Most people are familiar with the image of a knight in full plated armor whether seen in movies or as the display of suits of armor in castles or mansions. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the development of the English longbow had a major impact on combat and the effectiveness of armored knights on the battlefield.

The longbow was a popular weapon both for its power over distance and its high rate of fire. Archers were trained from about the age of seven. The size and strength of the bow increased as the archer matured and were required to be accurate at long ranges. Often, tournaments were held with the best archers being selected for military service.

Longbows were about six feet in length and Yew was the favored wood for bow material. In fact, the Yew wood was so prized for bows that pattern makers for shoes were prohibited from using any bow woods in their craft. The bows were incredibly strong and could bury an arrow up to 4 inches in seasoned oak at short range. The average English archer could fire between 12 and 15 arrows per minute and hit a man sized target at 200 yards with a maximum range of about 400 yards. In fact, the bow was so powerful that one account tells of an armored knight being pinned to his horse by an arrow that passed through both of his armored thighs including the saddle and horse. Archers did not consider themselves skilled if they could not fire at least 10 arrows per minute.

Medieval Store Robin Hood Sculpture Medieval Crossbow Medieval Crossbow with Tackle

The longbow made plate armored knights less of a juggernaut force since the arrows could penetrate the armor at a distance of 100 yards. Prior to the advent of the longbow, armored knights were protected from slashing and cutting weapons. The longbow basically equalized the armored knights with the regular ground forces since they were vulnerable to puncture wounds from the heavy arrows tipped with the deadly Bodkin point. The longbow was a mainstay of combat all the way

to the seventeenth century. An outnumbered force could win the day with skilled longbow archers but the use of gunpowder increasingly made armor and archery less important. However, the importance of the longbow during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries cannot be overstated.

Tags: archers, armor, armour, crossbow, English archers, history of the Longbow, knights, longbow, medieval archers, medieval battles, Medieval History, medieval weapons, plated armor, plated armour