« President of Mexico asks questions about "Fast and Furious" | Main | Race and "no duty to retreat" laws »
Study of longbow fatalities
Right here. I have a paper submitted to a medical journal which begins something like, "I have chosen to write upon a topic on which very little has been written recently. In fact, very little has been written at all. Arrow wounds."
UPDATE: yep, those longbows had a fearsome pull. They've analyzed the wood of those recovered from the wreck of the Mary Rose, and estimate the pull at upwards of a hundred pounds. Thus the laws requiring constant practice, and outlawing all games except archery. They had to keep those biceps strong, for military preparedness!
I recall reading one late Tudor period debate between an advocate of the musket (not so called then) and the bow. The musket advocated pointed out that on campaign troops were ill-fed and often sick, and thus were often too weak to pull the bow, whereas it didn't take much strength to load and fire a firearm.
Leave a comment