BOWMEN OF ENGLAND (Pen &

Sword Military Classics) by Donald

Featherstone

Great Read For Those Interested In Longbow Military History

From the 12th to 15th centuries the longbow was the weapon that changed
European history more than any other. In the skilled hands of English and
Welsh archers it revolutionized all the medieval concepts and traditions of
war. No other weapon dominated the battlefield as it did, and it was the
winning factor in every major battle from Morlaix in 1342 to Patay in 1429.
Donald Featherstones study of the English longbow from its early
development until the Wars of the Roses is an inspiring and authentic
reconstruction in human terms in an age of courage, vitality and
endurance. He provides an enthralling footnote to the history of the
longbow by recording the engagement in which it was last used in France
in 1940.
Personal Review: BOWMEN OF ENGLAND (Pen & Sword
Military Classics) by Donald Featherstone
I read this book for a graduate course in medieval history.
Donald Featherstone is a great historian of the longbow. "History of the
English Longbow" is a great comprehensive work for the history of this
medieval weapon of mass destruction. In his book, Featherstone has
meticulously researched the history of the longbow, from ancient history
through its greatest impact in warfare during the Hundred Years' War;
specifically, the battles of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt.

Featherstone turns his attention to the more detailed study of the

longbow's genesis and development in Britain. It is definitively impossible
to know when the longbow first came into existence in Britain. However,
history does record several historical periods when we know that the
longbow, or a weapon similar to it, was used and introduced by invaders of
the British Isles. There is evidence that shows that the Germanic longbow
made its way into Britain with the invasion of the Saxons in the fifth
century. Viking law, from mid-tenth century, required that while aboard
ship, fighting men must be equipped with bows and arrows as an addition
to their other usual weapons that they employed in their raiding parties.
One can still read Viking Sagas of the era extolling the use of bows and
arrows as weapons. In 1055, Welsh bowmen while firing from hidden
positions on mountain ridges, cut down the Earl of Hereford's Saxon
cavalry with devastating effect. This action would be a great lesson lost on
King Harold eleven years later, in his defeat at the battle of Hastings. King
Harold did have some longbow men in the battle, if one takes the Bayeux
Tapestry to be a true pictorial history of the Norman Conquest.
Unfortunately, for the Anglo-Saxon army of King Harold, he had to travel
very quickly over 250 miles south to engage the invading Normans, which
prevented him from taking many archers on foot. In fact, the Bayeux
Tapestry is famous for its depiction of King Harold being fatally shot in the
eye by a Norman arrow, and thus, changing the course of British history
forever.

It is during the fourteenth century in Britain that the longbow gains its
reputation as a force multiplier in battle. In military terminology, a force
multiplier denotes a factor, in this case, the longbow providing a
technological factor, dramatically increasing the combat capability of a
military force. In keeping with the theme of our course in comparing
fourteenth century events to modern times, one can easily equate the
importance of the longbow to fourteenth century warfare in the same way
that one can compare the importance that the machine gun had on early
twentieth century warfare-specifically during World War I. The longbow
provided the English armies of Edward I, through the end of the Hundred
Years' War, a distinct and singular advantage over the French armies and
their cavalry forces.

Despite all of the early history of the longbow in Britain, it is Edward I who
is the real progenitor of the longbow, as used in battle. Edward I keenly
learned the tactics and logistics that were necessary to employ with great
success the longbow on the battlefields of Wales and Scotland. He
realized that the longbow was less expensive and awkward to use in battle
then the crossbow, and with a moderate amount of practice, his Welsh
bowmen could shoot more arrows in a given time then cross bowmen
could. He worked hard at building a national army. In 1298, at the battle
of Falkirk, most of his longbow men were Welsh. By 1346, most longbow
men were English. They were well trained, well paid, and could be
counted by the thousands. Longbow men where deemed so important to
the army that they were given pardons for all types of offenses, including
murder, in order to go off to France to fight. Their pay was comparable to
that of master craftsmen. During the reign of Edward II, English military
prowess was in decline. Although Edward II continued many of the
recruiting and logistical policies of his father, his tactical decisions, and
those of his commanders, were sorely lacking. He suffered an
embarrassing defeat at the battle of Bannockburn at the hands of Robert
the Bruce of Scotland. However, the lessons his son, Edward III, learned
from that defeat put the British army in good stead for fighting in the
Hundred Years' War. Those lessons, learned and used in such future
battles as Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, were insuring good organization
before battle and good discipline of soldiers during the fight. In addition,
cavalry without longbow support was useless against enemy spearmen.
Conversely, longbow men who were isolated on the battlefield without
support, would easily fall prey to enemy cavalry attack.

Crécy is emblematic of the successes that the British enjoyed at the battles
of Poitiers and Agincourt. It was the sight of the first major battle of The
Hundred Years' War and was a rousing success for the invading British
army of Edward III and his sixteen-year-old son, Edward, also known as
the Black Prince. Edward III had 12,000 men arrayed against a French
force of between 30,000 to 40,000 combatants. Although heavily
outnumbered, Edward's longbow men were the force multiplier that
garnered a stunning victory for the British over the French. The record
shows that the English longbow men were capable of firing ten arrows in a
minute. Most estimates of the longbow tactics used in the battle, state that
the over one-half million arrows fired by the British, easily cut down the
French armored cavalry. The longbow, and the brilliant way in which it
was employed, were responsible for the lopsided casualty figures of the
battle. Although casualty figures are somewhat unreliable, most sources
put the French losses at one-third of the French nobility-about 12,000 men
in all, against the British losses of 150 to 1,000 total. In the battle, longbow
men comprised anywhere from between five to one, upwards to three to
one, of the English invading force. Featherstone states in his book, "They
were some of the finest, most highly trained and militarily efficient troops
that any nation ever put into the field of battle." So, why did the French
when seeing the efficient destructive power of the longbow, not learn from
the advantage it could afford them and emulate the English? Featherstone
postulates a few reasons, such as, the French culture of class snobbery
made it difficult for the nobles to accept peasants as equals on the
battlefield. In addition, cavalry and chivalry were too hard for French
nobles to give up. Another reason was that the French King did not have
the power to field a national army in the same way that his English
counterparts did. French kings had to rely on their nobles and Italian
mercenaries to prosecute their wars during this time; thus, they could not
enforce regular training regimens, nor standardized battlefield logistics and
tactics. In fact, the longbow reigned supreme on the battlefield until the
mid-sixteenth century. By this time, other technologies such as better -
tempered armor, cannon, and musketry, overtook the effectiveness of the
longbow.

In conclusion, I highly recommend Featherstone's book to any serious

student of medieval history. "History of the English Longbow," is an
excellent introductory work for understanding the significance that the
weapon had during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It is well
written and appointed with plenty of illustrations. The book is a very
enjoyable read for anyone with even a casual interest in the longbow or the
Hundred Years' War.

Recommended reading for those interested in medi eval history, and

military history.

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