to withstand the powerful longbow, and suits of chain mail, or of light plate, were almost useless as a defence against its arrow. It was only when chain mail was discarded and plate armour was made heavier, that both the arrow of the longbow, and the bolt of the crossbow which had a thick steel bow, became less dangerous to knights and foot-soldiers. A shower of two or three thousand arrows falling from aloft must have been a terrifying sight, especially to a body of cavalry standing or moving in close rank. Bullets from the primitive handgun had a comparatively low trajectory and short range, and could not be detected as they passed through the air. On the other hand, every soldier could see a cloud of arrows approaching him, and he would surely imagine that one of the great number descending must strike him.

Horses, too, were driven frantic by the English bowmen, so we read, for their arrows caused the animals to rear and plunge and gallop madly in all directions, thus throwing into dire confusion any formation they were in. A bullet from a hand-gun might strike a horse, and cause him to kick or plunge only at the moment of contact, but a barbed arrow sticking deep in his flesh would, with every movement of the animal, gall and fret him beyond the control of his rider, who would probably soon be unhorsed, to become, if in heavy armour, an encumbrance on the field for the remainder of the battle.

Various writers on archery and medieval warfare, have asserted that the longbowman was able to discharge ten to twelve arrows in the time taken by the crossbowman to shoot off one bolt. But the crossbow was not nearly so slow as alleged, and experiments I have made to test the question of its speed in shooting prove this. A military crossbow of the fifteenth century, 15 Lb. in weight, can be discharged at a mark once in a minute. The operation includes (1) Taking the weapon from the shoulder. (2) Unhooking a windlass from a waist-belt. (3) Fitting the windlass¹ to the stock and string. (4) Winding up the bow. (5) Arranging the bolt and, after taking aim, pressing the trigger. I find that a longbow can be discharged six times at a target in the space of one minute. The operation in this case also includes a fair aim, besides taking the arrows from the ground, fitting them to the string, and drawing and releasing the bow. I do not, however, imagine that either the longbowman, or his rival with the crossbow, often used their weapons in warfare with great rapidity, or their sheaves of arrows and bolts would soon have been exhausted.

¹ The cranequin, or ratchet-winder, Chapters XXX., XXXI., though rather slower to use than a windlass, was, however, far more convenient to manipulate, and also enabled a much smaller stock to be fitted to a crossbow than was possible with a windlass and its cords. For these reasons it was chiefly carried by mounted soldiers and by hunters of deer.

The cranequin was introduced at a considerably later date than the windlass, see p. 134

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