The use of the cross-bows was general in Italy in 1139, for at that time Pope Innocent II. particularly forbad them. The German Emperor Conrad did the same, as we learn from William de Dole, who lived in the latter part of the 12th century, they not being looked upon as a fair weapon.
Richard I from 1189 to 1199.
It is said of Richard I.:—“Truly he revived the use of this kind of shooting, called cross-bow shooting, which had long since been laid aside, whence he became so skilful in its management, that he killed many people with his own hand.” Siege of AcreIt is supposed that Richard I. first used the cross-bow as a weapon of war at the siege of Acre. Universal in Crusades.In every action, however, of which we read in the history of the second crusade, as well as the third, in which Richard participated, cross-bows, as well as other bows, are repeatedly noticed. Richard killed by.It is stated that he was killed by an arrow, said to have been shot from a cross-bow at the Castle of Chaluz.
Genoese cross-bow men.
From the beginning of the 13th, and until the middle of the 15th century, cross-bow men are uniformly mentioned as part of the Genoese troops. From Justinius we learn, that in 1225 Mounted Arbalists 1225.“Twenty Arbalestes mounted, and one hundred on foot, with cross-bows of horn, were then employed in the army of the state.”
The cross-bow man was an essential component of the host during all this period. He was in the van of the battle.
Battle near Damietta 1237.
In the battle near Damietta, in 1237, “more than a hundred knights of the Temple fell, and three hundred cross-bow men, &c., &c.”
Campaign in Italy 1239.
The Emperor Frederic, in 1239, giving an account of his Italian campaign to the king of England, writes: “After we had, by our knights and cross-bow men, reduced all the province of Liguria,” &c.