The Legendary Bowmen of Wales & the Hobelars
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- In this video, Kevin Hicks explores the legendary bowmen of Wales and the hobelars, giving an insight into where these brave men were from and where they fought.
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Manorbier Castle by ©Niall Watson/Flickr
I truly enjoy your content. I'm US born and raised, but I have a love for European history with a particular focus on England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. I appreciate all your hard work and research because you often share insights into history that are routinely glossed over by textbooks. Thank you for all that you do for us, your fans. 😁😁
I'm a Californian living in Germany, sharing a love of history with you. schöne grüße aus Nordrhein/Westfalen.
Thanks Brad, much appreciated 👍🏻
What about us hidden Cornish?
@@inyobill Grüße aus Essen/NRW
@@crywlf9103 some much to learn, so little time. Sigh
Cymry history and culture is so rich, i have deep respect for them. God bless Cymru! 🏴🇧🇷
Diolch yn fawr iawn ✨👍❤️🏴
Diolch yn fawr and God bless Ukraine! 🏴 💪 🇺🇦
Diolch yn fawr brawd ❤
Diolch Kev your always very respectful while mentioning the Welsh in your videos and I loved how you covered how we would rebell constantly even when fighting for the English in the 100 years war amazing content as always 🏴🏴🇨🇦
Bending but not breaking ...
@@inyobill yma o hyd
@@welshman8954 Sorry. mate, I understand zero Welsh, would you be so kind as to help me out?
@@welshman8954 ... and thanks for the reply.
@@inyobill Ry'n ny yma o hyd
Still here despite everything
I'm also a Lewis. my family is Welsh and came over to the US from Wales in the 1840's they were well off. the family had a woolen mills. and their father disowned them for leaving to join the LDS church. our family home from the 1700's is still standing. its name is "Tawny Paul" and sits right by a castle! I actually have a piece of the roof my dad brought back. The new owner let him take a tour of the house and told him "come on in, this is YOUR house!" i've always wanted to know more about the Welsh so this was very interesting!
That was great , thank you for making the video . I'm from Gwent and , when I was a young man my local pub was called The Man of Gwent and the pub sign was a Bowman 😊😊. It's still there today .
Great video Kevin. My grandfather was born in Pontypool, Wales. I can still remember his accent, even though he passed away when I was young. Stubborn as the day was long and ornery as hell. Still miss him. He work as a child in the coal mines before the first World War. Take care and love videos.
Happy memories 👍🏻
Hi, MyMother was born in pontypool too and I worked as a Paramedic based at Pontypool Ambulance Station! Now retired I live just down the Road in Cwmbran! It's a small world!
Love this video about my country, I live about 5 minutes away from Caerphilly castle in South Wales which is breathtaking to see up close. Would love you to do a video on the battle of Crug Mawr between the Welsh and the Normans. I think it would be a great follow up to this video. Many thanks Kevin!
Been learning about Caerphilly Castle its really impressive! Ive only walked past the front and seen it from the train but am planning to visit the castle =]
@@yugenheorte6828Yeah mate it’s incredible to see the scale of it from inside. They even have working replicas of the Ballista, Trebuchet and Catapult which they use on display days. Nice little gift shop in there too!
@@alexevans3276I do love the big cheese festival. Beautiful castle you got bud 😊
Great video Kevin! 👏
Food for thought:
Whereas it took the Normans around 5 years to fully subjugate England, it took *216 years* to fully conquer Wales.
Such incredible grit and defiance!
*Cymru am byth* - *Ry'n ni Yma o hyd* !
✊ 🏹⚔️🏴
Indeed, they couldn't read the roadsigns 😜
Respect to the welsh Bowmen&Hobelars!🏹👍
As ever, another great video. I'm part Welsh myself, my Grandad was from Tredegar, South Wales, survived the Cym mine disaster....
Wow, someone who isn’t afraid to shy away from the fact that it was the Welsh Bowmen who inspired the use of such weapons later by England. This is often overlooked in favour of the blanket statement “English Longbowmen”.
The last bit about only understanding Welsh is only too true. My great-grandfather,born 1838, couldn't speak English at all. Through DNA tests I have found I'm forty percent Welsh and couldn't be more proud.
Your comment also makes me realise how lucky I was - I'm 28, my great-grandfather was born in 1922, and I knew him until I was in my twenties...
