Hi everyone,
I have been reading this thread with much interest and find it quite incredible how so many people nowadays think of themselves as having the skill and strength of a medieval archer, there are a few things that you must think about before making claims about medieval archery in warfare with regards bow weights, string material and arrow lengths.
Bow weights.
The MR bows, These bows are High Altitude Italian, Spanish and Portuguese Yew, this wood is totally different from American yew and much denser than English yew, the dimensions of the MR bows average at about 39mm wide and 37mm thick at the centre, across the back they taper very little for about 12" either side of centre and then gradually to approx 9 - 12mm at the tip, the average length is about 78". Here is a picture of me holding one of them.
I have had more experience than most with regards Italian high Altitude Yew and even with the worst quality piece of yew made to the same dimensions the bow is well over the 100lb more like 120lb.
Now the John Holder Challenge mark is a competition that was set up by Simon Stanley and myself and the arrow spec was taken from one of Simon Stanley's Arrows, the weight was calculated by using an average length shaft that came of the MR, (These range between 27" and 34") see picture.
and fitting it with a type 10 or similar forged head, the fletchings size was taken from the average size fletch of a MR arrow. see picture
Now with all this in mind you now have to look at statutes laid down in medieval times regarding archery practice, which state that the MINIMUM practice distance for men over the age of 15 was 220yds. Now to shoot this arrow the required practice distance you must have a bow of 120lb+,proved by tests carried out by people who have shot this arrow and the ability to shoot the bow well shoot, this means that you are comfortable with this bow weight.
All this information is available if you want to look it up.
The strings made of linen or hemp, now i have made a linen string for a bow of 118lb and this has been shot many times without breaking, the 1/8" nock theory is utter crap, this i beleive as last weekend i was in Italy and visited the Otzi museum, his bow is easily 100lb + looking at its dimensions and knowing the quality of his bow wood (High Altitude Alpine Yew) the nocks on his arrows were less than 1/8" and his string was made from a form of grass, the string is there and is in perfect condition and is constructed as a complete "Flemish Twist" over its whole length. Now if he can do it 5000 years ago why can't the stringmakers of medieval times do it after 4500 years of making them?
The Japanese have been using hemp for their Kyudo bows for 100's of years.
The arrow lengths are different on the MR for a number of reasons.
1. These are all shafts with no heads. If you fitted a type 10 to one of the shorter shafts eg. 27" you can add a further 2"+ of socket and draw the arrow to 29", if you fitted a type 7 to the same you now have an arrow of
30"+,
the thing you are forgetting is that all the arrow heads are hand forged by different arrowsmiths so the chance of all the sockets being the same is 1 in a million, eg. if you bought a type 10 bodkin off Hector Cole and then bought one off Simon Stanley and another off Mark Stretton, you can bet your life the sockets would all be different lengths. also the longer shafts could have been used for a type 16 as this head has longer barbs which come below the socket so to get a full draw you must have a longer shaft or the barbs will hit your bow hand as you draw it.
Now to sum up.
The bow weights must be over 120lb to be able to shoot an arrow the minimum practice distance.
The arrow lengths are different because they were fitted with different heads.
The string could withstand these bow weight (If the Iceman could do it 5000 years ago it stands to reason that the stringmakers 4500 years later could.)
And lastly accurate shooting with these bow weights is possible as proved by Simon and Mark and many others, i myself shoot bows up to 120lb and i only weigh 11 stone, it is about technique, i have been shooting for only 5 years and started when i was 41yrs old, so it stands to reason that if i can get to the minimum bow weight needed to shoot this arrow 200yds + then medieval men who started from boyhood could easily do it.
Anyway sorry it went on a bit but there were questions i thought i could help with.
Cheers
Steve