What did a medieval archer do after his arrows were spent?
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- čas přidán 27. 04. 2023
- In this video, Kevin Hicks shares his insights into what a medieval archer would have done once all his arrows had been used up in a battle and explores some of the weapons that would have been used. The video provides an informative and engaging insight into the life and tactics of medieval bowmen in battle.
#MedievalWarfare #MedievalArcher #History #HistoryChannel
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What I learned from playing a bowman in Chivalry 2 is that a club is the best backup weapon. It's heavy enough to stop anything. I'm glad Kevin Hicks agrees.
I can't believe you admitted to playing an archer! 😂
When I saw brave heart I feared the man with the huge hammer the most!
Chivalry 2 is awesome. So is being an archer
@@ub3rk0r3 I am a proud archer 😎 I know we get a lot of hate for being archers, but I got used to that. We’ve been getting hate for it for thousands of years already. 😢
@@darthchopper9016 They hate us because they know we are great.
This is what most medieval videogames get wrong about bowmen, they're always depicted as weak and squishy support units. But watching your videos I have learned a great deal about medieval archers. They were extremely valuable troops, very skilled, respected, and feared.
English archers were light infantry not just bowmen.
@@geoffboxell9301 They were probably not someone you'd want getting a hold of you either. Big strong guys firing off arrows from warbows are not the type of person I want swinging a club at me.
Life ain't a video game. These were men who worked day in day out doing labor that would make you soft limits quiver at the knees. Plus the bows they pulled weren't childs toys. They may not have wanted to be killers, but killers they were. They only good thing about you meeting them on the field was they would kill you quick, in a workmens type manner.
Life ain't a video game. These were men who worked day in day out doing labor that would make you soft pinkys quiver at the knees. Plus the bows they pulled weren't childs toys. They may not have wanted to be killers, but killers they were. They only good thing about you meeting them on the field was they would kill you quick, in a workmens type manner
@@MacEwanMouse
Hammers and daggers only take you that far against heavily armoured halberdiers in formation.
Any competent commander would have avoided using light Vs heavy infantry in melee as long as possible. Even more so against lanced cavalry.
I love how you describe such blood-curdling acts of physical mayhem with a slight smile and the wry humour of a historian and reenactor who knows his art! Informative as always, that great big hammer/archer's maul was amazing!
Cheers Zali 👍🏻
@@thehistorysquad Why have you put your youtube location as in Canada ? is that where you live now? because you are clearly a Native person from The United Kingdom just curious
@@michaelhawkins7389 Yes, it's where I live now, in Saskatchewan. I have family here and I came to retire although now I'm making these videos.
Good choice
Nice place, nice people
@@thehistorysquad oh wow that is so cool :) I was curious
One of the first games that really captured this was Medieval Total War 1 where longbowmen were equipped with small shields and axes , and were actually quite fearsome in melee especially in the fourth quarter of a battle when they were sent into mop up the mangled stranglers of the main melee
That's probably my favorite strategy game I know of. Still haven't finished my last playthrough as Italy so thanks for the reminder.
Such a good game. I love it, especially with the Medieval: Total War XL mod, from Viking Horde. I just need a computer that will play it now...
Also they were quick enough being mostly lightly armored foot troops they could be thrown into a flank and help to roll it up even a heavily armored line later into a combat.
A lot of battles historically actually ended that way where both heavily armed and armored forces slugged it out in the middle (usually for a few hours) and then the archers, skirmishers, or cav rolled up a flank and one side retreated to avoid being surrounded and slaughtered.
Basically short of taking a direct charge by heavy foot or cav they weren't all that different than your standard peasant levies in terms of offensive melee potential (except having fewer dedicated long pikes and spears in their regiment, which is probably where the misunderstanding of their combat capabilities comes from)
Stronghold.
The hammer and the maul…they were a big hit on the battlefield
Lol yeah real nail drivers
What a smashing weapon the hammer was... to put it bluntly.
😂
Gives a new meaning to hammer head .
