Archery, the practice or art of shooting with…

Archery, the practice or art of shooting with a bow and arrow, has played an important part in English history, being the major weapon of the foot-soldier and instrumental in winning many battles in wars with the French -with whom we seemed to be continuously at war during the Middle Ages. The English featured the longbow over the short bow and the crossbow, the latter being the main firearm of militias on the European continent. The crossbow fired a metal bolt released by a trigger, rather like a gun, and had the farthest range of any of the bows, but the main advantage of the longbow was its accuracy. The importance placed on archery is illustrated by the fact that medieval kings in England encouraged the practice and one of them, Edward III, went so far as to bar all sports on Sundays and holidays except archery. Because there were no standing armies in those days, and in the event of war rulers had to call on the populace, everything was done to make sure there were large numbers of competent, if not expert archers, to recruit.