s 6 ARCHERY. 
fectlyjuft, and whether they really were more expert in 
the practice of this branch of war than many of the an¬ 
cient nations, may juftly be difputed. The laws made to 
inure youth to the pradtice of the bow, by many warlike 
people of antiquity, were much more fevere than any of 
thofe adopted in this country. Perhaps, indeed, our ar¬ 
chers might derive a fuperiority front their bows being 
conftructed on better principles, being more Ikilfully made, 
and of better materials, than thofe ufed in other countries. 
At any rate, however, it appears extraordinary, that fome 
of our hiftorians, and particularly the more modern ones, 
have reprefented the Englilh at the battle of Haftings, as 
entirely ignorant of the effedt of archery; and fpeak of 
the aftonifltment with which the troops were feized, in 
finding death inflicted on them whilft the enemy was far 
at a difiance. Speed obferves, that the firft difcharge of 
arrows from the Norman army “ was a kind of fight both 
ftrange and terrible unto the Englilh, who fuppofed their 
enemy had beene already even in the middefi amongft 
them.” Echard expreffes the fame fentiment. “ The 
fight,” he fays, “ began with great fury, order, and equal 
bravery on both Tides ; in which the Englilh were feverely 
gaul’d by the thick fhowers.of arrow's from the Norman 
long-bows, before the battle joined ; which was a weapon 
then unufed in England, and thereby the more furprizing, 
the wounds coming from enemies fo far difiant, and . not 
fnddenly to be revenged.” Hume mentions nothing of 
this extraordinary furprize among the Englilh troops ; 
neither does Matthew Paris, nor many others. Sir J. Hay¬ 
ward fays, “ The, ufe of the bow was firft brought into 
the land by the Normans; and that afterwards the Englilh, 
being trained to the practice of it, became the beft Ihoot- 
ers in the world.” 
That the Engiilh could be ignorant of the bow at the 
conqueft is impoftible, lince both the Saxons and Danes 
made ufe of it in battle againft the inhabitants aS this 
country, for lhany centuries previous to that time. It is 
true, there is no mention made of archers among the troops 
of Harold, but it does not follow that they were ignorant 
of the efFeft of archery, or that the bow was not then 
ufed in England. It is probable that the Romans firft in¬ 
troduced the bow as a military weapon into Britain, as 
archers often formed a great part of their auxiliary troops. 
The battles between the Romans and our countrymen, as 
defcribed by C as far, do not indeed appear to have been 
carried on by the alllftance of it. But from the fecond 
book of the Commentaries, we find, that Casfar, had both 
Numidian and Cretan archers, in his army, when he en¬ 
countered the Belgfe, in Gaul; and it is reasonable to fup- 
pofe, that he allo^ made ufe of them among his troops, 
when in Britain, about two years afterwards. During the 
reigns which fucceeded that of Julius Csefar, and when 
the Romans had fettled themfelves on this illand, archers 
are frequently mentioned as part of their troops ; and it is 
probable, that the reinforcements often lent to the army 
in Britain, included many archers. 
In North Britain the bow appears to have been known 
at lead as early as it was in the South ; the works of Boe¬ 
thius, and other hiftorians of that country, leem thus to 
intimate. If the poems of Offian may be brought as evi¬ 
dence of the fact, we may perceive that they uniformly 
i?prefent the bow as an attendant on the warrior and hun¬ 
ter; and that the yew-tree was then employed to form 
thefe weapons: “ Go to the cave, my love, till our battle 
ceafe on the field. Son of Leith, bring the bows of our 
fathers! the founding quivers of Morni! Let our three 
warriors bend the yew.” 
