Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

ARCHERY.
425
Archery, fell a short time before the engagement, seems to prove that
v'—v—by this time we used the long-bow, while the French archers
shot with the arbalest; for the long-bow, when unstrung,
may be conveniently covered, so as to prevent the rain’s in¬
juring it; whereas, from the form of the arbalest it cannot
he conveniently sheltered from the weather.
At the above-mentioned battle the English ascribed their
victory chiefly to the archers. The battle of Poictiers was
fought in 1356, and gained by the same means.
Sometimes the archers obtained great victories without
even the least assistance from the men-at-arms; as particularly
1 lenry’s the decisive victory over the Scots at Homildon in 1402. In
Hist. vol. v. that bloody battle the men-at-arms did not strike a stroke,
l>. 463. but were mere spectators of the valour and victory of the
archers. The French historian, Philip de Comines, agrees
with our own writers in asserting that the English archers
excelled those of every other nation ; and Sir John Fortes-
cue says again and again, “ that the might of the realme of
England standyth upon archers.” The superior dexterity of
their archers gave the English a great advantage over both
the French and the Scots. The French depended chiefly
on their men-at-arms, and the Scots on their pikemen ; but
the ranks of both were often thinned and thrown into disor¬
der by flights of arrows before they could reach their ene¬
mies.
James I. of Scotland, who had seen and admired the dex¬
terity of the English archers, and who was himself an excel¬
lent archer, endeavoured to revive the exercise of archery
among his own subjects, by whom it had been too much
neglected. With this view he procured the following law to
be made in his first parliament, in 1424, immediately after
his return to Scotland : “ That all men might busk thame
to be archares fra the be 12 years of age ; and that at ilk ten
punds worth of land thair be made bow markes, and spe-
ciallie near paroche kirks, quhairn upon halie dayis men may
cum, and at the leist schute thryse about, and have usage of
archarie ; and whasa usis not archarie, the laird of the land
sal rais of him a wedder; and gift' the laird raisis not the said
pane, the king’s shiref, or his ministers, sal rais it to the king.”
But his death prevented the effectual execution of this law.
There is no act of parliament of Henry V. in relation to
archery, and all the orders of Rymer till the battle of Agin-
court relate to great guns, from which he seems at first to
have expected more considerable advantage than from the
training of bowmen. This sort of artillery, however, from
its unwieldiness, from bad and narrow roads, and from other
causes, was as yet but of little use in military operations.
This king therefore ascribes his victory at Agincourt to the
archers, and directs the sheriffs of many counties to pluck
from every goose six wing-feathers for the purpose of improv-
ing arrows, which are to be paid for by the king.
In 1421, though the French had been defeated both at
Cressy, Poictiers, and Agincourt, by the English archers,
yet they still continued the use of the cross-bow; for
which reason Henry V., as duke of Normandy, confirms
the charters and privileges of the balistarii, who had been
long established as a fraternity in his city of Rouen.
In the fifth of Edward IV. an act passed, that every
Englishman, and Irishman dwelling with Englishmen, shall
have an English bow of his own height, which is directed
to be made of yew, wych, hazel, ash, or awburne, or any
other reasonable tree, according to their power. The next
chapter also directs that butts shall be made in every
township, which the inhabitants are obliged to shoot up
and down every feast day, under the penalty of a half¬
penny when they shall omit this exercise.
In the 14th year, however, of this same king, it appears
by Rymer’s Feeder a, that 1000 archers were to be sent to
the duke of Burgundy, whose pay is settled at sixpence a
day, which was a considerable sum in those times, when
YOL. m.
the value of money was so much higher than it is at pre- Archery,
sent. This circumstance seems to prove very strongly
the great estimation in which archers were still held. In
the same year Edward, preparing for a war with France,
directs the sheriffs to procure bows and arrows, “ as most
specially requisite and necessary.”
On the war taking place with Scotland, eight years
after this, Edward provides both ordnance and archers;
so that though the use of artillery, as we now term it,
was then gaining ground, yet that of the bow and arrow
was not neglected.
Richard III., by his attention to archery, was able to
send 1000 bowmen to the duke of Bretagne ; and he avail¬
ed himself of the same troops at the battle of Bosworth.
During the reign of Henry VII., however, there appears
no order relative to gunpowder or artillery; while, on the
other hand, in 1488, he directs a large levy of archers to
be sent to Brittany, and that they shall be reviewed be¬
fore they embark. In the 19th year of his reign, the
same king forbids the use of the cross-bow, because “ the
long-bow had been much used in this realm, whereby
honour and victory had been gotten against outward
enemies, the realm greatly defended, and much more the
dread of all Christian princes, by reason of the same.”
During the reign of Henry VIII. several statutes were
made for the promotion of archery. The 8th Eliz. c. 10, re¬
gulates the price of bows ; and the 13th Eliz. c. 14, enacts
that bow-staves shall be brought into the realm from the
Hans Towns and the eastward; so that archery still con¬
tinued to be an object of attention in the legislature.
In Rymer’s Fcedera there is neither statute nor procla¬
mation of James I. on this head; but it appears, by Dr
Birch’s life of his son (Prince Henry), that at eight years
of age he learned to shoot both with the bow and gun,
while at the same time this prince had in his establish¬
ment an officer who was styled bow-bearer. The king
granted a second charter to the Artillery Company, by
which the powers they had received from Henry VIII.
were considerably extended.
Charles I. appears, from the dedication of a treatise
entitled The Bowmans Glory, to have been himself an
archer; and in the eighth year of his reign he issued a
commission to the chancellor, lord mayor, and several of
the privy council, to prevent the fields near London being
so inclosed as to “ interrupt the necessary and profitable
exercise of shootingas also to lower the mounds where
they prevented the view from one mark to another.
Catharine of Portugal, queen to Charles II., seems to
have been much pleased with the sight at least of this
exercise ; for in 1676, by the contributions of Sir Edward
Hungerford and others, a silver badge for the marshal of
the fraternity was made, weighing 25 ounces, and repre¬
senting an archer drawing the long-bow (in the proper
manner) to his ear, with the following inscription: Re-
gince Catharines Sagittarii. The supporters are two bow¬
men, with the arms of England and Portugal. In 1682
there was a most magnificent cavalcade and entertainment
given by the Finsbury archers, when they bestowed the
titles of “ Duke of Shoreditch,” “ Marquis of Islington,”
&c. upon the most deserving. Charles II. was present
upon this occasion.
So late as the year 1753 targets were erected in the
Finsbury fields during the Easter and Whitsun holydays,
when the best shooter was styled captain for the ensuing
year, and the second lieutenant.
Before the introduction of fire-arms the enemy could
only be struck at a distance by slings, the bow used by
the ancients, or the cross-bow; to all which the Eng¬
lish long-bow was infinitely superior. As for slings, they
never have been used in the more northern parts of Eu-
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