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__NOTOC__{{Stars2| styleCategory ="background: PaleGoldenrod; width: 100%"|- | scope="col" width="0" |[[File:Stars1.png|110px|frameless|left|link=Completion Ratings|Completion Ratings]]| scope="col" width="1000" style="text-align: left;"|[[Completion Ratings|This article's completion rating is 1 out of 5]]|- | colspan="4" | Article planned for future work. No real progress to date |Missiles}}<br>{{TOClimit|3Archery}}

''Bows in this period are classed as self-bows, being the Viking Age were made from a single piece of D ‘D’ section wood, usually yew. Nocks are cut straight into the wood.'' if available [HALPIN Halpin 2008: p.40-41](Dublin, Hedeby, Wassenaar), but elm (Dublin, Hedeby) and even scots pine (Dublin) were also used. Bow varied in strength up to around 100lbs (Hedeby). <br>Bows were made by working down a wooden stave so that the heartwood formed the bulk of the bow, giving it its strength, while a layer of sapwood was retained along the bow’s back to give the bow more elasticity under tension and to help prevent it from breaking. <br>Many of the bows were extremely simple and we have a number of finds of bows that still have the bumps and branch accretions left from the removed branches along their backs (Wassenaar, Hedeby). <br><gallery mode=Packed heights=130px style="Padding-left:30px; text-align:left;">Archery - parts of the bow (Gav).jpg|Parts of the bow</gallery>===Bow Grips===None of the bows found in the Viking Age have any distinct swelling around the area of the handgrip or show any evidence of having a separate handgrip attached. The bow-staves run roughly parallel along their entire length. The only unique finds of bows that do have a distinct handgrip come from the C7th Alemannic graves at Oberflacht in southern Germany.

{| class="wikitable"==Bow nocks===|+ alignTo attach the bow string a simple notch or ‘self-nock’ was cut into the bow stave, near both the bow’s terminals. Self-nocks can be either double-nocks or single-nocks, otherwise known as ‘side-nocks’, with similar numbers having been found of each type. The nocks were always cut into the sides of the bow-stave and never into the front or back. <br><gallery mode="top" Packed heights=250px style="captionPadding-sideleft: top30px; text-align: left;" | Recreation Guide>|Archery -Side-nock (Hedeby - Paulsen 1999).jpg| scope="col" width="80" style="textSingle-align: center;"| nock or Side-nock<br>(Hedeby [[Recreation Guide|800-899]Paulsen 1999])| scope="col" width="80" style="textArchery -align: center;"Tied on bow String (Stuttgart Psalter f.146v).jpg| [[Recreation Guide|900Tied on bow string<br>(Stuttgart Psalter fol.146v)</gallery>When bows were single-979]]nocked, or side-nocked, then the cut notches are cut into the opposing sides of the bow-stave, top and bottom.<br>| scope<gallery mode="col" widthPacked heights="80" 40px style="textPadding-alignleft: center30px;"| [[Recreation Guide|980-1040]]| scope="col" width="80" style="text-align: centerleft;"| [[Recreation Guide|1041>Archery -1100]]Opposing side-nocks (Gav).jpg|Bow-stave showing opposing single-nocks| colspan="4" style="text</gallery>Some bows only had a self-align: center;"| [[Recreation Guide|Optional]]|} nock at one end of the bow-stave, with the assumption that the bow-string must have been tied on at the other end (Hedeby, Dublin). A manuscript image showing a tied on bow string might also be seen in the Stuttgart Psalter. <br>

'''Art'''<br>====Nocks of different material====It appears that nocks with horn inserts or separately attached horn nocks were not used on self--<br>'''Literature'''<br>* [MANLEY 1985]* [STEPHENSON 2007]'''Archaeology'''<br>* Waterford, Ireland* Ballinderry, Ireland, late C10th. [HALPIN 2008: p.184-185] 1 Complete bow.* Dublin, Ireland, C11th / C12th. [HALPIN 2008: p.184-185] 1 Complete bow, 7 bow fragments.* Hedeby, Denmark, [PAULSEN 1999] 1 Complete, 6 fragments* Leiden, Netherlands, 800-950AD [DE STOUTE 2008] 1 Complete bow''Other finds:''<br>Nydem, Vimose and Kragehul, Denmark bog finds also had bows and arrowsin the Viking Age period.<br><br> Mary Rose?

=== ... with deflexed Finds of separate nocks ===''A deflexed nock is where have been found, such as the nock is deliberately strongly angled towards bone example from the string.''<br>'''Art'''<br>* C7th grave at Bad Cannstadt in Germany, but these have been identified as coming from a composite bow [[T-M#T64|T64]] BL Harley fHoernig 2005: p.64r<br>* [[T-M#T84|T84119]] Vatican Reg.12 f.24v<br>'''Archaeology'''<br>--<br>'''Discussion'''<br>Almost all of the Anglo-Saxon manuscripts show bows with nocks deflexed away from the archer, the complete reverse of the deflexed nocks found in archaeology. <br><br>

