To review briefly the subject of British archery let us start fairly at the Norman Conquest. It is known that the Normans were acquainted with the cross-bow[1012] or arbalest (prob. from arcus = a bow; ballista = a military engine: the later spelling
Fig. 76. Shooting birds with the cross-bow. From a 14th century MS. (Strutt.)
Fig. 76. Shooting birds with the cross-bow. From a 14th century MS. (Strutt.)
Fig. 77. Shooting at the butts, with the cross-bow. 16th century. (Strutt.)
“arrowblest” is discredited), a somewhat complicated weapon, having a handle or stock, to which was attached a bowstave of yew or steel (Figs. [76], [77]). The cross-bow was drawn by means of a stirrup fixed at the end of the stock, or it was slowly and laboriously wound up by cords and windlass, and then drawn by means of a lever. Besides this cumbrous weapon, the Normans, as we learn from the Bayeux “tapestry,” were accustomed to use the simpler long-bow[1013], a plain arched weapon—a “self” bow made of a single yew stave. These bows were employed at the Battle of Hastings, and some writers have hastily assumed that the long-bow “came over with the Conqueror.” This conclusion cannot be accepted in silence.