The old hammer and anvil tactic.....
"Oi George, whoy are we carrying anvils as weapons, aye?"
"It's the othah fellas got the 'ammers!"
Always depicted as small little guys, the movie Braveheart was the opposite of history.
Archers are strong and muscular. You try pulling back a bow everyday for hours, and see what your arms, shoulders, and chest look like. Especially in a period where bows were all longbow and recurve, no pulleys to make it easier. You had to be powerful to get a heavy bow back, in that time period
And yet in dnd games, they are more dexterity based , not strength based.
@@user-yd4el3ts2eI've a feeling that was an accidental bit of balancing-if archery was strength-based, you'd make a half-orc archer who could one-shot almost anything. 😂
I remember 3.5 actually accounted for this. The best archers were these with strength because, while dexterity determined if you hit, default bows were just a flat die roll for damage. But a bow with a higher draw allowed you to apply your strength modifier up to a certain maximum based on the draw.
So yeah, the most effective archers had some oomph to them back before simplifying.
So in other words, half of their muscles are strong. And their musculoskeletal system is imbalanced. Yeah. Sounds favorable.
@@moonblaze2713Man 3.5 was seriously amazing. We lost so much depth in 5e
I think I would have to go with the "what's left of the pole axe". They never show in the movies about what bowmen did other than loose arrows. Cheers from Texas, Kevin.
It certainly would have done some damage. My favourite is my archers pick, it might have been shown in another video. 👍🏻
Longbowmen would have had years and years of training, and would have developed a lot of upper body strength because you needed that to get the full range of a longbow. So even when their arrows had been fully spent, you would not want to be stuck in a melee against these guys that's for sure.
I was just writing a battle sequence where because of how numerous the enemy, the archers were running out of arrows. How convenient and timely to address this question right now! Thank-you.
Haha, we must be in tune 👍🏻
Went from "Oh no we're out of arrows! We're gonna die!" to "Oh no, THEY're out of arrows! We're gonna die!"
I don't know about Europe but at least in the Middle East it was customary for archers to return to the main camp or supply wagon to refill when they ran out of arrows. Although it should be noted that the people doing by far the most archery historically were typically skirmishers like light infantry or cavalry. The soldiers in these units would choose how to fight according to the situation and were definitely expected to carry various melee weapons
As someone from Beverley, I'm very proud of my hometown's long history 😁
I've seen artwork from the period that showed them with swords and bucklers as well. Mainly in the late medieval period based off the brigandines and what look to be visorless sallets, or sallets with visors up in some that I found. I think people tend to forget that peoples kit changed throughout the period especially in the late medieval period when armor even for the common man was more available, and I also believe more affordable than in earlier periods. Obviously not the top end stuff, but something with more protection than just a gambeson or nothing at all.
Yes, you're right. Here's a link to a couple of videos I did a while back you might be interested in if you haven't seen them already.
czcams.com/video/8pKNAMU_e20/video.html
czcams.com/video/9dk3XYLruUM/video.html
There are more in the Medieval playlist too 👍🏻
Your knowledge and your storytelling together is something else. Thank you for another great video!
You're most welcome 👍🏻
Watching this on my lunch break in the downtown of a small local town and just as you mentioned shooting your first bow on a green next to the cathedral a local church bells started to ring.
My personal favorite sidearm is a small ax, cheap and multipurpose, though I I love your detail on the comradely of companies, I feel that myself with fellow tradesman. I had noticed that in the trades we get a lot of former or current military members, and I recently asked one why he thought that was, he said that it was very similar to being in the military with similar people, hard jobs and the comradely of your crew members.
Yes, I can understand that for sure. 👍🏻
Fascinating. The bowmen were the original McGuiverers, using whatever they might have on them once the bows were gone. Love your passion for history.
Did you say McQuivers?
@@rgcooke Betcha he really meant *Ukrainians* !!!
_Tom's wife Pam_
@@tomfromoz why, did bowmen get their asses handed to them by Russia?
