Changes
Bows
,/* Archery in warfare */
{{Archery}}
==Self-bows==
Bows in the Viking Age were made from a single piece of ‘D’ section wood, usually yew 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>
It appears that nocks with horn inserts or separately attached horn nocks were not used on self-bows in the Viking Age period. Mary Rose?
Finds of separate nocks have been found, such as the bone example from the C7th grave at Bad Cannstadt in Germany, but these have been identified as coming from a composite bow [Hörnig Hoernig 2005: p.119].
====Stringing nocks and string keepers====
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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 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 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>
=== Bow Strings ===
These were probably made from hemp, linen or silk. The evidence seems to point at hemp being the most commonly used material (Halpin 2008, p.61). Bow strings were usually 3 to 4mm thick and made from 3 ply twine (Altdorf, Switzerland [Hörnig Hoernig 2005: p.110])<br>Wincott Heckett has suggested that a tablet-woven tubular silk cord, dated to mid C12th, from Waterford may be a bowstring. [HALPIN Halpin 2008: p.61] Halpin then quotes Soar who suggests that the most common material for bow strings was hemp. In York, England, a lump of beeswax was found with a groove possibly caused by rubbing against a thread or string. Walton-Rogers comments that beeswax was often used on bow strings [WALTON ROGERS Walton Rogers 1997: p.1785]
==Using the Bow==
===Archery in warfare===
Using archery in warfare appears to have been common in mainland Europe but probably not in Britain or Scandinavia. Why this was so is difficult to understand. Bows were used to both attack and defend fortifications but not apparently in direct combat. <br>
In Charlemagne’s armies it became an essential weapon: ‘lanceam, scutum et arcum cum duas cordas, sagittas duodecim’ Capitulary of Aarchen Aachen of 802/3, c 9. This instruction is most likely the result of the Carolingian wars against the Avars who we know from grave finds used composite bows with bone lathes [Manley 1985: p.226]. <br>
We have evidence from manuscripts that in battle archery was often performed by two men working together, one firing while the other supplied arrows.
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== References ==
{{Ref|De Stoute 2008|x}}{{Ref|Gebühr 2000|x}}{{Ref|Halpin 2008|x}}{{Ref|Hőrnig Hoernig 2005|x}}{{Ref|Manley 1985|x}}{{Ref|Nicolle 1984|x}}{{Ref|Paulsen 1999|x}}{{Ref|Stephenson 2007|x}}{{Ref|Walton Rogers 1997|x}}
<HarvardReferences />
