The longbow represents a type of bow which was widely utilised during the middle ages, as a medieval weapon of war it played a significant role during some of the most important and historical battles of that period. Many historians believe that the longbow was brought to England by the Norsemen who raided the British coasts. Other sources claim that the longbow was adopted from the Normans after the battle of Hastings in 1066 when the English were defeated by William the conqueror and during which king Harold of England was allegedly killed by an arrow shot from a Norman longbow.
It was decisive in several battles between the English and the French, namely the Battle of Crecy (1346), Battle of Poitiers (1356) and the Battle of Agincourt (1415). The English emerged victorious in the aformentioned battles due to the fact that the longbow could cover long distances and inflict considerable damage on their enemies. Another notable mention highlighting the effectiveness of the longbow is the Battle of Flodden (1513) which was a battle between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, once again the longbow proved decisive in favour of the English.
With the introduction of gunpowder, the use of the longbow went into a steady decline, being substituted by muskets and guns. The last time a long bow was during a battle was in 1644 during the English civil war. The longbow is nowadays used in sports for traditional archery or re-enactment events involving the use of medieval weapons.
It is usually constructed from a single piece of wood, thus making the process of carving one pretty straightforward. A typical traditional English longbow is approximately 6 feet long and made out of yew wood, however nowadays there are variations on what type of wood is utilised (depending on the country of origin), oak, red oak, red elm, American elk are the most common alternative to yew wood.
A typical longbow is designed in a certain way that it can handle a lot of stress, especially where the hand of the bow arm comes into direct contact with the bow, one of the reasons yew wood is used is because it is has certain properties that are a perfect match for the longbow, it’s heavy and strong but at the same time elastic. When other types of wood are used it’s quite common that different types of wood are used on a single longbow, utilising a dual wood design system in different parts of the bow to render it flexible and strong at the same time.
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