Electric Renaissance

Warfare

English Longbows

The English longbow was much bigger than other bows. It was as tall as a man or more and could fire with accuracy well over 200 yards. An English archer could fire accurately three arrows a minute and when pressed could double that rate of fire. A hundred archers could launch a thousand arrows a minute, with withering results.

The longbow is credited with the English victory at Cr&egravecy (1346) and Poitiers (1356). Because an arrow fired from a longbow could pierce chainmail armor, it gave to common footsoldiers a weapon that could withstand the nobility. Not surprisingly, both crossbows and longbows were despised by the noble class.

A Longbow was reasonably cheap to make and Edward III was able to require all able-bodied Englishmen to become proficient in its use. Archers alone were not enough to win the day, but they modified battlefield tactics, serving as mobile field artillery. Not to push modernism too far, but a better analogy would be armored infantry, for the archers, after the enemy had closed and the bows were no longer effective, dropped their longbows and fought with knives and swords.

Course: Electric Renaissance
Teacher: Dr. E. L. Skip Knox

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