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How or why did the English become a bow culture?

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Rod:
Chris,
I am not particularly concerned about Pip's opinion on this matter. There is history enough about warbow cultures, and there are bowyers enough ( and one in particular) who are skilled in making the warbow. The evidence extant, supported by shooting practice seems to indicate an infantry bow median range of draw weight between 120 lb and 150 lb in the days of strong shooting.
Bear in mind that by the time of Henry VIII the strength of the English archers had probably begun to fall away somewhat from the height of their powers.
The work of Mark Stretton and Simon Stanley also seems to bear out the efficacy of bows shooting the heavy shaft in draw weights in excess of 150 lb which produce sppeds in excess of 200fps with a flighting shaft.
The benefits in range and penetration are significant when compared to a 100 lb bow shooting a shaft of similar weight.
I daresay that one could sell more war bows today in the lower draw weights, but the heavy bow archers of today mostly do not appear to yet be capable of the performance of the best of their ancestors.
A few are making progress and I applaud their efforts, but it should be borne in mind that the task is to master the bow, not to draw it a few times and shoot with little effect before commencing to either under draw or lose command of the bow.
Many would do well to focus more upon their form and slow down in the rush towards greater draw weights.
The two processes should in truth go hand in hand.
First master the bow you have, then step up in weight and master that, before stepping up once again.
In the old days you would have started as a child and your bows would have grown with you as you mastered the shooting of the bow you have.
Today the focus these days is I think too  much upon the rush to draw more weight.  The mastery of form, which aids accuracy and reduces the chances of injury tends to fall by the wayside.
Too often a warbow afficionado will complain the target shooting practice, for example, is irrelevant.
This is patent nonsense. Just down the road from here is the site of some butts where they would regularly shoot at marks at some 240 paces and stand the chance of winning both the respect of their peers and a purse equal to several years income for a working man, but rest assured that only the man who had command of his bow would stand a chance of taking the prize and threreafter be sought after by those selecting the best men for their retinue.

Rod.

osprey:
Actually the Vikings were among the first peoples to employ the longbow in warfare. It has been said that the vikings were the ones who brought the longbow design to England. Although even after the unsuccessful Viking conquest of England the longbow was not that widely used as it was after the successful conquest by the Normans (who were the descendants of the Vikings who settled in France).

Rod:

--- Quote from: osprey on September 06, 2007, 01:29:13 am ---Actually the Vikings were among the first peoples to employ the longbow in warfare. It has been said that the vikings were the ones who brought the longbow design to England. Although even after the unsuccessful Viking conquest of England the longbow was not that widely used as it was after the successful conquest by the Normans (who were the descendants of the Vikings who settled in France).

--- End quote ---

Many things have been said which are demonstrably untrue. This has been one of them...
That the English borrowed the warbow from the Welsh is another.
Rod.

osprey:
 What do you mean untrue? Show me evidence to the contrary. Have you read something recent that says other wise I really want to know? In the Great War Bow by Matthew Strickland and Robert Hardy they say that some of the earliest long bows were employed by the Vikings, and in the second Bowyers Bible in the chapter on ancient European bows Paul Comstack says that there was archaeological evidence that the Vikings had left behind long bows in England in a time period before they were widely used in that area. I am not trying to turn this into a big argument I honestly wish to further my own knowledge about the history of archery, and I wish to discuss this with you more.

Rod:
Whilst it is true that "vikings" did use longbows and that bows have been found, notably in Ireland, this does not make a case for first use in warfare unless you class the viking incursions as the first warfare in NW Europe.
The longbow has been the typical type in the region for thousands of years and I daresay that it was used in anger on more than one occasion before a few folks in Jutland and Scandinavia decided to go "a-viking".
Rod.

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