Common Myths About Medieval Archery (And the Truth Behind Them)

Hi, my name's Kevin Hicks. Welcome to the History Squad. Now today we're out on location so I can have a good old shoot. But while we're here we thought we'd do a bit of myth busting. Now I've been shooting my lifetime over 60 years. Professionally over 30 years. Boy have I shot some arrows. And I thought I'd answer some of the questions and statements that people have posed to me. One of them was, oh of course the English bowmen used to poison their arrowheads. Well I can't find any evidence of English bowmen having a big pot of poison. They could be dirty. But can you imagine that you're on the shooting line so there's 5,000 bowmen at Agincourt. Were there people going amongst the bowmen with pots of poison? What happens when you accidentally cut yourself? Oh he's just, oh he's dead. So I don't think they actually used poison arrowheads during the medieval times. I think it's a bit of a myth. So when I was at Warwick Castle I remember going to one show and I got my arrow bags all ready. And I was confronted by an individual, a young man and he said well of course you wouldn't have had all your arrows on your back you'd have put them all in the ground. Now I think this is a little bit of a myth. Yeah I've seen some pictures where it shows the bowmen have got arrows on the ground for instance. Could they have been just dropped there by their resupply? But think about it. Putting arrows in the ground. So here you go. That's not too bad at the moment. That's nice sandy soil. What if it's hard clay and as you pick your arrow out the ground it pulls the arrowhead off? Why did they have arrow bags then that you could sling over your shoulder? I think the best thing to do put your arrows in your belt, keep them in your bag because there's another problem. If you've got all your arrows in the ground and you get the order to advance like at Crecy and Poitiers where bowmen actually moved out into the battlefield or withdraw then you're going to look a right narner aren't you with all your arrows stuck in the ground while everybody else is busy moving forward or pulling back. You are retrieving your arrows or if you leave them where they are you've got nothing to shoot. As far as I'm concerned arrows might put one or two down the rest of them are in your belt or they're in your bags so you can simply get a hold of them and shoot the beggar like you're supposed to. Another misconception I suppose that's what you can call it is did medieval bowmen spine their arrows? In other words the stiffness. Now I've never spined my arrows. I spend a long time selecting them. If you were with me down at Wales archery specialists near Chapstow you'd find Kevin has got an entire countertop he's been cleared for me and one by one I roll my arrows and then I flex them I feel them. So I'm doing it I suppose the medieval way because spining as you call it is a modern thing. Victorian I understand it began but it is definitely very much a modern thing. Your bowmen of old their personal arrows they would have selected them I am sure. As for the people who made the arrows they had to make them to a standard so they can't be too stiff they can't be too bendy they have to be just right but remember it was what they did for a living it was their craft their skill. So these aren't idiots they have years and years of experience just like me rolling my arrows bending my arrows flexing them and they feel just right. So when it comes to spining it's a modern concept the idea of what's the spining on your arrows. Me they're just right actually and somebody says oh you don't spine your arrows well you're not a bowman then oh that's a shame isn't it because that's just gone straight between his eyes. I was reading a modern post just last week and it was all about how this the longbow the English bow the Welsh bow the Yubo was nothing more than a long-range weapon that they did these great big draws and shot at great distances. So if that's the truth then what happens when the enemy are getting closer and closer or why did Henry the Henry the fifth maybe Henry the eighth do excuse me why did Henry the fifth advance his troops to within around 200 paces of the enemy and then they shot to sting the enemy into action but as the enemy rode down especially on their horses there are bowmen on each side and they're not shooting long distance then they're shooting straight into the cavalry. You take the battle of Cressy the enemy are getting closer and closer and closer and some of them you'll fetch them off their feet this weapon is just like you would use a firearm in combat today the enemy are half a mile away well do your job if they're 20 feet away shoot the beggar and then don't forget the closer they are the more penetrative power you've got with the longbow and there's an interesting point if you take the battle of Poitiers when bowmen actually left the English line and went around the outside so they literally are out flanking the French army so one minute they're shooting straight perhaps they started high up then they started to lower their aim but then these guys are running so they will have their arrows with them and as they get into a flank position they're shooting into the side of the French army so the guys on the outside they're going to be taking terrible hits it's not long range is it it is simply using the weapon to kill the enemy if it was just a long range weapon what do you do with the bowman at the end do they all just go home or something no it's a weapon long range short range medium range it's a bow and arrow for goodness sake and that leads me on to a another pointer a myth if you like uh once again a modern post that i was reading oh yes and of course once the bowman had shot their arrows they were simply withdrawn uh no once the bowman had run out of arrows they charged forward in their companies in their combat groups why do you think they carried all of these other weapons so you look as you call grassy potty a ville new so many battles where the bowman once the arrows have done or even halfway through the shoot maybe they don't need to finish all their arrows they will