Bowmen of England

This book visits some of the great battles where the longbow turned the tide. It has nice pacing and never got dull.

I read this book for a graduate course in medieval history. Donald Featherstone is a great historian of the longbow. "History of the English Longbow" is a great comprehensive work for the history of this medieval weapon of mass destruction. In his book, Featherstone has meticulously researched the history of the longbow, from ancient history through its greatest impact in warfare during the Hundred Years' War; specifically, the battles of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt. Featherstone turns his attention to the more detailed study of the longbow's genesis and development in Britain. It is definitively impossible to know when the longbow first came into existence in Britain. However, history does record several historical periods when we know that the longbow, or a weapon similar to it, was used and introduced by invaders of the British Isles. There is evidence that shows that the Germanic longbow made its way into Britain with the invasion of the Saxons in the fifth century. Viking law, from mid-tenth century, required that while aboard ship, fighting men must be equipped with bows and arrows as an addition to their other usual weapons that they employed in their raiding parties. One can still read Viking Sagas of the era extolling the use of bows and arrows as weapons. In 1055, Welsh bowmen while firing from hidden positions on mountain ridges, cut down the Earl of Hereford's Saxon cavalry with devastating effect. This action would be a great lesson lost on King Harold eleven years later, in his defeat at the battle of Hastings. King Harold did have some longbow men in the battle, if one takes the Bayeux Tapestry to be a true pictorial history of the Norman Conquest. Unfortunately, for the Anglo-Saxon army of King Harold, he had to travel very quickly over 250 miles south to engage the invading Normans, which prevented him from taking many archers on foot. In fact, the Bayeux Tapestry is famous for its depiction of King Harold being fatally shot in the eye by a Norman arrow, and thus, changing the course of British history forever. It is during the fourteenth century in Britain that the longbow gains its reputation as a force multiplier in battle. In military terminology, a force multiplier denotes a factor, in this case, the longbow providing a technological factor, dramatically increasing the combat capability of a military force. In keeping with the theme of our course in comparing fourteenth century events to modern times, one can easily equate the importance of the longbow to fourteenth century warfare in the same way that one can compare the importance that the machine gun had on early twentieth century warfare-specifically during World War I. The longbow provided the English armies of Edward I, through the end of the Hundred Years' War, a distinct and singular advantage over the French armies and their cavalry forces. Despite all of the early history of the longbow in Britain, it is Edward I who is the real progenitor

The Bowmen of England By Donald Featherstone The classic account of the English Longbowmen written by Donald Featherstone over thirty five years ago still has relevance today. The Bowmen of England is one of the most approachable accounts of the longbow from its development to its last use. From this a more then basic knowledge of the weapon, made famous by its use in the Hundred Years War, can be gained. Featherstone makes several points with his book. The longbow's origins can be traced to Wales. Its ancestor may have been the Welsh bows that were used for hunting in the valleys and mountains. These bows were slightly larger then the normal hunting bows of the time. The bows were made from wych elm. This was the only type of wood that grew in the mountains that was suitable to bow making. The Welsh bows were four feet long. These bows were known to have a better range and penetration power than any other type of bow at the time. Featherstone believes that these bows were the origins of the English longbow. The nature of the borders in this region would have permitted the traveling of these bows into England. This idea, that the bow originated in Wales is very likely. The English, who were always fighting with or against the Welsh, could have noticed the difference in the bows. The accounts in the book of the Welsh Wars of Edward I are how Featherstone introduces the tactics of the longbow. He puts forth the idea that the familiar tactics of the longbow in France came from these battles with the Welsh who also had large numbers of bowmen in their armies. Edward I developed these tactics when dealing with the Welsh defensive formations of spearmen in a "hedgehog". This was a semi circular phalanx type formation with the spears facing outwards in all threatened directions. Edward discovered that the archers could cover the advance of the cavalry by disrupting these formations with arrows. From this the principle that the effectiveness of the longbow was much greater when combined in the offense with cavalry came about. The use of the longbow in this fashion against the Scots and their large numbers of pike men seem to prove that the tactics were from before this war. The most interesting point that Featherstone makes is that the longbow's use ended before its useful life was over. Several facts support this idea. The longbow was not used as a major military weapon after the early Sixteenth Century. At this time the armies of Europe were beginning to switch over to firearms on a large scale. The longbow could fire three or four times for every time of a musket. This was evident until Eighteenth Century. The effective and accurate range of a long bow was nearly 250 yards. This was far greater then the effective range of a musket which was around 100 hundred yards. An arrow was much heaver then a lead shot from a musket and had a greater ability to kill or main a soldier. With this said the need for lifelong training was one of the larg

This is volume 1 in the Pen & Sword Military Classic series. The series was initiated in 2003 with 26 titles. The series is a continuing one, and looks to cover a multitude of military subjects, all well worth reading should one have both time and money to do so. This one particularly caught my eye due interest in medieval times, and the revolutionary English longbow. A device so simple, yet so deadly, as to its impact on warfare of that time, giving ripple effect into much later times as well. As the author states that time began in the Hundred Years War. With the skill and perfection of it all happening in the 14th & 15th centuries. The English longbow is a long, hand-drawn bow, used in medieval England, sometimes exceeding 6 feet (1.8 meters) in length. It took both strength and skill to handle the bow, but in the hands of a skilled archer, it was as deadly as a modern day bullet. I find it of great interest that an arrow could very easily penetrate much of the armor of that time. Not only were armored knights at risk, but so too the horse they rode, be the steed armored or not. And when the arrow did not provide a killing shot, an archer now fighting on foot, could approach the downed and disabled armored knight, much as a turtle on it back, to thrust a knife blade through the chink of said knight's armor to apply the killing blow. I found everything is this slim volume of less than 200 pages of interest. Should I have to pick a most memorable chapter, it would be the prologue. Wherein the author pretty much describes not only the use of the bow in action, but also the bowmen themselves. It's as close to medieval combat as we are get without actually be present. To be able to find a book such as this on today's bookstore shelf is truly joyous. Read this one for sure if you have any interest in English history, medieval history, or that most wonderful invention the longbow. Semper Fi.

I've recently bought all the Pen & Sword Military Classics thus far released and have started reading them in order. This title is #1 in the series. I found it an enjoyable read on a period of history with which I was not very familiar. Featherstone does an admirable job of describing the tactics employed by English archers in the period of their ascendance in European warfare. He also provides some details on who became archers and their place in English society. Short but clear descriptions of battles like Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt round out the picture. Featherstone has a pleasant writing style, although he uses a lot of technical terms regarding bows and armor that I think most people will need to look up in an unabridged dictionary.