The Training of The Medieval Archer

Before gunpowder was widely used, the long bow and crossbow were among the most lethal weapons available to a medieval soldier.

A trained archer was a horse and a number of soldiers with murder a few arrows. The bow and arrow as a weapon in the fight against hunting and at least 5000 years on the European continent. Both weapons were fashioned from yew, ash, hazel or elm.

There were two types of weapons medieval archers, the long bow and crossbow. The long bow was in the middle of the European mainland, but was especially popular in England. With longbow archers are in the 11th century Bayeux tapestry, and the use of the Longbow combat troops in major battles with the battles of Crécy (1346) and Agincourt (1415) resulted in a decisive English victory over the French armies.

A professional longbow archer had trained for many years, usually from childhood. Once fully trained, a longbow archer is a valuable and soldiers captured in battle were often ransomed for a large quantity, not killed.

The crossbow is a weapon for an untrained person easier to use. In contrast to the long bow, the crossbow can be loaded with an arrow before baking. The greatest risks for anyone taking a longbow or crossbow, the time required to draw an arrow to aim and fire, in which the soldier was helpless. The archer is often a short sword for the defense, or was behind a wall of defense soldiers armed with swords and protected by shields.