Yippee a Friday treat from Kevin. Thanks
Great to see a local man keeping our great history alive. I'd love to practice some archery with you some day!
Kevin is genuinely terrifying because of his calm composure.
Brilliant channel 👍
I usually scroll on top of many medieval explanation videos. There are young and middle agaed guys shouting and talking big about anything stating points everywehre. But this video is just so wholesome. I simply love the peaceful way this man tells stories with his attitude.
Thanks very much 👍🏻
I enjoy your overall content a bunch, but I gotta say, my favorites are always the one regarding the bowmen. I remember an older video in which you talked about the companies, and this one that you're talking about the weapons they'd use for melee, and I always end up learning something new. Keep 'em coming, Kevin!
Cheers Legus, will do 👍🏻
Thanks for this latest video, FASCINATING ! As a retired gardener I have my late Father's "billhook" , or "handbill" as he described it. I keep it with pride because he thought a lot of it as it was handmade by a blacksmith many years ago. It is VERY interesting that a humble agricultural tool was used by those GREAT bowmen centuries ago !
Glad you enjoyed this one Tony, thank you.
A peasants weapon, like a Billhook, would still do as much damage as a sword, possibly more as the men wielding them would normally be using them for hours at a time in the fields. The really odd thing is, if you look at many martial arts weapons, they are adaptions of farming implements ... Flails, Sickles, Axes etc... even the bow was primarily used for hunting (although not in Warbow draw weights, and not with some of the arrowheads I've seen... You would want some meat left from that bunny to cook surely)
That cool. I'm a blacksmith and I make bills for a lot of the workers of the orchards around here. Plus there's nothing better at reconditioning an old fruit tree that's been standing in the woods for a hundred and fifty years from some old homestead like a bill and a can of pine tar.
@@N0rnagest Broadhead arrows were usually used against unarmored targets and bodkin tips were usually used for armored targets so the broadheads would be more useful for hunting. It's just the opposite of what you suggested.
I grew up on a farm back in the 1970s/1980s and hand tools were still often used back then like bill hooks, sickles, pitch forks, hammers and even an occasional scythe.
The thing that people don't realise is that the archers of England and Wales were all manual labourers working on farms, as butchers, stonemasons, etc. Many of whom used those sorts of hand tools every day. The skills of swinging a hand tool to maximum effect with minimum effort for hours on end without fatigue is something that is innate and learned over years. An armoured knight on foot surrounded by three or four experienced archers with these sorts of weapons really had no chance.
I look forward to your video every week Kevin! Fantastic as always. Brilliant way to spend a portion of a Friday evening!
Cheers Robert!
My son and I sat through one of Kevin's talks at the University of Saskatchewan a few years back. Riveting story telling solidly backed by a profound depth of knowledge. If ever you have the chance to see one of Kevin's talks...jump at the chance. You won't regret it.
Cheers buddy 👍🏻
Another wonderful video, Kevin. The lessons learned here about history are things we do not get in standard history classes, which is a shame.
What an absolutely FASCINATING video! As long you keep making videos, I’ll keep watching them! Thanks for doing what you do!!
Wow, that's really kind and appreciated. Thanks 👍🏻
Thankyou again Kevin! Amazing and interesting history education as always. Thankyou also for sharing your knowleage of obscure gems not tought in Australian classes (1990-2002). Much respect for your work and dedication to fading skills.
Thanks very much, I'm glad you're enjoying the videos 👍🏻
amazing history, I love how you place yourself as an arrowman and tell the history from that perspective
How proud of British traditions am I Kevin. History was always my favourite subject throughout school and I have an extensive library at home but, your programmes are so very informative. Always enjoy them. Many thanks
Cheers Peter 👍🏻
Two videos this week? Great surprise!
🧀
😜
Great details! I understand that longbowmen had enormous arm/chest muscles developed over years of pulling back on their bows. Just imagine the amount of force with which they could bring down a maul or hammer on the head of an enemy!
