Panther_99FS
Retired SOH Administrator
I need to get back to this sport.....
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Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.
'Archery'
- Thread starter Panther_99FS
- Start date
That is one nice recurve bow...horn tips are always nice on a bow, really helps smooth out the action and gives a bit more speed to the string. I have a red oak 60 inch traditional bow just waiting to be taken to the sporting good store and have a string made for it. Have had it for 5 years and haven't sent a single arrow down range....what a shame.
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TeaSea
SOH-CM-2014
Ah! Sunday is the 594th Anniversary of the battle of Agincourt. This, of course, is the battle in which some 6000 English and Welch Archers and Men at arms defeated an estimated 30,000 Frenchmen (numbers vary of course).
Despite the odds against Henry V, in a matter of a couple of hours his archers decimated the French forces, and wiped out an entire generation of French gentry.
Three reasons:
1) Unity of command and superior leadership on the part of the English forces, vice the French who had no such unity nor particularly inspired leadership.
2) The field at Agincourt was tilled for Winter Wheat, meaning it was furrowed very deeply and could not support the weight of the heavy French horses or men clad in armor.
3) The English LONGBOW!! Which could put an arrow through plate armor at 100 paces (draw was estimated at between 170 - 200 lbs for the typical longbow...it takes YEARS to develop the muscles to do that).
And so we're left with the wonderful version of Henry's speech to his troops prior to the battle by Shakespere...."we few, we happy few, we band of brothers"......
Also, I like the babe holding the bow.....
Despite the odds against Henry V, in a matter of a couple of hours his archers decimated the French forces, and wiped out an entire generation of French gentry.
Three reasons:
1) Unity of command and superior leadership on the part of the English forces, vice the French who had no such unity nor particularly inspired leadership.
2) The field at Agincourt was tilled for Winter Wheat, meaning it was furrowed very deeply and could not support the weight of the heavy French horses or men clad in armor.
3) The English LONGBOW!! Which could put an arrow through plate armor at 100 paces (draw was estimated at between 170 - 200 lbs for the typical longbow...it takes YEARS to develop the muscles to do that).
And so we're left with the wonderful version of Henry's speech to his troops prior to the battle by Shakespere...."we few, we happy few, we band of brothers"......
Also, I like the babe holding the bow.....
I once saw a guy shooting a homemade English Longbow replica....that bow was HUGE. And so were the shoulders of the guy shooting it. I asked him about the draw weight of the bow and he said that he made his lighter than the real deal, but he was still pulling 125 pounds or so. I can't imagine the strength it took to draw a 125 pound draw long bow to full draw time and time again....I couldn't pull it to more than half draw even once.
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cheezyflier
Charter Member
question: wasn't shooting those bows more an affair of lobbing the arrows into the ranks of the enemy? i mean, it's not like they were aiming at particular individuals, right? mostly just making it rain arrows, if i understand what they show in the movies.
also, when talking about archery cuties, lets not leave out this mensa member, who placed in a field of 28 other olympic hopefuls in '99:
also, when talking about archery cuties, lets not leave out this mensa member, who placed in a field of 28 other olympic hopefuls in '99:
TeaSea
SOH-CM-2014
Sort of.....
In movies, archers are typically depicted as being the kind of wimpy guys in little cotton skirts or light armor. In fact, an English archer, circa 1100 - 1500, was a STUD. The amount of muscle to pull a longbow took years to develop.
While disinterring plague victims in London it was discovered that many of them seemed to have some sort of deformity, their right arms were overdeveloped, the bones almost twice as large as the left arms....quite a mystery until someone pointed they were most likely archers.
The key to their success on the battlefield was two-fold. First, they could deliver arrow after arrow on an enemy in an unceasing cloud while that enemy was at a distance. The rate of fire could vary obviously, but a good archer could send an arrow flying every 2 -3 seconds. That rate of fire is not equaled until well into the latter part of the 19h century.
Second, they could hit pin-point targets with great accuracy when that target go closer. To do this they used differing arrow points. The Bodkin penetrated armor (there are those that say this is not so, but in fact it has been demonstrated repeatedly that the Bodkin could penetrate most medieval armor at about 100 paces), the Broadhead, tore muscle and tissue apart.
So, yes, they delivered suppresive fire at the beggining of the attack, but they also fired on point targets. And when the battle was joined, they were typically armed with a poleaxe, which they would use to bash your brains out, before they chopped you up with the axe blade, or stabbed you with the little pointy bit. The Poleaxe was the Swiss Army Knife of the short lance world.
Doubtless they would not have bashed Miss Davis.