Equipment [ longbowman ]
English laws in place before the Hundred Years War required nearly every able bodied Englishman to possess a longbow and four arrows and to practise withh them. Those of sufficient income were to also have a sword and dagger. In time of war the sword and dagger would be supplemented with a yew longbow provided by the crown to replace the bow 'of meane wood', several hemp bowstrings, and one or more sheaves of war arrows, a sheaf containing 24 arrows. Livery, articles of clothing of specific colors with a badge emblem of his commanding lord, matched the lord's banner and served to identify where the archer belonged, dead or alive. Sometimes additional gear was provided or 'liberated', items such as a steel cap or helmet, a steel buckler [a small shield ], a mail shirt or a padded jack or brigandine. After Agincourt, each archer carried a pair of sharpened stakes and a lead headed mallet to drive them into the ground to foil an attack by cavalry.The longbowman seldom had more equipment than this, other than food items.
Information sources, consulted over three decades, are too numerous to be listed here.
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Article added: 2007-06-08 @ 8:54 pm
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