Medieval Living

I found an interesting post on the history of Medieval arrows and the “English” longbow. From the Sagittarius Archery Club, this untitled article gives some nice historical references regarding the history and descriptions of the English archer’s equipment. Adding to the discussion by Steven Till, the author of this document seems to concur that the Anglo and Viking armies made little use of the bow as military weapon.

In discussing the English longbow, the article indicates that the commonly held belief that it was of Welsh origins is unfounded . . . that most likely, the longbow was from Scandenavian sources. The dating of the longbow seems to be somewhere in the pre-migration peoples – Celts and Vikings. So . . . if this is the case, I am curious why the Vikings did not make use of the longbow . . . or if they did, why does it not figure more prominently in Viking legend and literature? Looks like an interesting assignment – perhaps someone already has an answer, or perhaps I have misunderstood the information . . . as quoted from the wise old owl from the Tootsie Roll Pop commercial, “Let’s find out!”

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