I picked up Mike Loades' new book War Bows after it was recently reviewed by Matt Easton on his Youtube channel scholagladiatoria. Easton remarked that the book, a four-part survey of the English longbow, crossbow, composite bow and Japanese Yumi, is based on the latest scholarship. I find the book a mixed bag. To some … Continue reading ‘War Bows’ by Mike Loades
Author: bowvsmusket
Median Fire Arrows
From Purchas His Pilgrims, Book 4, Chapter 2, Of the Medes, we have an example of flaming arrows being used against humans, rather than as mere incendiaries to ignite buildings and ships. In this Region was made the oile Medicum, wherein their arrowes were steeped, which being shot out of a looser bow (for a … Continue reading Median Fire Arrows
Shooting a 15th century crossbow
Today an archer at my local archery club gave me the opportunity to try his reconstruction of a 15th century crossbow. He reported that the weapon was 95#, and was loaded using a hip draw. I shot at a foxed-shaped target 22-25 yards away. The first shot struck the body of the fox exactly where … Continue reading Shooting a 15th century crossbow
Chinese general Qi Jiguang adopts musketry
A history book I read about a year ago said that Qi Jigaung, a 16th century general famous for defeating the pirate invasion of southern China, had mostly ignored musketry and focused on contact weapons. Since it didn't seem like there would be any bow/musket comparison I forgot about him until coming across the name … Continue reading Chinese general Qi Jiguang adopts musketry
The Nemesis in China and Chinese archery in the 19th Century
China is the odd man out in the transition from archery to musketry. Almost every other nation had given up archery for firearms, the Chinese still used large numbers of archers as late as the 19th century. While firearms were certainly not unknown in China, and muskets made up a significant portion of the Qing … Continue reading The Nemesis in China and Chinese archery in the 19th Century
Musketeers Were Not Easier to Train than Archers
Myth 2: Muskets replaced bows because musketeers are easy to train For the sake of clarifying my position and including new supporting research, this post was updated June 20th, 2020. Or, as internet commentators like to say, it took years, even decades, of training to make a decent archer, but any peasant could be trained … Continue reading Musketeers Were Not Easier to Train than Archers
Plymouth Plantation Bow vs Musket Battle
A Relation or Journal of the Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plymouth, by Edward Winslow and others (London, 1622) About midnight we heard a great and hideous cry, and our sentinels called, Arm, Arm. So we bestirred ourselves and shot off a couple of muskets, and noise ceased; we concluded, that it was … Continue reading Plymouth Plantation Bow vs Musket Battle
Samuel Champlain, Part 3
On his third voyage in 1615, Samuel Champlain again came to the aid of his native allies against an Iroquois fort. Battle was joined on the 10th of October, in what is now Madison County, New York. Champlain ordered the construction of two siege engines for the assault. The first was a tower, taller than … Continue reading Samuel Champlain, Part 3
Bows Didn’t Outrange Muskets
Myth 1: Bows outranged muskets Bows and muskets co-existed on the battlefield for hundreds of years and during that time, there were plenty of battles between the two weapons. This blog was started mainly for the purpose of cataloging eye-witness accounts of those battles. There are some common threads running through all these accounts, facts … Continue reading Bows Didn’t Outrange Muskets
Samuel Champlain, Part 2
Again Champlain came to the aid of the Montagnai (Innu) and Algonquin against the Iroquois. This battle is larger than the one from my first post, and this time the Iroquois barricaded themselves in a fortress. On the following day, we all set out together, and continued our route until the morning of the next … Continue reading Samuel Champlain, Part 2