The Welsh seem like some hardened troops for sure. Being shot through the thigh might be one of the most painful things I can think of. Thanks for another great video Kevin.
I enjoy how you weave your personal family connections into the historical discussion, as well as mentioning the historical characters by name. It gives your presentations color and depth - it gives the historical events meaning and added context. History isn’t just a bunch of facts, it is the stories of the people and their actions in their time. Just like we are doing now. It’s important to remember that. You do it well.
Thanks Andrew 👍🏻
Colonel Morgan Morgan (1688-1766) from Glamirganshire, Wales is s my 7th great grandfather on my Mother's side. I am not only Welsh but Scottish and Irish on my Dad's side.
Interesting video. I recently learned that I’m welsh on my dad’s side. I’ve been trying to learn more about my heritage. Thank you.
Brilliant video. I love Welsh history. One of my ancestors Rhys Fawr ap Maredudd was present at the Battle of Bosworth.
I can see Wales from my house - This means it's going to rain.
I can't see Wales from house - It's already raining.
Local joke from my village Porlock
The "biobul" calls forty days and nights of rain, a deluge. We call it summer....
Definition of a calm day on the west coast of Norway? Less than three sheep are blown into the sea....
😂
Love it.
Can see Exmoor from the mountains behind my house, on a clear day, if it’s been snowing I can pick out the fields when it’s been snowing, Exmoor one way Bannu Brechinog the other, the hill over to Lynmouth is a bit of a bugger, got stuck in snow on the top a few years ago, nothing in Porlock about 18” on the top, you live in a lovely area
@@davidharris4062 I can see Brecon beacons when they have snow on them too. Lovely.
Thanks Kevin, for the latest history tidbit. And thanks for the shout out as well. Cheers from Texas.
You're most welcome David, glad you enjoyed this one 👍🏻
Was just on holiday in wales. Thanks for the extra history!
Which part? How was it?
@@Inquisitor_Vex visited southern Wales near Cardiff, visited Chepstow, Monmouth, Skenfrith, Caerphilly, Raglan, and Cardiff Castle. Then drove to northern Wales and saw a few of the castles of Edward I, Harlech, Caernarfon, and Conwy
@@isaacmiser2680 you missed my end then, on the southwest?
How was it?
You should come back next year and visit Pembrokeshire. Voted most beautiful coastline a few years back and there’s tons of history in the place.
I'm from the US so it might be a while till I go back bit I plan on it, I wanted to see the Southwest, but didn't have enought time sadly. Fortunately the weather was great while I was there.
Great video, shared it with a Czech bowman friend of mine!
Great stuff, thanks very much 👍🏻
My great grandfather came to America from Flintshire Wales. My grandfather passed on in 1956, I don't know much about family history.
I have a long flatbow, I make my own arrows.
Yay it's Friday and a educational clip from Kevin 🎉❤thanks Kevin for another interesting story ❤❤❤
Fascinating as always. It's interesting that you didn't mention the Welsh archers employed by the English at the battle of Bryn Glas in June 1402, who helped win the battle for Glyndwr's army. The English had a very steep hill to climb to get to the Welsh army camped near the top, so obviously the Welsh had better range and were inflicting heavy casualties. When the English army was part of the way up the hill, a hidden force of Welsh soldiers attacked from the side/rear causing even more casualties. At that point, whether it was pre-arranged or whether it just happened spontaneously, the Welsh archers among the English ranks opened fire on the English soldiers too. So they weren't *totally* loyal... 😉
I visited the site of the battle a couple of years ago. I wouldn't have liked to have been in the English ranks on that day. It's an incredibly steep hill to climb in full gear!
A great comment thank you and yes, I hope to cover Glyndwr and some Welsh battles in due course 👍🏻
Thanks for the lesson; I always look forward to your classes. All hail, thehistorysquad. 🏹
Cheers buddy 👍🏻
Thank you, Sir. I normally shoot a horsebow, as my ancestors are from Central Asia. However, this morning, you have inspired me to go out and practice with my Longbow.
Excellent, have fun!
One of the pleasures of watching your videos is hearing your Lichfield accent. Born and raised in Nottingham, I lived in the West Midlands for 6 years - almost all my secondary school years - so it brings back memories. I never acquired the accent though. Much later, I learned that the accent difference can be traced back to the Watling Street divide between the Danelaw and English Mercia.
Excellent again Kevin, especially interested as an Englishman living in Radnorshire who took up archery here!!
