Subject:
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Re: Peasants and armies
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.castle
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Date:
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Thu, 16 Mar 2000 13:39:48 GMT
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Viewed:
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1216 times
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In lugnet.castle, Jeff Johnston writes:
> James Brown wrote:
> > Archers were only more common because any old peasant can shoot a bow. (and
> > make a bow, and own a bow...)
>
> Well...I disagree with "any old peasant can shoot a bow". The rest is pretty
> accurate, but as for the first, well, there's an old English saying: "If you
> want to train an archer, start with his grandfather." During some periods in
> English history, men were *required* to own and practice with bows at least
> once a week.
Very true. In fact, Yew trees were planted on Church grounds so that the
villagers always had the wood required to create longbows if they were called
upon to defend the land.
> Another fun fact: the (partial) wreck of the HMS Mary Rose, a ship
> commissioned by King Henry VIII of England, was found off the coast of
> England. I had the opportunity to see it when I was in Portsmouth. The
> reason I bring this up is because buried in the silt that preserved half of
> the ship, the archeologists found several yew bowstaves encased in wax that
> preserved them. It took several men to get one strung and none of them could
> draw it.
>
> Several skeletons were also found in the wreckage. The researchers were able
> to determine which men were archers, because the bones of their forearm and
> their spine were actually noticably warped from the muscles it took to draw
> their bows!
Another fun fact: these weapons are the one of the few types that can
penetrate bullet-proof glass. That is how powerful some of those archers were.
Jeff, "Thallid Lord"
Save the Whales! I may get hungry later... :)
ICQ #66153738
http://members.xoom.com/aulddragon/
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Peasants and armies
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| (...) Well...I disagree with "any old peasant can shoot a bow". The rest is pretty accurate, but as for the first, well, there's an old English saying: "If you want to train an archer, start with his grandfather." During some periods in English (...) (24 years ago, 16-Mar-00, to lugnet.castle)
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