During the Saxon heptarchy, we find that Offrid, the 
fon of Edwin, king of Northumbria, was killed by an ar¬ 
row, in a battle between the troops of that king and the 
united army of Mercians and Welftt, which was fought 
about the year 633, near Hatfield, in Yorklhire. But, 
except this fail, little relating to the bow appears in our 
annals of the Saxon sera. The Danes arrived after the 
Saxons ; and thefe warlike people were aceuftomed to the 
3 
ufe of archery in battle, as we find often noticed by our 
early chronicle writers. About the year 870, they became 
very formidable, and committed great depredations on the 
inhabitants of Eaft Anglia. In one of their battles with 
the Eaft Angles, they overcame their enemy, and took 
prifoner Edmund, king of that part of the illand, whom, 
after intuiting with many indignities, they bound to a 
ftake, for the Danifh archers and javelin-men to aim at, 
putting him to death by that cruel and ignominious expe¬ 
dient. During the reign of Alfred, it feents probable, 
that archery was much in ufe, both in the army of the 
Danes and in that of Alfred. Polydore Virgil confirms this 
fuppolition ; for, fpeaking of the troops of Ethelred, of 
which part were commanded by his brother Alfred, he 
fays, a great number of archers were placed in the right 
wing of the army. 
From this time till the era of the Norman invafion, 
little occurs with refpefl to archery; at that time bows 
and arrows are fpoken of by all our hiftorians ; yet many 
of our early writers negleft to particularize the kind of 
bow made ufe of by the Normans. John Rofs exprefsly 
fays the long-bow was ufed. Mr. Barrington was how¬ 
ever of opinion, that the crofs-bovv was the inftrument 
principally employed in the army of the invaders; and 
front Sir John Hayward’s account of the duke of Nor¬ 
mandy, it feents alnioft certain, that he hintfelf ufed the 
crofs-bovv. It is molt probable, however, that the arba- 
1 ill and long-bow were both ufed on that memorable oc- 
cafion. In the reign of Henry II. archery feents to have 
been firft carried into Ireland by the troops of that king. 
Lord Lyttleton fays, “ it is ftrange that the Iriflt, who 
had much intercourfe with the Wellli before the time of 
Henry II. (liould not have learnt from that nation, who 
greatly excelled in archery, that arrows were better wea¬ 
pons to annoy the enemy with than ftones, which, unlefs 
at a fr.iall diftance, could have little or no effefl.” The 
fame author obferves, that, “ front many inftances, in the 
courfe of thefe wars, it appears, that the Englilh conquefts 
in Ireland were principally owing to the ufe of the long¬ 
bow in battle, which the Irilh infantry wanted.” And 
therefore Giraldus Cambrenfis, in his chapter entitled 
Oualiter Hibernica g-ens fit expugnanda, advifes, that, in all 
engagements with that people, archers fliould be inter¬ 
mingled with the heavy-armed troops. 
To fhew how worthy of imitation the Welfh were at the 
time of Henry II. in the ufe of the bow, we need only re¬ 
peat what is mentioned by Giraldus Cambrenfis. “ There 
is a particular tribe in Wales,” fays this ancient writer, 
“ named the Venta ; a people brave and warlike,-and who 
far excel the other inhabitants of that country in the prac¬ 
tice of archery. During a fiege, it happened that two 
Toldiers running in hafte towards a tower, fituated at a 
little diftance from them, were attacked with a number 
of arrows from the Welftt ; which being ihot with prodi¬ 
gious violence, fome penetrated through the oak doors of 
a portal, although they were the breadth of four fingers 
in thicknefs. The heads of thefe arrows were afterwards 
driven out and preferved, in order to continue the remem¬ 
brance of fuch extraordinary force in fhooting with the 
bow. It happened all’o in a battle, at the time of William 
de Breufa, as he hintfelf relates, that a Wellhman having 
directed Ills arrow at an horfe-foldier, who was clad in 
armour and had his leather coat under it, the arrow, be- 
fides piercing the man through the hip, ftruckalfo through 
the faddle, and mortally wounded the horfe on which he 
fat. Another Wellh foldier, having (hot an arrow at an 
horfeman who vvas covered with ftrong armour in the fame 
manner, the fhaft penetrated through his hip and fixed in 
the faddle : but what is moll remarkable is, that as the 
horfeman drew his bridle alide to turn round, he received 
another arrow in his hip on the oppolite fide, which palling 
through it, he was firmly faftened to the faddle on both 
fides. hinerar. Cambria. Gir. Camb. p. 835—20. 
The battle of Crelfy, as well as that of Poi< 5 tiers, inti¬ 
mates the bow to have been highly cultivated by the 
Englilh 