Your content is amazing. I’m from Iceland and have heard a lot of stories from the British occupation in ww2 witch has led me to take a bigger interest in English history as a whole, especially medieval history. Your channel has really expanded my interest in the subject
That's great to hear, thank you 👍🏻
Great work Kevin. I have read about the battle of Shrewsbury. Been to the site too. It is known as Battlefield. Don't know why. There is a small museum with daggers and arrowheads, and a model of Harry's injury. I went to college in Shrewsbury with a young lady called Jennifer Mottishead. Sadly she is no longer with us. Lovely girl. Mottishead is one of the nobles who fought in 1403.
Yes, I've been to Shrewsbury a few times myself too, I used to present at the Prep school there 👍🏻
Very interesting episode. Wouldn’t want to meet a mediaeval Welsh bowman in a dark alley.
Thanks Kevin for some more great stories.
What a gifted storyteller regardless of timeframe. Thanks. May GOD bless
Great way of storytelling and so much information, I'm happy that I found this channel!
A fascinating account of the Welsh Bowmen, Kevin - thanks ever so much for the info. I am proud of the support the Bowmen gave us. I have family links to Wales, which makes me twice as proud! I do like your final comments about the Bowmen only obeying commands in Welsh, perfectly reasonable when one thinks about it. At least English Gurkha officers have to reach a certain standard in the Nepali language, so I suppose we learned the lesson eventually!
Absolutely 👍
I really enjoyed this, it’s nice to see someone so knowledgeable, especially on a typically obscure topic such as Wales! The note on the necessity of Welsh-speaking commanders is also really interesting, if I’m not mistaken I believe one of the ancestors of the Tudor family served in such a role, and the commanders as a whole made up a big chunk of the Welsh-speaking government in Edward I’s Principality
Thanks for this show!
Another great episode! Thank you again!
Love the way this guy narrates
5k Bowmen? Can't imagine the carnage from arrow swaths raining down on the field. Scary.
There are estimates that say as many as 6-7 thousand bows.
There was a test done by one of those Time Team shows they used to do.
Basically, they got an archer club (so about 10-20 archers of various ability) to see how many arrows they could loose within a minute and it turned out it was something like 10.
So, theoretically, they could be dropping as many as 50,000-70,000 arrows per minute.
Tod’s Workshop here on YT also does a good “Longbow vs Armour” test series where he shows that the armour of the time was reasonably effective. Stopping maybe 4/5 arrows and making the hits potentially survivable.
However, you would need to be fully kitted out in the best armour available (ie, full plate) because anything less and you may as well not bother wearing armour at all.
You have officially over taken Attenborough as my favorite English voice. Thank you for these stories my friend, cheers!
Haha, thanks Jonathan, I'm honoured. 👍🏻
Thats just made me fill up. Everyday when i wake up, i thank the lord i am Welsh.
As a child in Wales, I was told the same story concerning the Welsh long bow.
Diolch yn fawr brawd, sometimes it feels like our history is lost amongst wider British history. Great video and much appreciated!
My pleasure 👍🏻
Cheers Kevin, History with Heart And And a Brilliant Knowledge of His Subject YOUR THE MAN MR HICKS, THANKS, ALL THE BEST.....WILL AND ELAINE. 🇮🇲👍🇮🇲
Cheers Guys, much appreciated 👍🏻
Henry V"I am Welsh, you know, good countryman" leading to Fluellen's tearful "By Jeshu, I am your majesty's countryman, " Very Good Presentation
Excellent history lesson
I love archery I always look forward to your historical accounts
Awesome video, very informative
Fascinating yet again❤️
Hi Kevin! I love your videos. Could we possibly get a detailed look at your archers belt pouch? How its constructed and what an archer might have kept in it? Thanks a lot for the great content!
I see Kevin Hicks, I Kevin Click. It's just that simple.
😜 thanks 👍🏻
Excellent video Kevin!
Great history and great telling…
Reminds me of the medieval town of Chillingbourne.
I’m back got a lot of videos to catch up on from you. I hope you’re doing good bro. Love to see the stuff keep it up.
Ah, I only thought of you the other day. Welcome back 👍🏻
@@thehistorysquad that’s awesome dude I love your work and you’re just such a fun guy to learn stuff from my son even watches your stuff sometimes now when I am not home he really loves it. He wants to learn how to shoot arrows with a bow.
This Channel is soooo underrated. The Energy brought to it is Amazing
Wow, thanks!