I'm not sure about that. Doing archery right-handed will develop your traps and lats a lot, plus your left delts, left forearm and right bicep. If you're hitting somebody with a maul in your right hand, the only one of these which will really help is the trap development, which will make it a bit easier for you to lift the maul up into the air.
Having said that, if an archer trained to shoot both right and left-handed, and then did some additional press-ups, they would get a pretty complete upper-body workout from that, and would then be much more readsy to go at it with a maul.
I like that quote too - thank you for making this and showing such pride in it.
Nice to hear Beverley mentioned! Use to shoot for Beverley archery club for most of my teenage days! Great video as always!
The descriptions from the battle of agincourt, provides a good answer to that question.
I always found interesting, the Hollywood battle scenes, of masses of men just charging at each other into a confusing mess and slug it out, but also hilarious has no matter what if a commander allowed that to happen the battle was lost.
You’ve done it again my friend, another knowledgable video, you and your stories make me proud to have taken up the bow 🤘🏹
Haha, glad to hear it Mick!
This is great! I never really thought about what would happen after an archer ran out.
Thanks for asking and answering these difficult questions.
as a hobbyist blacksmith, I have found an appreciation for the humble smithy hammer, and I would use my smithy hammers or maul, and I really like how you showed the various hammers. The warhammer is another option.
Greetings once again from nova Scotia, another great video by the way, I appreciate your experience and knowledge, you so kindly share. I love the stories, and the wisdom, you are a BORN teacher. Cheers Arthur
Thanks Arthur 👍🏻
Keep up the good work Sir Kevin. I’ve been watching your channel grow since the beginning. Well done!
Thanks very much for your support here, I'm glad you enjoy the vids 👍🏻
Im from Hull, close to Beverley, i had no clue about the history of bowmen in Beverley. Thanks for teaching me local and National history!
Any time 👍🏻
I think some research was done at the Cathedral revealing the records of the bowmen who went to fight and how proud Beverley was of its men. 👍🏻
Fabulous research as always Poor horses though.
Whats a better way to start the day than with a fresh video from our favorite bowman!!
Edit: A height requirement for the maul? Im just tall enough to ride!
Always happy to see a new upload from Professor Kevin 🙂💙
Thank you Sir that all is very interesting , I liked the weapons on your table.War back then must have been brutal.
I'm also from Staffordshire. The thing in my perspective about the bowman was it was affordable, effective. It becomes a local tradition of sport. So when men were called to arms, they're already handy with the bow. Farmers acting as reserve levies bowmen behind the regulars for support in so creates a sense of pride and willingness doing so. I'm a huge fan of History and I've been learning my self for years now. Currently diving into Mercian History.
Weapon of choice for me would be the billhook, a heavy blade with a lot of momentum behind it. Even if it didnt penertrate armour the blow would break bones.
There you go again....giving us a learning. Thank you.
Hey Kevin, once again thanks for the informative and educational video!
Omg this is literally what I'm always asking 😂 it's funny how video game and movie shape our conception about archer so we end up underappreciating them.
This is my first video on ur channel and it's great! ❤
Thanks! There's lots more you can catch up on if you check out the Archery & medieval playlists 👍🏻. Welcome to the channel.
Always a great and informative video.
'Ello!!
At the end he shorthanded the "laboratory" bit of HS SERE lvl3 iwthout realizing it. Amazing. Love this man.
You make a really good point that I hadn't considered about the longbowmen going to war with their mates who they had been practicing archery with since they were boys.
That's surely a massive benefit to morale for soldiers, whether they are dealing with the mundane boredom of soldiery or actually in a battle.
The English Navy had “fighting instructions” that gave rules for engagement with ships of the line. They used flags and pennants. I’ve now learned that your archer people had organizational efforts using flags too. An interesting field … battlefield communication.
Don't know if you know this already early tank warfare was also done using flags, hell the russians were still using them as the Wehrmacht approached Moscow. Imagine trying to see out of your view slot a tiny little flag flying just above a T-34 turret.
