Originally Posted by
george wilson
It was required by law that all men and boys had to practice archery every day. It was the only way that they could develop the strength to pull such strong bows. The English relied heavily upon the skill of their archers.
I have a funny story about shooting into the air: When I was a kid in Alaska,I made my arrows and bent tin can lids into a triangular tip for some of them. This kid wanted to shoot my bow,and he climbed up onto the top of a 6 foot tall stump about 3 feet in diameter. Then he took the bow and shot it straight up. The funny part was when he realized the arrow was coming straight down onto HIM. He yelled "OH NO!!",and clasped his hands over the top of his head. He was stuck up there with no place to go! That arrow came down right between his fingers without even touching them. It bounced straight back up into the air several feet,with a loud "BOINK!"after hitting his skull. It made him bleed,but did not penetrate the skull. I am sure the kid never repeated that stunt.
Great story George!
IIRC, the advent of the longbow was the beginning of the end for knights in shining armor. The first time they set those longbow-armed archers on the french, they decimated them because the arrows could penetrate armor. But the nobles found out this was both a good thing (win wars) and a bad thing (English knights were no longer invincible against the lower classes, which supplied the Archers).
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