis on fact , don't you mean something more like aura or reputation ?
--- End quote ---
No Len, I said myth because in this context, the sense of national/racial identity is based upoon a construction, not upon hard facts.
Regarding the reported Bickerstaffe theory about there being a 100lb limit due to the deficiencies of the string, we have to ask ourselves why the Mary Rose bows (from a period past the peak of the English powers with the long bow) include bows capable of higher draw weights.
Taking all the evidence from war bow cultures in general, it is patently absurd to suggest a 100lb limit on warbow draw weight based upon an assumption drawn from the nock size of the Mary Rose shafts.
Rod.
ChrisD:
Rod
I have to say I'm a little confused here. I can understand people arguing over Pips 'srtring theory' based on what they think a hemp or linen string of a given size could do but I really can't see any problem with the basic assumption that the MR arrows were meant for use with the MR bows and that therefore the strings had to fit the nocks. There was nothing special about those arrows - the nocking points were the same size as the Westminster arrow (although thats never been dated I know).
As an aside, Pips views on the poundage are not based only on the strings - he's had enough access to the bows and made enough yew bows out of various qualities of yew to have come to his own conclusions without being completely dependent on his views of the capabilities of the strings alone.
Chris
n8dawg6:
--- Quote from: Pat B on June 15, 2007, 04:24:03 pm ---..."the rule of thumb" (fistmele) and "A parting shot" are a few archery related sayings I know of. Pat
--- End quote ---
i was told by a law professor who taught criminal law (much of which, in the U.S., is derived from the English Common Law), that the rule of thumb traditionally referred, at Common Law, to the diameter of the stick with which a husband could beat his wife and not be found criminally liable. I never have attempted to verify this, but the professor tested on it. sorry this is not directly related to ELB's, but I am curious now as to the true origin of this saying
Loki:
It's a myth i'm afraid,there never was any such law ;D.It derives from a cartoon by James Gillray in 1783 which was attacking Judge Sir Francis Buller who had made a ruling in one of his cases,he had told a man to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb,but it wasnt the law ;D.
The phrase has been around since before Buller and Gillray anyway,the thumb has allways been used to estimate distances,have you never lined your thumb up with your eyeline ;D.
--- Quote ---Sir W. Hope, Fencing-Master, 1692 - "What he doth, he doth by rule of Thumb, and not by Art."
--- End quote ---
n8dawg6:
that's interesting! that professor told our class of 70 or so that that was the law (and he believed it). HA! ;D ;D
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