There is no evidence to show the exact period when the perfected military crossbow - which was so popular on the Continent in the fifteenth century - was first used in warfare.

This powerful crossbow, with its thick and broad steel bow and its windlass¹, is first alluded to in contemporary accounts of battles and sieges which occurred shortly before the last quarter of the fourteenth century ² . It is, however, probable that crossbows with steel bows were in use soon after Crecy, their bows being comparatively small and weak, and bent by the thong and pulley, claw to the waist-belt, or by goat's-foot levers.

The smaller steel crossbow was either slung upon the back of the foot soldier, or suspended from the saddle of the mounted man.

The large military crossbow was far too ponderous to be carried by a man on horseback, nor could its bow be bent by any apparatus except its heavy windlass, a method of winding up the bowstring which would have been impossible in the case of horsemen.

¹ Windlass or moulinet. In one form or other, the windlass had been used for bending the bow of the Roman Balista for centuries before it was applied to the crossbow carried by hand. See Balista, Chapter LVII.

² In the illustrations appended to Froissart's chronicles, this crossbow is frequently shown as being used in the battles and sieges of the first half of the fourteenth century, as at Crecy for instance. The illustrations to the chronicles were drawn, however, by artists of the fifteenth century, who no doubt pictured the weapon they were then acquainted with. For instance, the illustrations showing windlass crossbows, pp. 4, 7, 20, are from fifteenth century MSS. of Froissart's chronicles. This, and the other drawings in his translation, were reproduced by Colonel Johnes, 1803-5, chiefly from the MS. of Froissart in the library of St. Elizabeth at Breslau in Prussia. Colonel Thomas Johnes was a Welsh squire, and at one time Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire : he established a private printing press at his residence, Hafod, where he issued his fine edition of Froissart, 1803-5. Colonel Johnes was also celebrated for his philanthropy, and especially for his zeal in forming plantations to cover the barren wastes of the district in which he lived. In four years, 1796-1800, he is said to have planted over two million trees. There is no evidence to prove that the great military crossbow of the fifteenth century, with its windlass, was in use at the time of Crecy (see remarks on crossbows at Crecy, pages 5, 6).