Seiging Central High School

This week we have been learning about arms and armor. And I wanted to review on differences between the crossbow and the longbow during the middle ages. As we know, the crossbow was commonly used. According to the course packet, the weapon was composed of a bow fixed horizontally to one end of a wooden stock called a tiller which contained the trigger that held the bowstring in place until was ready to be fired (111). The crossbow was easier to fire compared to the longbow; the archer would aim and then squeezed the trigger lever to lease the nut (112). If we were under attack from  Central, we would protect Burnham by sending the crossbow archers in the opening state of the battle. This would give us a protected position that allowed reloading in relative safety (CP 113).  

Notice the image above, the crossbows are located on the left. And the longbow are on the right.

 Next we would have to send out longbows because crossbow is much slower to load and fire and a longbow can draw and fire six to twelve arrows in about a minute (112). Ideally during battle, warriors would want to use longbows for efficiency. And according to our course packet, bows were also banned, because of their country’s proud heritage of the long bow and the view that crossbow have a lack of skill and strength needed for the use of a longbow (113). 

Here is another image of the different bows used in battle.

If we were under attack, would you pick up a crossbow or a long bow? Which one would be more efficient during the middle ages?

sources: Course Packet.