Long Bow

We all can envision knights in shining armor riding off into battle. They were obeying the orders of their king or were on a quest to save a fair damsel in distress.

In the middle ages, knights on large horses were the main weapon of battle. They were the "tanks" of medieval warfare.

When Edward I of England conquered Wales in the 1280s, he noted the use of a very effective new weapon, the long bow made of English yew. These bows were six feet in length, longer than the height of most archers, and used a three foot arrow. When fired by an experienced archer, it could hit a target 400 meters away and could pierce a knight's armor (arms and legs, not the chest and head) at 100 meters. The arrows were a much more serious threat to the knights' horses. A good bowman could fire at a rate of one arrow every five seconds or 12 arrows per minute.

Typical battle tactics had hundreds of bowmen rain arrows down on the enemy. The result of this arrow bombardment was the inflicting of great damage in a very short period of time.

In England, the King regularly offered large sums of money as prizes in archery contests. This strategy provided the kingdom with a plentiful supply of experienced bowmen when going to war.

Archers at Agincourt

The French learned during the three main battles of the Hundred Years War (from 1357 to 1453) just how valuable the long bow was. The lost all three battles even though they had the home ground advantage and more than twice as many men.

Before the Battle of Agincourt, in 1415, stories suggest that the French let it be known that any English bowman who was captured would have his index and middle fingers cut off. These fingers drew back the bowstring of their long bows.

The English won. The story of this battle is a fascinating study in battle tactics because the English were seriously outnumbered (also hungry and sick) and should have had no chance of success. Some accounts suggest that the French had 24,000 men against only 5,800 Englishmen. A recent investigation suggests the numbers were closer to 12,000 to 8,000, still fairly bad odds. Extremely muddy conditions plus the effective use of their bowmen (the French were using crossbows) allowed the English to repulse the three attacks of the French and win the battle. Incidentally, the bowmen were able to draw short swords and give battle at close quarters, a fact that may have also helped the English win because the bowmen were very lightly armored and could move better in the extreme mud (as deep as two feet in places).

As the French were rounded up at the end of the battle, stories again suggest that the English taunted them by waving the index and middle fingers at them. Today, if you wave these fingers in England with the back of your hand facing outward, it's an insult. However, if you wave the same two fingers palm outward, it's the sign of victory that was popularized by Winston Churchill during World War II.

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Contents copyright 2005 by Dr. A. V. Persson and ParaComp, Inc. All rights reserved.

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