Archery in Historical times Until Today
August 142010
During the Middle Ages, archery in warfare was not as prevalent and dominant in Western Europe as popular myth sometimes dictates. Archers were quite often the lowest-paid soldiers in an army or were conscripted from the peasantry. This was due to the cheap nature of the bow and arrow, as compared to the expense needed to equip a professional man-at-arms with good armour and a sword. Professional archers required a lifetime of training and expensive bows to be effective, and were thus generally rare in Europe. The bow was seldom used to decide battles and often viewed as a “lower class weapon” or as a toy, by the nobility. However, among the Vikings, even royalty such as Magnus Barelegs used archery effectively,and the Muslims used archery, presumably in their numerous raiding expeditions all over the Western European seaboard, in the 9th and 10th centuries.
By the time of the Hundred Years’ War, the English had learned how to employ massed archery as an instrument of tactical dominance, with their English longbows. Tournaments were sponsored, with prizes for winners, among other ways of encouraging archery. There was therefore much motivation and incentive to become an expert with the longbow and the various English kings were able to recruit thousands of archers per year.
These days among the best bows for competition and/or pleasure is the Bear Ranger bow. Get your hands on one as soon as you can. You will not be disappointed!