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English
Archers were paid more than regular infantry - especially if from certain areas known for their archery skills however they had no ransom value - killed and/or tortured not allowed to rise in social status

No one knows for certain when archery came to England and who brought it. certainly the bow was introduced to Britain at several points through it's use by invading armies, however, it did not gain any prominence until after the normans took control in 1066. Before this point, the bow appears to have been regarded as a hunting weapon and archers played little if any role in battle.

Change to longbow seems gradual, three finger release originally pulled to chest, later to ear protection - chain mail - worked against broadheads but bodkin points were developed to spread the links shafts often splintered against the chainmail - more damage

1066 - Battle of Hastings
- Harold Godwinson (king of England) was actually waiting for the invasion of William of Normandy who was held up by winds blowing the wrong direction. harald hardrada and Harold's brother Tostig picked this time to invade themselves. they were defeated at Stamford bridge, but a change in the winds allowed William to invade the south of England. While there were archers present at the battle, as seen on the Bayeux Tapestry, they formed a relatively small part of the Norman army (and smaller part of the English) and were used to soften up the English for cavalry attacks. However it is believed that Harold was killed by an arrow through the eye which resulted in a Norman victory (or by a Norman horseman advancing under the protection of an arrow volley). from the illustrations of the period the bows used were shortbows and not yet the traditional longbow (may be misleading as the Bayeux tapestry was designed in Canterbury where the shortbows were more common - Normans may have use Henry I 1100-35
An archer was absolved of murder if he killed a man during archery practice

Crusades 1099, 1147-1149, 1189-1192
The mohammadean army was composed mainly of desert horsemen armed with composite bow (100 lbs +) and scimitar. The crusaders consisted mainly of knights and some crossbowmen. The speed of the composite bow 3 or 4 times that of the crossbow was partially offset by their lighter arrows, especially once the crusaders began using layers of thick felt to reduce the impact of the arrows. However in hand-to-hand combat, the light scimitar proved to be inferior to the knight's sword. end result was that the crusades ended in a stalemate with Christians gaining a coastal strip but never regaining Jerusalem. (in moslem hands until 1917)

Richard was later killed by a crossbow bolt {which was deemed appropriate due to the part he played in introducing the weapon to France (as a major weapon of war) Reportedly, the bolt was pulled from the wall by a defender who had run out of ammunition. Richard actually died of gangrene brought on by his wound and the necessity of cutting out the arrow head.

1252 Assize of Arms
Previous assize of 1181 didn't mention bows Bow was listed as a warlike arm and all males btw 15 and 60 were ordered to be equipped with a bow those owning between 40 and 100 shillings in land were required to equip themselves with sword, dagger, bow and arrows less then 40 shillings in land - bow and arrows also illustrates changing attitude towards longbow - 1242 battle of Taillebourg (English lost to French) corps of 700 crossbowmen were considered to be the flower of the infantry

13th Century
Arquebus first appeared

1298 Battle of Falkirk English vs Scots who were commanded by Wallace, Scots intended to fight a defensive battle positioning themselves on a hill with a morass in front of them. Their army was mostly pike in four groups with a thousand horse in the rear and several thousand archers on the flanks between the pikemen. The English knights went around the swamp on both sides, scattering the archers until stopped by the pike, with the Scottish horse retreating without a fight. The English then pulled back and had their own archers fire into the massed men, completing the battle with a second charge by the cavalry.

1307 William Tell
A hat was placed on a pole as a sign of imperial power and anyone who passed was to obeisance towards it. Tell ignored this order and was ordered to shoot an apple off his son's head as punishment (he was known as an archer). he succeeded but had a second bolt in his belt to kill the man who ordered it if he failed and killed his son (there are other similar tales-330GGW) 1332 Dupplin Muir
English against the Scots using tactics which the English later used religiously. These were for the archers to fight defensively and cut down the opposing cavalry as it charged. The knights fought on foot as a stiffenig line to protect the archers.

Scottish - 22,000 men mostly heavy cavalry English - 2000 archers, 500 knights The english knights dismounted (except for a reserve of 50) and were in the centre with the archers angled on the flanks the Scottish ignored the archers, charged against the knights and were cut down by the archers. 1337 Beginning of the 100 Years War 1340
147 English ships vs 190 French (35000 men) French chained all but 24 of their ships together 2 thirds of british ships had bowmen with half moon arrowheads to cut rigging - after archers had cleared the decks, the ships with infantry would move in to board 1346 Crecy
English were raiding in France - (estimated size 12000 men - 7000 of them archers)(size by time of battle 8100?) in 3 divisions under king, prince of Wales and (a duke?) English were on a hill, with the archers in wedges? rained the day before, some accounts state that the English kept their strings dry by putting them under their helmets French force approx 12000 with mercenary Genoese crossbowmen (6000 ?)

Due to the rain the French order of battle became somewhat confused. The crossbowmen were in front - they advanced to within range and began to fire. Due to the rain many of the strings snapped or misfired. Iin addition, since the crossbow is slow to load, they only got one round off before being cut down by the english archers. The crossbowmen turned and fled, some dropping their bows or cutting their strings.

