“Book Descriptions: This book traces the history of the archer in the medieval period, from the Norman Conquest to the Wars of the Roses. It opens with a definition of the differing kinds of bows in use, and challenges the usual assumption that the "longbow" was a new a devastating weapon used only by the English armies from the late thirteenth century onwards. Mr. Bradbury shows from a close study of the early evidence, including that of the use of bows for hunting, that the archer's role before the time of Edward I was an important but rarely documented one, and that his new prominence in the fourteenth century was the result of changes in the development of tactics and the organization of armies rather than a change of weapon. Having examined the archer's role in warfare, he turns to a study of the archer's role in society, based on the legend of the most famous of all archers, Robin Hood, and shows how the stories about him can tell us much about the standing of the yeoman archer, The final chapters look at the archer in the early fifteenth century and then chronicle the rise of the handgun as the major infantry weapon, at the bow's expense. By the end of the Tudor age, despite injunctions that archery should be regularly practiced by all able-bodied men, the bow belonged to a past golden age rather than to current warfare.” DRIVE
Read Ebook 