simply put their bows down and advance in their combat groups these men don't forget yes professional archers but most importantly these were professional killers it's what they did for a living although these bows are powerful they couldn't always penetrate armor and don't forget there's lots of different armor there is your padded armor your brigandine has got the little metal plates behind it and of course you have your plate armor there are lots of films lots of videos out there where they're doing experiments they're trying to see if they can get through well one of the things about the old armor is it wasn't rolled steel it was hammered so you might find a weak spot but think about it if you've got five six seven thousand frenchmen coming towards you it's only going to be the few hundred or maybe a thousand men at the front who are armored up armor expensive game you might be able to shoot it buckle it you might be lucky get an arrow in there but once they are actually coming down past the flanks of the bowman now that's a different target isn't it because they might not have armor at the back or what about the 7 000 men are behind them these are your lower troops they're not going to be fully armored they're still killers so fetch them down let your nobleman deal with the enemy nobleman if you see an open face mind put an arrow in it if you see a good shot armpit groin face then shoot the beggar but for the most part don't waste your arrows on a fully armored night when you're aiming of course at long distance you don't know what your target is but it's certainly going to keep their heads down it's going to buckle the armor it's going to make holes in it it's going to get them to keep their heads down but as a rule arrows don't go through those incredible suits of armor got him in the throat that's got to hurt hasn't it so another thing is the question of poundage i'm often harangued what's the poundage on your bows well i've checked my bows this one at 24 inches pulls close to 70 pound which is it's a bit heavy i will be honest with you i've got another bow which is 50 and it's delightful to shoot and this is horses for courses what are you shooting your bow for now i've shot with people who shoot 120 pound draw weight bows mark stratton great chap shoots those great big heavy bows but put yourself on the shooting line every man isn't a blacksmith every man isn't really built strong to be able to shoot those massive bows in fact those bows they recovered from the mary rose lots of different sizes and you go back to roger asham and he talks about don't shoot the big heavy bows because you've got to be able to shoot and shoot and shoot and then bishop hugh latimer he talks about how he was brought on with the bow from a lad to be able to shoot i've also read from history how they viewed often people with the big heavy bows were a danger on the range which i on the on the mark which i can understand this to me is perfect but of course if you're shooting the bows all of the time it is your profession then you are going to shoot the heavyweight bows but i was reading that they reckon 60 pound up to 120 pound is a nice decent range to shoot from and i used to have in fact it's in the in in my rack over there i had a 96 pound draw weight bow and it just hurt to shoot so i've shaved him down he's down now to about 65 pounds at 24 inches which is great for me if you want to really let him go get that bow right the way back but if you're just shooting and you're enjoying feel it aim let that go and you'll notice i'm shooting full-sized arrows and they're budkins and boy do they go to be able to keep shooting on the range or on the battlefield if you're shooting 160 pound draw weight bow are you going to be able to lose an hour every every few seconds right last arrow for now give him a haircut and of course a lot of the myths they come through the television through the film industry don't they thank you hollywood but hey when i was a kid it was richard green in robin hood and what got me about that one was the great big arrowheads they had and when the arrows went through the air they were so as a young archer you know 9 10 11 years of age i was getting frustrated that my arrows didn't go so no arrows they they will go whoosh of course but the most famous one is um brilliant actor favorite of mine lot of respect for him kevin costner now my friend bill god rest his soul was actually the advisor on that film for archery and he hangs his head in shame when we used to talk in the pub about the two arrow thing so think about it you've got two norman knights coming towards you on their horses and you want the arrows to go slightly different directions so you bite the fletchings off have a look at those fletchings they're not only glued on they are actually bound as well you'll be there for half an hour chewing that off you can shoot two arrows together i'll show you you just match them balance them look at your target so yes two arrows it's doable but if you've got two people coming towards you and you've got the distance shoot one make sure you're ready shoot the other one and just in case put another one down there i had great hope in russell crowe's robin hood film and yeah it was good i enjoyed it but it was the last part not the landing craft on the beach we won't even go there but it was the way the nasty knight is running away well he's not he's charging away on his horse and robin sees him draws his bow holds it back in the aim and uh releases it and the arrow travels quite a distance from what i can tell on the film and go straight through the throat from the back of the neck of the bad guy who then chuckles you don't chuckle you go ow hey hollywood keep it going though because i must be honest with you i do like some of those medieval films well i hope you enjoyed that little video of ours if you did like share and subscribe and if you'd like to support the channel further why not have a look at joining our patreon community we have some fun but before i go quick shout out to some of my patreon members the first one pc brummie all right and we have hayley l amrani maximillian there hey guys thanks a million bye for now