Bows

From: Martin Laurie <MLaurie_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998 15:55:22 -0400

Richard Crawley makes the point:
>The muscles used to shoot a high poundage longbow are a unique
>combination - I know that if I take up my longbow tommorrow and shoot
>for any length of time I will ache in places I didn't know I had places
the
>day after! =

Indeed yes. The Longbowmen of the Hundred years war were actually physically deformed by their trade with warped left arms and upper backs.=

The pull on such bows, not the difficulty of accuracy was the big problem= =2E
A lighter bow was actually more accurate at longer ranges given the Longbows
very long, drag inducing arrow. However, the Longbow was capable of penetrating heavy armour at shorter ranges which a lighter bow was not an= d =

thus its pull which was on the edge of human capability to use on a frequent basis. =

Basically all the english longbowmen probably had humps like Richard III.=

Martin Laurie

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