The English Warbow Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Vikings

The Vikings were known to be using weapons with a 'D' section well before 1066 and as such are considered to be the originators of the longbow or warbow. This weapon was adopted by the Welsh and was used to great effect against the armies of the Normans in the early years after their invasion of England.

The first English King to use both English and Welsh archers in structured and tactical formations was Edward I.

Answer: The Common (or European) Yew

After seasoning, the Common or European Yew, makes an ideal bow wood. The darker heartwood, which forms the 'belly' of the bow, is strong and resists in compression whilst the paler sapwood, which forms the 'back', performs far better in tension. This means that, as the bow is drawn, it becomes a natural spring and imparts the greater part of its power to the arrow than many other bow woods. Surprisingly, the best yew used by the English was imported from Spain and Portugal but as this source dried up they were forced to look elsewhere.

The Yew that grows in the poor soil of the Alpine foothills of Italy is generally considered to be the best and is still used today, although only in very small quantities due to it's rarity and resultant high cost.

Answer: Sluys

Fought on the 24th June, 1340, the Battle of Sluys was one of the opening battles in what became known as The Hundred Years' War. The resulting destruction of the French naval fleet ensured that England was safe from the threat of invasion and that any further fighting would take place on the soil of France.

The French fleet, that numbered some 200 ships and under the command of Admiral to the French King, Hugh Quieret, was preparing for an invasion of England when they were met off the coast of Flanders by an English fleet numbering around 160 ships commanded by one of Englands greatest fighting kings, Edward III.

The French adopted tactics that proved to be disastrous and which enabled the English to attack their left flank leaving the remainder of the French fleet powerless to act.

At the end of the day the English had lost 2 ships and several thousand men whilst the French fleet had been completely broken and had suffered around 17,000 casualties.... It was reported that the sea had been thick with blood and corpses. Crecy on the 26th August 1346, Poitiers on the 19th September 1356 and Azincourt on 25th October 1415 were all battles of the Hundred Years War in which vastly outnumbered English forces defeated far superior numbers of the French.

Answer: The Mary Rose

There are a number of theories as to why Henry's flagship went down that day. Contemporary accounts state that after The Mary Rose had fired all her guns on one side, she was turning about to present her guns on the other side when a strong gust caught her, she heeled over and seawater rushed in through her open gunports. Other reports say that poor seamanship on the part of the crew was a deciding factor, or that she was overladen with ordinance and was set too low in the water.
Modern theories also consider the above to be factors in her sinking but also add that The Mary Rose had been considerably modified over her life and that this had made her unseaworthy. The Mary Rose was reported to have been carrying around 700 men, a huge number for her size and this could also have proved disastrous.
Henry, Grace a Dieu (Henry, Grace of God) was another English warship and a contemporary of The Mary Rose. The Revenge was an English Galleon that fought against The Spanish Armada in 1588 and HMS Royal Sovereign was one of the ships that fought at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21st October 1805.

Answer: Approximately 220 paces

An English archer was expected to be able to shoot accurately at extended ranges. 220 paces was considered to be the effective range at which the enemy should be engaged by an arrowstorm. It is a sobering thought that some marks at the Finsbury Fields during the 16th Century ranged as far as 500 paces!

Answer: 'D' Shaped

The accepted standard for the warbow, in fact any member of the Longbow family, is that it possesses a 'D' shaped cross section. Research on those bows recovered from the wreck of The Mary Rose showed that, almost without exception, the ratio between the depth of the bow at the middle and the width of the back of the bow was 5:8.

Answer: His bowstrings

"Keep(ing) it under your hat" is a phrase in common usage today. It is accepted that it comes from the fact that archers would keep their bowstrings under their hats or headwear when the weather was bad. This kept them dry and prevented them from rotting and stretching. An archer could do this even as the enemy were bearing down on him, as an experienced archer could string his bow in seconds ... All English archers were highly experienced men (this showed in their daily rate of pay), whereas a crossbow took considerably longer to string. It has been written that the English at Azincourt were ravaged by dysentery and a lot of the soldiers fought the French naked from the waist down. Keeping a clean change of socks seems pointless! An archer of this period may well have carried a rosary but he would most likely be illiterate and not own a Bible of his own.