Diolch i chi Kevin, da iawn ar y ynganiad! Iechyd da!
Haha, cheers 👍🏻
Excellent as always kev
Cheers Richard 👍🏻
Nice to see the Welsh Bowman given the credit they deserve
You make nice videos with very interesting content.
Thanks
Hello Sir, thank you for the wonderful content! :) I’ve been shooting the longbow for about 1 year now, here in Ottawa. I was wondering if you could please provide us with some info (or hopefully make a video) on making home repairs on longbows? For example: what to do if there is a twist in your bow; or if your horn nocks are at a bit of a diagonal from the rest of the bow; or how to bind a split or splinter in the back of your longbow; etc.? Thanks again for your great videos! I always look forward to your next one! :)
Hi there, thanks for watching and your comment. I'll certainly look into doing a video along those lines for you. I had one planned for repairing arrows, but will look at this as well 👍🏻
@@thehistorysquad thank you kindly; I really appreciate it! :)
Nice to hear the correct pronunciation of Owain ( my son's name ). Thanks for the video.
Thanks again for your "Welsh" of knowledge!
I love all your videos x
I love this channel. Thanks for all of your hard work! I'm happy to be a new subscriber.
Thanks and welcome 👍🏻
Diolch am yr fideo yma wedi bod yn ffeithiol iawn ag wedi ei fwynhau, diolchwn eto i chi. Thank you for this video it has been very factual and enjoyed it, I thank you again.
Fantastic history lessons, unbelievable amount of research. Kevin's knowledge, PRICELESS. SUCH REALISTIC INTERPRETATION OF HISTORY. KUDOS TO YOU SIR. WHAT A FINE GENTLEMAN AND SCHOLAR!👍
Thanks John, you're very kind 👍🏻
Thank you as always Kevin (you legend)
Thanks!
Hi Robert, thanks so much for the SUPER, most kind of you. I'm glad you enjoyed the video 👍🏻
Hi Mr Hicks, I wanted to know if you were ever going to make a video about the DEFEAT of the English archers in the Hundred Years War? For example, the battle of Patay (1429)?
I have read that the reason that crossbows superseded the longbow was not because they were more effective, but because they didn't require a lifetime to master.
Yup, same reason the musket took over. It takes me about 7 years to train a good archer. In the meantime, I can make a decent crossbowman in about 3 months. A musketeer I can make a pretty decent one in about 3 weeks.
@@als3022 I believe that they estimate the weights of some of the bows recovered from the Mary Rose were in the 180-200 lb range? That knocked me off my chair.
Interestingly I was at the Mary Rose yesterday doing some research 👍🏻
@@inyobill It's crazy how much weight these archers pulled. 180lb is like picking someone up who weighs the same as me, with just three fingers! I shoot a recurve bow with a 30lb draw weight (I keep it light as my shoulders are knackered!). I've shot a 50lb bow a couple of times and probably couldn't manage more than a few shots with it, and I failed to get a 60lb bow back to my anchor point. These people were shooting bows three times heavier than that, and for the duration of a whole battle! And then had to get involved with hand-to-hand combat after they'd shot their arrows or the enemy were too close! A very different breed of people!
@@bujin1977 I used to shoot 45-50 lb. Not any more.
Very happy I found your channel! The content is top notch and interesting. Keep up the great work! Thanks for sharing!
At the end of the day Kevin I don’t think I’d like to be at the pointy end of either a Welsh or English bowman. In those times they were both formidable both as hard as each other and both with a skill set to be proud of.
Yes but the Welsh did it first at the battle of Crug Mawr when they slaughtered a few hundred Norman knights.
The survivors must’ve gone home like “you wouldn’t believe what just happened…”
A few years later and the English King makes it mandatory for all free Englishmen to practice archery at least 1 day/week or something like that.
Fast forward and he’s then bringing 6,000+ archers over to France and changing the way wars are fought in Europe.
Love the content here.
Aussie combat vet
Recently found your excellent channel,thank you for clarifying some movie mistakes 🇦🇺🇬🇧
Cheers Aussie, welcome to the channel 👍🏻
@@thehistorysquad
Aussie combat vet
Thank you sir
Can you please do a video on the WW2 1st Special Service Force,you might also like the history of Z Special Unit 🇦🇺🏴
@@2eREPPARA I already have an incredibly long list of topics to cover so I'm not sure I'll ever get to it, but I will add it. 👍🏻
@@thehistorysquad
Aussie combat vet
Thank you sir l understand,do you know if there’s ever been a comparison between the Japanese & English long bows?
