[Unit 101] Archer and Bow - Medieval

» HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT MILITARY HISTORY VISUALIZED «

» SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS «

This video covers medieval archers, their bows, equipment, social status, attitude towards archers and a bit more.

---Sources---
--Books & Articles--

Bradbury, Jim: The Medieval Archer

Bartlett, Clive; Embelton, Gerry: English Longbowman 1330-1515

Bradbury, Jim: The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare

Mortimer, John: Tactics, Strategy, and Battlefield Formation during the Hundred Years War: The Role of the Longbow in the Infantry Revolution

Rogers ,Clifford J.: The Efficacy of the English Longbow: A Reply to Kelly DeVries

Bachrach, Bernard S.: Medieval siege warfare: a reconnaissance, Journal of Military History 58, No. 1

Waddell, Jack; Palermo, Brent: Medieval Arms, Armor, and Tactics.

Stampf, Siegfried: Eine sozial und militärhistorische Analyse der englischen Langbogenschützen während des Hunderjährigen Krieges

---Song----
Ethan Meixsell - Demilitarized Zone (the Irony :D)

[dwput]

Church : no bows! It's a sin!
Soldier : how about trebuchet?
Church : no problem. Deus vult.

[kalle]

now a machine gun, that really took the fun out of cavalry.

[mrgarland]

Please make more videos on medieval combat, I suggest large scale infantry combat

[bborkzilla]

"Nobles could be killed by low-class archers, without even an opportunity for retaliation" - precisely why Artillery is the hated class in tank games!

[Christian-ossh]

"The main drawback of archers..."
Made me laugh.

[rosicroix]

I'm really glad I subscribed to your channel. you constantly produce informative & entertaining videos on warfare & history. I hope you will continue to do so for a long time as you always cite references which turn into further reading for the viewers, & I need little encouragement to read another history book, lol. TY once again & keep up the good work

[blakewinter]

I suspect the practice of capturing nobles had less to do with codes of conduct, and more to do with pragmatic choice, since ransom was extremely profitable, especially if you captured someone from a rich family. Of course a code of conduct could look good, but the truth is the codes of conduct would often be ignored if they weren't convenient.

EDIT: As to the gloves, I suspect most archers wore a bracer on the left arm (because if you hit yourself with the string of a bow, it hurts pretty badly), and had some kind of glove for the right hand, because when drawing such a draw-weight, it is easy to get rope burn on your fingers. Although it is possible that practice simply calloused their right hands so much that they did not need a glove. And there are also small coverings for the fingers that aren't gloves, but just cover the fronts of the fingers used to draw the bow. I don't know if those are a modern invention or if they were used at all in medieval times.

[ZoneofA]

Problem with this video is it focuses too much on English and French experience around 100 years war. Medieval bow use analysis should include much larger time span and much larger area. How was the bow used by Byzantine empire, how abut Italy, how abut Crusades, how abut Central and Eastern Europe, how abut migration period, or Carolingian empire period, early, high or late middle ages?

Otherwise it is a good video but because of limited focus it would be better named something like: "Archer and Bow - 100 years war"

[thefrenchbastard]

2:40 so the nobles hated the bow for the same reason FPS players hate sniper^^

[MarkAndrewEdwards]

Another good resource is "The Art of War in the Western World" by Archer Jones....which is about as Welsh a name as you can get, though he's from the US :) But it's a great read.

[Karelwolfpup]

we even still have a law about archery and mandatory training of such in case of war here in England, not that anyone pays any attention to it XD

[Bird_Dog]

I once read that the main reason for introducing the bodkin arrow head wasn't the armour piercing capability, but the fact that it was cheaper to mass-produce than broadheads.
While the argument that a narower tip makes for better penetration makes sense, so does the economic argument given the number of arrows archers could expend in a short time on the battlefield.
"Let's send the irish. They're cheaper than arrows."

[TehCthulhu]

"Now it's time to look at the arrows, let's start with some basic autonomy." You Austrians are adorable.

[RemusKingOfRome]

"reg'wuwary" - How often i play Mount & Blade :D

[Glitchyetiad]

lol love that mount and blade reference

[Mati_Panzer]

so now i want to see a panzer IV but instead of a turret it has a guy with a bow

we could call it the "nostalgiewind"

[marktstanic]

Great stuff as usual;
could you do a video on the Alaskan Campaign in WW2?

[williamcameron]

i never knew you drew these images, wow serious brownie points to you

[sgthaiteru]

i could be wrong but "bows" were not banned. Crossbows on the other hand were banned by the church that it was cheating for the nobles being killed by the common man as you said. bows take ALOT more skill to hit at a distance. the crossbows have more of a flat angle and higher piercing power.

[VintageLJ]

The Longbow is a major part of English and Welsh history for us in the British isles. A large portion of the populace was armed with a bow, and *all* boys were required by law to train with a longbow every Sunday from the age of 11. This would help deform their bodies so that they are as effective as possible when eventually conscripted.