Although the longbow is best known for its deploment during the Hundred Years' War, its origins lie with ancient Saxon seafighters and Welsh craftsmen, while today the bow is a vibrant part of the traditional archery scene. In The Crooked Stick: A History of the Longbow, historian Hugh D.H. Soar pulls together all of these strings, presenting the engaging story of this most charismatic standoff weapon. After a careful consideratin of Neolithic bows and arrows, the author describes the bow's use in the medieval hunt and its associated customs. The longbow made its deepest mark in warfare, however, and the author follows the weapons's devleopment and tactical deployment from the hand-bow of William the Conqueror's campaigns to the continental set-piece battles between England and France. Although soldiers reluctantly gave up the longbow for firearms its recreational use became immensely popular, particularly during the Regency and Victorian periods. In the twentieth centruy it appeared as though the longbow would disappear into the fog of legend, but a new interest in traditional craft and expertise gained hold, and the pleasure of using this ancient instrument is now firmly part of archery around the world.

Through a remarkable command of manuscript and printed sources and a judicious use of material evidence, including his own important collection of rare longows, Hugh Soar establishes the deep connections of this bow to England, Scotland, and Wales. Figures in the past like William Wallace, Edward III, and Henry V appear alongside detailed descriptions of bows , strings, arrows, and arrowheads, while the rise of institutions and craftsmen devoted to the longbow are presented to show how knowledge of this weapon was carried forward across the centuries. Today, those in the sport of archery as well as military historians will find the The Crooked Stick: A History of the Longbow will enhance their own interests in a weapon of legendary status.

Hugh D.H. Soar is a leading specialist on traditional archery, including the history, design, and use of the longbow. His books include Of Bowmen and Battles, and he is a regular contributor to archery magazines and journals throughout the world. Hugh Soar founded the Craft Guild of Traditional Bowyers and Fletchers in 1987 and is a member of the Royal Toxophilite Society and the British LongBow Society, of which he was General Secretary for eleven years. His expertise is regularly sought by television and other media, and his collection of more than 240 bows and other artifacts is among the finest in the world.

On a clear July moring in 1346, a small force apprached the walls of Caen for battle. The attackers rode to the field on horseback, banners and pennants fluttering in the light breeze. Behind them marched bowmen in tightly ranked units. At the sound of a crisp battle horn, they halted. A twinge of apprehension rippled thought the thousand of Norman defenders as they looked down at the opposing army, for precision archery formation had long since disappeared as a militay concept in medieval France. Here was not the expectd rabble of unrated bucholics cowered by the might of France; confronting them was a quietly derermined group of trained soldiers armed not with the familiar arbalest but with a new and strange weapon of great length. The defenders of Caen were about to meet the English war bow and its deadly battle shaft. For the next 100 years, this weapon, the 'crooked stick.' would command continental battlefields, etching its fearome reputation at Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt, and Verneuil, while establising England as an international power for the first time.

Contents

Introduction
1 The early days
2 Medieval hunting and the longbow
3 Early warfare and he longbow
4 Rise of the war bow
5 The war bow comes of age
6 The decine of the war bow
7 The rise of the recreational longbow
8 Archery, the social dimension
9 The fellowship of the bow
10 Resurgam
Epilogue
Appendix
Glossary
Notes and references for further reading (bibliography)
Index
Acknowledgements

Sufficiently comprehensive but brief history of the powerful weapon that was often decisive prior to the development of firearms. ( )