@@2eREPPARA Not that I've seen.
Hobelars are interesting in relation to the longbow because their increasing absence in British military doctrine of the time period reflects the increasingly widespread use of the longbow. They stopped being used not because they're bad, far from it given then monetary value of hobbies as horses, but because the longbow became something of a superweapon in the time period. They were originally Irish mercenaries, than, as the stock or horses grew, British light calvary, and then completely superseded by a sort of per-gunpowder dragoon in the form of mounted longbowmen.
great video once again kevin. very informative as always.
Nice one kev😊
Its true we forget that many soldiers who fight for another country will many times not speak the language of their employer. And only the officers will. It also makes it easy like many soldiers to ignore an order.
I finally bought myself a longbow and its made out of elm. I still havent gotten the hang of it, years of using modern compounds and recurves with sights spoiled me.
Nice, keep on trying buddy 👍🏻
We need more high-quality videos like this and fewer rubbish videos spoken by a computer voice, whose words are done by people who cannot speak well and do not know their subject matter one half as well as this fine gentleman! Bravo!!
Great video! I'm also mixed 2nd Generation Welsh/English (Both Grandmothers English / both Grandfathers Welsh)
I envy the English and their long history. Only stories I can tell my grandchildren is when McDonlads was just a little white building with 2 Yellow arches over it.
Thanks Kevin ..... Another good one.
Well done on the 222k subs, my lucky number. I knew you was going to say Hobelars were spearmen before you said it, I seem to remember them being on a computer game years ago, I can't remember what game it was though, I'm sure that will wrack my brains tonight 😅 Nice twist at the end.
Cheers mate, good to still see you here 👍🏻
As a Welshman from Snowdonia, diolch yn fawr Kev !!!
👍🏻
Well done sir.
One has to think of Owain Gywnedd and his guerilla bowmen who almost killed Henry II affer he very foolishly led his troops on a flanking maneuvre through the woods of Ewloe.
Henry was traumatized and fled for his life after seeing what Welsh bowmen in concealed cover could do.
Enjoyed 🙋♂️🐈🐈
Very interesting. New history for me.
Diolch am i'r fab recording :) Thank you for the fab recording.
Looking at that spear I could hear corporal Jones saying "They don't like it up 'em*
😂
So, what is the difference between arrows, bolts, and other missiles? Great video, let me know if you've already made one about the difference.
Although I haven't done a comparison video, basically arrows are shot from a longbow and are approx 28" long (see the Westminster Arrow video) and bolts were shot from a crossbow, they were shorter and thicker, see the video 'Shooting a Heavyweight Crossbow'
👍🏻
Bendigedig our Kevin : )
thanks 👍🏻
Wonderful, informative video. Diolch yn fawr ffryndiau 👍. Can you do a vid of the wels repelling the saxon invasion please?
Thanks Dai, more Welsh history is on the cards in the future for sure. 👍🏻
I may be mistaken, but I think if what I've read is correct even the Vikings tread lightly around Wales. They certainly didn't settle there in any detectable numbers.
That's quite correct.They did attempt to settle but were beaten by the native Welsh princes , *Rhodri the great* ( 820AD - 878AD) and *Hywel Dda* (887AD - 949AD)
@@cymro6537 Thanks for the reply and info
Cymru Am Byth Kevin.
Hello Kevin. Not sure how else to contact you, or if this is even a possible story. There were royal body guards for the coronation - guarding the coronation stone [?] Who were called the Royal Company of Archers. Scots archers I believe, at least historically. Is this a possible episode about historical bowmen? Thanks for your time!
Hi Andrew, I have thought about it. They were at the Queen's funeral too and it was mentioned then, so I might get to it. Thanks for the suggestion 👍🏻
They were only formed in 1676 to encourage archery, King Gorge IV in 1822 giving the tile of the Sovereign’s Personal Bodyguard in Scotland.
Your thumbnail, I believe it's called?
For a second, just scanning my feed, I thought you were a dressed up Spike Milligan!
Watching you now, it comes and goes.
I have a Welsh dictionary, from 1793.
Your eyes are darker, and wilder, (in a Welsh way) but it comes and goes. Sometimes, it's gone. Then suddenly, I see Spike.