=== Re-curved (Reflexed) Self-bow =Stringing nocks and string keepers====''A re-curve self-bow is where the stave Some bows have either a secondary set of nocks at one end of the bow is deliberately curved away from the string.''{| class="wikitable"|+ align="top" style="caption-side: top; text-align: left;" | Recreation Guide|-| scope="col" width="80" style="text-align: center;"| [[Recreation Guide|800-899]]| scope="col" width="80" style="text-align: center;"| [[Recreation Guide|900-979]]| scope="col" width="80" style="text-align: center;"| [[Recreation Guide|980-1040]]| scope="col" width="80" style="text-align: center;"| [[Recreation Guide|1041-1100]]|-| colspan="4" style="text-align: center;"| [[Recreation Guide|Allowable]]|} '''Archaeology'''<br>* Ballinderrystave (Dublin, Ireland, late C10th. Waterford) or alternatively a hole has been drilled through the terminal (Adare Castle) [HALPIN Halpin 2008: p.18459-18560] 1 Complete bow.* HedebyThe secondary set of nocks, Denmark, [PAULSEN 1999] '''Discussion'''known as ‘stringing nocks’ helped in stringing the bow. <><br>Many The hole drilled through the terminal was probably a ‘string keeper‘. A loop of twine or leather thong was passed through the Hedeby bows are shaped this way, along with hole and the Ballinderry bow from Ireland. Paulsen [PAULSEN 1999] makes string with the case that this is “caused by shrinkage intention of stopping the soft sapwood in the front”, a theory that is rejected by Halpin [HALPIN 2008: p.61] who cites a number of authors including Hardy who makes the comment that the bows bow string from slipping down the Mary Rose were also rebow-curved and “that no process during the lifetime of the bows, or after deposition, are convincing explanations for this feature”stave when unstrung.<br><br>gallery mode=Packed heights= Bow Strings 250px style=='''Archaeology'''<br"Padding-left:30px; text-align:left;">* Wincott Heckett has suggested that a tabletArchery -woven tubular silk cord, dated to mid C12th, from Waterford may be a bowstringString keeper (Stuttgart Psalter f. [HALPIN 2008: p21r).61] Halpin then quotes Soar who suggests that the most common material for bow strings was hemp.* York, England. A lump of beeswax with a groove caused by rubbing against a thread or string. Walton-Rogers comments that beeswax was often used on bow strings [WALTON ROGERS 1997: p.1785]'''Discussion'''jpg|String keeper<br>(Stuttgart Psalter f.21r)--<br/gallery>

== See Also =Deflexed and reflexed terminals===[[Catalogue We also have evidence for some bows having deliberately bent terminals after the nock points. These bent terminals either pointed towards the shooter (Dublin, Hedeby) or pointed away from the shooter (various manuscripts). Bows with terminals that bend towards the shooter, otherwise known as ‘deflexed’, are considered to be a diagnostic characteristic of Bow finds]a ‘Viking’ bow. These bent terminals were purely decorative and did not affect the ability of the bow in any way [Halpin 2008: p.???]. <br>[[<gallery mode=Packed heights=250px style="Padding-left:30px; text-align:left;">Archery]]- Nock Deflexed (Pierpoint-Morgan Lib. M. 736 f.14).jpg|Bow with terminals that point towards the shooter (deflexed).<br>(Pierpoint-Morgan Lib. M. 736 fol.14, AD 1130)London, British Library MS Cotton Claudius B IV fol.41v.jpg|Bow with terminals that point away from the shooter (reflexed).<br>(Brit. Lib. Cott. Clau. B IV, AD 1040) </gallery>Almost all of the Anglo-Saxon manuscripts show bows with nocks bent away from the archer (reflexed), the complete reverse of the deflexed nocks found in archaeology.<br>Many of the bows found in Hedeby have the 'Viking' style of nock that are bent towards the archer (deflexed), along with the Ballinderry bow from Ireland. Paulsen [Paulsen 1999] makes the case that this is “caused by shrinkage of the soft sapwood in the front”, a theory that is rejected by Halpin [Halpin 2008: p.61] who cites a number of authors including Hardy who makes the comment that the bows from the Mary Rose were also re-curved and “that no process during the lifetime of the bows, or after deposition, are convincing explanations for this feature”.<br>

== References = Bow Strings ===*[*DE STOUTE 2008] de StouteThese were probably made from hemp, Jurlinen or silk. Paleo PlanetThe evidence seems to point at hemp being the most commonly used material (Halpin 2008, Archery - Primitive Bows - 1200 year old longbow from Netherlandsp. 12 05 200861). httpBow strings were usually 3 to 4mm thick and made from 3 ply twine (Altdorf, Switzerland [Hoernig 2005://paleoplanet69529p.yuku.com/reply/190064/Close110])<br>Wincott Heckett has suggested that a tablet--pics--1200-year-old-longbow--Netherlands-discussion#reply-190064woven tubular silk cord, dated to mid C12th, from Waterford may be a bowstring.*[*HALPIN 2008] Halpin, Andrew. Weapons and Warfare in Viking and Medieval Dublin. National Museum of Ireland, 2008: p.*[*MANLEY 198561] Manley, John. “The Archer and Halpin then quotes Soar who suggests that the Army in the Late Saxon Periodmost common material for bow strings was hemp.” Anglo-SAxon Studies in Archaeology and History 4In York, 1985: 223 - 235.*[*PAULSEN 1999] Paulsen, H. “Pfiel und Bogen in Haithabu.” In Neue Ausgrabungen in Haithabu; Band 33: Das archäologische Fundmaterial VIEngland, a lump of beeswax was found with a groove possibly caused by Arubbing against a thread or string. Geibig and H. Paulsen. 1999.*[*STEPHENSON 2007] Stephenson, I. P. The Late AngloWalton-Saxon Army. Tempus, 2007*Rogers comments that beeswax was often used on bow strings [*WALTON ROGERS 1997] Walton Rogers, Penelope. Textile Production at 16-22 Coppergate. AY17-11. York Archeological Trust, 1997: p.1785]