There's a reason why many modern signal corps or "comms" units put semaphore flags in their patches/heraldry. Flags along with drums, horns, even bagpipes and fifes were used to communicate both on land and sea until telegraph and radio came along.
I read on the Royal Armouries website that for a campaign, each bowmen was typically issued with two sheaves of arrows containing two dozen arrows a piece. This would be expended very quickly during a battle I'd imagine.
That's right although they would have boys running up mid-battle with more sheaves of arrows until they ran out
I've often wondered about that! Thank you for explaining it and sharing it with us!!
Glad it was helpful! 👍
Excellent as always Kevin!
Excellent video! I knew about the shire and village youths all training together, but I never really though about how they would all be raised in levy together and would form a brotherhood-like bond. I think that’s really special and interesting to picture in the context of medieval story-telling. Well done.
Thanks Will 👍
Hi Kevin. I’ve been subscribed to your channel for some time now. And listening to you share you knowledge and passion on medieval history got me wondering. Have you ever considered writing a book? Maybe a work of fiction about a young English soldier filling the ranks of Henry V’s army as he campaigns through France. Or perhaps a non-fictional in depth analysis of the battle of Agincourt, Crecy or Castillion. Either way I do know I’d be delighted if I were to walk into a book store and see something like “The Battle of Agincourt, Englands finest hour, by Kevin Hicks.”
Second this, can't get enough of Kevin's delves into such historical tales.
Thanks for your very kind words Jack, but as Bernard Cornwall once said on a publishing outing, "Whilst I am a good story writer, Kevin is one of the best storytellers I've ever heard".
Sometimes you just have to know where your strengths lie 👍🏻
@@thehistorysquad I thank all the gods for that. Another book about Agincourt and ill go mad.
Why not write a book about Joan of Arc or her comrades-in-arms? How did the French crush the English archers at Patay (1429) when they were outnumbered three to one? How did the French create one of the first standing armies in Europe in the 1440s? How did they revolutionise warfare by introducing (the first?) field artillery to the battlefields at the end of the Hundred Years War?
@@MarquisVincentBissetdeGramont just purchased Jeanne d’Arc by Pernoud and finishing and Jeanne d’Arc by Beaune.
Just wanted to pop in and say that I'm loving your channel, and it's fostering an interest in Medieval Britain in me that I didn't have previously. You're incredible, dude. Gonna go check out Robert the Bruce, as that might be the best place to start.
That’s great to hear, thanks
Thanks Kev, I think the bowmen of old would appreciate your homage to them, truly adding color to the story of their lives.
fearsome weapons. Even without arrows, these bowmen seemed to be not the guys to mess with.
Great video, I especially enjoyed the last 8 minutes.
I actually got excited to see the last 8 minutes after reading this comment 🙄 hopes destroyed
I know right!! All rectified now though. 👍🏻
This video is 6 minutes long 🙄.
@@Jared7873 Before being fixed, at 6 minutes, the screen went black for 8 minutes. 😉
Thanks for the detailed info!
Really awesome video. You answered a question I had been curious about and pondered on for quite some time.
Glad it was helpful!
Hi Kevin!
Hi, thanks 👍🏻
Funny that throughout history the best weapon is often a hardened stick.
Nice vid!! Thanks!! Very colorful and enjoyable imagery.
Had to take a moment to think after hearing about a cathedral in Litchfield- the Litchfield, Connecticut, USA I was born and raised in was much too small for that! Thank you for the wonderful video, Mr. Hicks.
Ah, interestingly we were overlooking the archery ground at Lichfield yesterday as Julie & I were visiting to do a little filming, so one day you'll be able to see the cathedral in all its glory. 👍🏻
Los arqueros ingleses eran tropas de elite, el arco largo era su arma principal, pero también luchaban cuerpo a cuerpo apoyando a los caballeros a pie en la defensa como en el ataque.
Ive been looking at the Pavise shields a lot lately the art on those could be downright stunning. Didn't longbowmen also occasionally use oversized shields in sieges?