The French seeing this decided to run down their own mercenaries (showing what they thought of archers). The rear lines not knowing what was going on also charged with the result that all of the French army became a mob within range of the english archers. The archers broke the charges. The result was that the English dead were negligible. The French dead were 1200, 4,000 knights and "no one troubled to count the rest". It is noteworthy that in a letter written by the English King shortly after the battle, no mention was made of the archers.

1356 Poitiers
English were again raiding in France - lots of booty, little food estimated size under Edward the Black Prince - 7000 armoured horse, 3000 longbowmen and 100 light troops (spear?) French under King John - 20-60,000 (latter unlikely)

The English took protection behind a hedge and ditch, which had a hole in one spot, after the french army came upon them from behind (English may have been retreating) The majority of the French force dismounted Those who didn't charged against the hedge and were shot down by the archers

The German allies of the French (also mounted) then led a second charge for the gap which again was broken up by the archers and the men at arms supporting them However before the archers could retrieve any arrows (some succeeded by grabbing arrows out of bodies) the French who were on foot reached the hedge They were in hand-to-hand combat with the English when the English reserve cavalry charged against the French rear (included archers, but may have been crossbowmen - Gascon)

French dead - 2500 - some (doubtful) reports indicate that the prisoners outnumbered the English - these prisoners did include the King of France (and his son?) who was/were held in the Tower of London (king was ransomed for 3 000 000 gold crowns)

1356 after Poitiers,
French organized their own longbow corps which became so expert that they were disbanded by the military

1363 all men were ordered to practice archery on Sundays and holidays no man under 24 was allowed to shoot at a known distance and no man over 24 was to shoot at any mark less than 11 score yds this was reaffirmed in 1512 and was still in force in 1633 1377 Piers Plowman refers to Rymes of Robyn Hode 1415 Agincourt
English under Henry V had been in France for about 1 month - capturing Harfleur in order to control the Seine Valley and were then retreating towards Calais

The army was hungry, tired and many had dysentery (some of the archers went into battle naked from the waist down due to this) The French were both ahead and behind them, so they decided to give battle. English - about 6000 men - mainly archers (8600 originally - only 38 of whom were crossbowmen) archers told that if captured the fingers on their draw hand would be chopped off French forces - 60,000 (reported to be outnumbered 10 to 1) - one chronicler states that 4000 crossbowmen were actually sent away before the battle due to the cramped nature of the field (may also have had cannon although they certainly weren't effective)

The two armies faced each other (a mile apart) for hours as the French decided to wait out the English The archers were on the sides in the front lines as well as one contingent which was in the woods on the French flank Henry sounded the attack with the archers advancing slightly and planting stakes in front of them and began shooting

This prompted the French to attack with cavalry charges to the wings. this charge was broken and the first wave began to retreat right into the second wave causing mass confusion the main French body eventually did continue it's attack on the English centre (knights) but while the English line was pushed back, it didn't break which was important as there were no reserves, and eventually began a counter assault with no arrows left, the archers attacked with whatever was available - swords if they were lucky, axes and even mallets which had been used to drive in the stakes

Somewhere in here two local lords with about 600 peasants led an attack on the English baggage train between this and the threat of another cavalry charge, Henry appears to have ordered the death of the French prisoners (by a squire and 200 archers as the knights wouldn't do it???) however a large number of prisoners were also brought back to England so the extent of this is hard to say

French dead 6 000 - 10 000 (Shakespeare - 10,000 dead 1500 noblemen captured includes a master of the cross-bow in the list of the dead) English <100 (Shakespeare - 4 noblemen and 25 more)

1440's
Joan of Arc discovered weakness of English longbow to relentless and surprise attacks

1452 Castillon
This was the last battle of 100 years war (116) English archers in a desperate position charged a strong French artillery position and were slaughtered by cannon and lances 1472 archery was declining due to lack of bowstaves - all ships importing from places which supplied staves were ordered to import 4 staves per tun weight

1508
Crossbows were forbidden in England in an attempt to increase the use of the longbow (repealed 1536)

1521
General Cortes employed band of Spanish crossbowmen in capture of Mexico

1595
All bows ordered exchanged for muskets

1644 Tipper Muir
This was the last War with English Archers

1798 sultan Selim,
Witnessed by the British Ambassador Sir Ainslie, shot an arrow 972 yards not surpassed until the 20th century when an American Harry Drake shot 1100 yards

1860's
Chinese used crossbow against the British

1890's
Chinese used crossbow against the Japanese

American Indians
Horse arrived with Spanish so horse archers didn't have as long to develop

American Indians used the pinch draw - the weakest of the techniques Ishi - last member of the Yahi Indian tribe - very poor marksman - but good tracker, the marksmanship was not really required to put food on the table
Caribs
Heads were deformed (slant forehead backwards) to try and thicken frontal bones of skull against head shots and allow better shots for overhead targets

South American Indian
These tribes used reed arrows and hardwood tips bow weights varied - 28-70 lbs.

The weapons were sufficiently powerful to cause trouble for Spaniards. A test performed with a prisoner who from a 100 yards shot completely through a steel breastplate. When a second plate was added, the arrow stopped half way out the back of the second.

Northern Plains Indians
Ash and sinew bows were the mainstay of their weaponry. Some groups used bone and even eliminated wood entirely.

Inuit
The Inuit used horn and sinew bows

                                               

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