Crossbows
History
The earliest records of crossbows come from China from the 6th century BC. This knowledge spread slowly westward and reached Europe at the time of the Roman Empire. The Romans developed a large sized weapon, the ARCABALISTA which was used as a siege weapon. Little is known about crossbows from Roman times until the 10th century, but from then it has an uninterupted history until modern times.
William the Conqueror had crossbowmen in his army when he invaded England in 1066, and over the next hundred years they were used all over Europe.
In 1139 Pope Inocent II issued an anathema against "the deadly art, hated by God, of crossbowmen..." This only applied to the use or crossbows against fellow Christians. This anathema failed to stop the rise of crossbows, and it became a favoured weapon of European mercenary companies.
Richard the Lion-Heart was killed at the siege of Chaluz in 1199 by a crosbow bolt in the neck. King John included many crosbowmen in his castle garrisons. One of the clauses of the Magna Carta bound him to banish from the kingdom all foreign crossbowmen.
In England, the crossbow was slowly displaced by the longbow from the late 13th century onwards, mainly because of the greatly increased rate of fire of the longbow. The crossbow did not disappear completely. Henry V even had 38 crosbowmen at Agincourt. In Europe, the crossbow persisted as the favoured weapon until the end of the 15 th century. Companies of crossbowmen were forrmed for the protection of towns, some of which persist to the present day. European mercenary companies of crossbowmen were hired by both sides in the Wars of the Roses.
Throughout the Middle ages the crossbow was also used for hunting, and with the decline of its use on the battlefield, it still was used for hunting and sport. Both Elizabeth I and James I were expert hunters with it. Crossbows still remain popular today for target shooting.
Battle
On the battlefield, crossbowmen protected themselves with a tall shields known as a pavise. This would be carried slung on his back and proped up in front of him before combat began. Many pavises were heavily painted with religious scenes, with the hope of getting divine protection, as well as making opponents reluctant to preform sacrilige by damaging holy images. The crossbowman would duck behind the pavise to re-load during a battle.
Many crossbows were wound using a mechanical aid, which enabled them to have a much higher draw weight than a longbow. In some cases this was up to 400 pounds. They paid for this, by having a much lower rate of fire, Typically two to four bolts a minute, which compared to fifteen plus for a logbow. Another advantage the crossbow had, was that it could be carried loaded, and ready to fire. This was not possible for a longbow. The final reason that the crossbow was so popular on the continent, was that it required relatively little training to fire. The longbow required many years of training, as well as regular sessions at practice to maintain the fitness required to draw 100 pound plus bows.
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