In sieges yes, they were called mantlets. Some could be wheeled into position sometimes big enough to have several bowmen shooting from behind them.
Yup, I had read about large ones, built from light materials, easy to carry but strong enough to stop enemy arrows
Pavise were used by crossbow men traditionally
Excellent history channel, conveying to the student the facts of life of the common people without fear or favour.
Just stumbled across this channel, what an absolute joy
Thanks & welcome 👍🏻
I appreciate learning about the tactics, but also the way of life that these people lived. That allows us to understand their motivation to some degree and makes these images of men, human.
RUN..... That's the answer.
It's criminal CZcams stopped reminding me you make these awesome videos. Time for binge, thanks for the brilliant dedication!
I agree!! It's madness that they don't push notifications to all those that have asked for them by dinging that bell, but I'm glad you're back. Enjoy your binge 👍🏻
Thank you for this great video!
I live in a peaceful country, but when there's riots people spontaneously organize themselves like this.
It's probably part of our DNA by now, but humans band together and act as a unit when they trust each other or they have a common goal. It's kind of beautiful to think we still connect like that, specially during tragedies like war.
Everyone needs God in battle
Kevin, thanks for the vid. I enjoyed it, while driving to Wilmington. Home now. Long day, but worth it, good lectures.
No problem Dave 👍🏻
I thought the arming sword would've been more commonly equipped than whatever hand weapon was lying around, at least in later periods.
Curious to know the specific differences between the Welsh and English bowmen.
I love how you casually just pull out a giant maul lol. Leave that by your bed at night for safety do yuh 😂?
😜
Great quote at the end, and excellent demonstration.
I'm related to the late Jack Hicks from Blankney in Lincolnshire. He was awoodsman by trade and got me into longbow . Have been an archer for 21 years
How lovely. Thanks for watching. 👍🏻
Wow first one to see and comment! I feel honored! love your content mr kevin!
*_HOORAY!!!_* 🥇🥇🥇
🥂🎉🎆🥂🎉🎆🥂🎉🎆
...Are you wearing studded leather?
It’s a light leather brigandine favored by archers
By the time you got that maul moving, the enemy would have cut you open with a smaller, lighter weapon. I have been in a brawl where an idiot came at me with a huge paving brick held high over his head. He got knocked cold before he ever could get it moving. By the way, a billhook on a long handle is called a glave, and was a normal tool, often used in pruning trees.
An absolutely excellent and enlightening video. Keep them coming
Thankyou for this great video!
Once again, Kevin, excellent stuff. Thank you!
Cheers Randall 👍🏻
Watched this video. Went and checked out your channel. What a wonderfully diverse set of topics you cover! You have a new subscriber.
Excellent, thanks Rex, that's good to hear. Welcome to the channel 👍🏻
Great video as always
So well spoken, excellent video sir!
Great vid Kevin - thanks!
This was informative, subbed!
Really great video shame it was so short ! See you in the next one
Sir I would like take the opportunity to praise your brilliant narrative. As usual it was spot on but more importantly it was full nuance. I am an elderly gentleman who enjoys keeping his mind fit, and you Sir did the job admirable. Once again thank you and I await your next offering.👊👍
How lovely Fred, I'm glad you enjoyed the video 👍🏻
I'm a simple man. Kevin posts, I watch. Thanks for your sharing your incredible wealth of knowledge and I can't wait for the next one. Cheers!
Thanks P7, glad you enjoy them 👍🏻
Thank you for sharing. I'm an Aussie in Southwest Queensland, and a lot of my M8s happen to be Anglo-Celtic/First Nation Aussie's like me. Obviously there are differences between historical Warrior's, however there are similarities as well. Keep up the fantastic work, and thank you very much for sharing your knowledge.
Cheers Vincent, will do 👍🏻
Excellent video. Thank you.
Great talk Kevin. Just love your content. Been away for a while, life. But back and look forward to whats next. God bless, Rob
Hey Rob, good to see you back buddy 👍🏻