Answer: Sidenocks

A bow nock is the name given to the reinforcement added to the tips of the bow to provide a secure attachment for the bowstring and to protect this most vulnerable part of the bow. During recent years and in light of some of the bows found with the Mary Rose, Mr Alan Blackham of the English Warbow Society, has conducted extensive research into the use of 'sidenocks' on the Warbow.

The nock style generally fitted to a longbow enables the string to run in a straight line down the length of the bow whereas with a sidenock, as its name suggests, the string is fitted on the left at the top nock and the right at the bottom nock (or vice versa), making the string run at a very slight angle.

The reason for the use of nocks of this type is not completely understood at present, so this current research will hopefully throw light as to why our forebears made use of this technology. Top nocks and bottom nocks are the names given to all nocks fitted to a bow whether they are sidenocks or not and out nocks do not exist.

Answer: Ranging from 80lbs and 180lbs

The greater part of the bows found on The Mary Rose had draw weights within the range of 80 to 180lbs with the most prolific weight being in the region of 140lbs. The draw weight of a bow is that force that needs to be exerted on the string to bend the bow to it's tillered length.

The English Warbow Society standard is that full draw is reached at 32" and, although this may vary slightly depending on the archer, all bows used by society members will be tillered to draw to 32". Most society members shoot bows up to around 140lbs with two of our number regularly using bows with weights up to and including 180lbs.

Answer: Hemp, linen and silk

In the absence of any existing examples of period bowstrings, previous and ongoing research along with contemporary writings have revealed that all of these materials were highly likely to have been used in the manufacture of bowstrings during the Medieval period. Waterproofing of these strings would have been provided by the use of oils and waxes available at the time like beeswax and tallow.

Answer: A bodkin

There were many styles of bodkins fitted to military arrows, some designed to penetrate chainmail and others to penetrate armour plate. Whatever purpose the archer had in mind for his arrows there was a suitable warhead for his arrows and, when delivered from a warbow, would achieve its aim with devastating results.

Answer: Wide at the head tapering down to the nock

A military arrow of the period was a formidable projectile. Commonly 32" in length (although they could be longer) and made from a heavier wood such as ash, oak or birch, they were very effective. A bob-tailed English military arrow was around half an inch in diameter immediately behind the warhead and tapered evenly along its length to a diameter of around 3/8" at the nock.

The nock was reinforced by an insert, usually made from cow horn or antler and the arrow was stabilised in flight by 3 long feather fletchings, glued to the shaft using plant based glues and bound with silk thread for extra security.

Answer: Falchion, bollock dagger and maule

The falchion was a short sword with heavy blade very similar to a modern machete but much larger and more fearsome, the bollock dagger had a distinctive handle/hilt arrangement from whence it took its name and a maule was a heavy wooden mace-like weapon often 'improved' by having large leaden studs inserted into it's head. An English Archer would not have used a shield, although foreign Crossbowmen used a 'Pavise', a small shield used for protection, while they reloaded. Pole-axes and the later glaive were used by heavy infantry 'men-at-arms', the mace was a weapon more often used by mounted troops and knights whereas the misericord was an elegant long bladed dagger used as a weapon of mercy to despatch mortally wounded men after a battle, a duty often performed by the women who accompanied an army.

Answer: Queen Elizabeth I

The use of the warbow declined towards the end of the reign of Henry VIII and became virtually defunct during his daughter Elizabeth's reign due to the use of firearms. The main reason for this decline was that it could take many years to train an archer to the accepted military standard of the time, whereas a soldier could be trained to use a firearm in a matter of days.

By the time of the English Civil War in the mid 17th Century, it had disappeared as a weapon of war. It has been said that King Charles I tried to raise a body of archers to fight the Parliamentary forces, but failed to do so because of this very reason... Ironically, if he had been successful he might well have won the war as the bow still proved to be more effective as a weapon than the matchlocks that replaced it.

Answer: The English Warbow Society

The English War Bow Society or EWBS was founded on the 23rd May 2008 at an annual two day shooting event at the Batsford Estate, England. It had finally been identified that there was a need for a new organisation dedicated to those who practice the skills and techniques required to shoot the military English longbow.

The aims of the English Warbow Society are to promote and perpetuate the shooting and heritage of the English warbow, to encourage wider participation in the shooting of the warbow, to encourage war bowyery, stringing and fletching and finally, to increase our understanding of the weapon and its use.