Holly, Yew and Box 



in the New Forest by an arrow, whilst during 

 the next two or three centuries archers took a 

 foremost part in all battles. At the battle of 

 Cressy, fought on August 25th, 1346, we read 

 that "the French troops included a number of 

 Genoese archers, but that the nobility of France 

 held archers in contempt. In the early part of 

 the battle a shower of rain came on which 

 thoroughly wet the archers' bowstrings ; on being 

 ordered to discharge their arrows they were 

 unable to do so on account of wet strings, this 

 so enraged Philip VI. that he ordered his 

 mounted troops to ride them down. The Eng- 

 lish archers, meanwhile, had kept their bows in 

 cases during the shower, and so kept them dry, 

 and as they had been long accustomed to shoot 

 strongly at a mark, they made short work of the 

 French horsemen." Ten years later, at Poitiers, 

 the Black Prince ambushed King John of 

 France, enticing his soldiers down a narrow 

 lane, to be shot down by English archers from 

 behind the hedges on either hand. Other battles 

 in which archers with their long bows figured 

 conspicuously were Agincourt, The War of the 

 Roses, Falkirk, and Flodden Field. 



During the sixteenth century there seems to 

 have been an idea that the use of the bow was 

 inclined to be neglected, for we find that Henry 

 the Eighth took steps to encourage archery 

 throughout the country. During this reign a 



176 



