It would appear that the Normans derived the cross-bow, with its name, from Italy. In Domesday Book mention is made of Odo, the arbalester, as a tenant in capite of the king of lands in Yorkshire; and the manor of Worstead, Norfolk, was at the time of Domesday survey, held of the Abbot of St. Benet at Holme, by Robert the cross-bow man. The names show them to have been Normans, and these instances are sufficient to prove the introduction of the weapon, though the few that may have been used at the battle of Hastings might occasion its not being represented in the Bayeux tapestry.
No cross-bow among Romans.
The absence of the cross-bow in early Roman monuments leaves it a matter of doubt, whether an arbalester would not simply mean the engineer of a catapult. There is no mention made of the hand cross-bow in very ancient authorities.
William II surnamed Rufus, from 1087 to 1100
The cross-bow has been used in England (at least, on hunting excursions) in the time of Rufus, for Wace tells us, that “Prince Henry, going the same day to New Forest, found the string of his cross-bow broken, and taking it to a villain to be mended, saw an old woman there, who told him he should be king.”
Henry I, 1100 to 1135.
During the reign of Henry I. the cross-bow seems to have been principally used in the chase. The projectile was in form of a short arrow, with a pyramidical head, called a quarrel, ([plate 14], fig. 2 and 4). Cross-bow in war.Simeon of Durham speaks of it in the time of Henry I. thus:—“He raised a machine from whence the archers and cross-bowmen might shoot.”
Genoese celebrated for the use of.
The Genoese were at all times most celebrated for the skilful management of the cross-bow. The success which attended the Christians at the siege of Jerusalem, 1100, is attributed principally to the mechanical talents of this people.
Use of forbad.