I also got a Yew Bow with 85 Pound ..ok not THAT much for a Warbow , but MAN it has Power .. I am a German guy who really like Classic longbows , Welsh style , my Arrows are Handmade by myself I created the arrows with horn reinforcement and based on the Mary Rose arrows Cedar wood and goose feathers. With its 85 pounds, the bow has a VERY nice power .. I read that an arrowhead was stuck into the oak of the Tower of London and it was calculated that the bow from which this arrow was shot had 220 pounds of pulling power.... That's FREAKING AWESOME!!
The welsh and the red indians have much in common, apart from the bows the American painted horse is not far off the same as the welsh mountain pony and if you look they really are simular....its said in about 572 Prince madoc went to America raking horses with him as well as bows and other stuff....this was long before columbus, and much later in the 1700s two English explorers came across the MANDAN tribe who spoke a language that they could only describe as welsh, one of them knowing a few words of welsh, just a peice of useless info but very interesting considering the bows and the horses....
@@deanmorgan7011 I’ve seen a lot of renewed interest in the theory that Prince Madoc visited and traded with native Americans. I think a lot of stuff pre-1500 in our historical knowledge is sketchy at best.
@@intotheblakeness then you really should alun wilson, also professor Lee penale of michigan and other universities, they even found ancient Welsh writing on stones, including burial mounds all over America, I don't understand of course as much of 5th century British history is lost, this was known as the dark ages, people think its because vriton was invaded but in truth it's because of the comet of 562, the comet decimated britain causing lots of inhabitants to flee, this was because of the huge toxicity left by the comet, one of those people was maroc, and a shortly after Arthur 2, I respect and understand your thoughts but it does make much sense
The longbow is a neolithic weapon most likely used for hunting, not warfare. The Welsh used the longbow in great numbers at Crug Mawr and deveastated the Norman army. Once the Norman conquest was complete, Welsh longbowmen were paid to fight in English armies. The Normans saw the power of the longbow and adopted its use in warfare across England.
The closest I've gotten to a authentic war bow is an 86 lb at 26" juniper shortie. Despite there being a few pretty good woods in my area, the juniper is a sacred ancient elder. Good on compression, zero tension. It requires a hard backing of sinew, rawhide or modern material. I still have a hard time pulling that bow. As noel Grayson said " I will always listen to someone else who builds bows" I'll check it out.
indeed, the welsh didn't bring the technology to britain first, but they were the first military proponents of it in the uk and probably the finest. First recorded use of welsh longbow en masse was 633AD, in battle against Northumbria, where king Cadwallon of Gwynedd and his retainers actually killed Ofrid, the son of king Edwin and many of his men, to which the saxons had no answer. 400 years later they faced the same welsh problem when the saxon earl ralph of hereford was campaigning against Gruffydd ap Llewelyn. He also writes in manuscript (abingdon chronicle) that while campaigning in mid wales he marched his army into the welsh mountains in 1055 (11 years before hastings) where his cavalry was engaged in a surprise attack by the welsh forces armed with longbows 'of such power and accuracy that the english were put to flight before a spear was thrown', he lost some 500 men to no welsh losses. The welsh in south wales were employing the longbow militarily as a primary weapon system pre 1066, and the vikings never made any great strides in bow warfare technology at all. Wars with the saxon border and topography of the marches necessitated hit and run tactics, ambush and missile based warfare long before the norman short bows were introduced, and the technology of the longbow had been around since the Neolithic. The welsh 'warbows' were of slightly higher draw weight than the lighter hunting models. And the welsh largely used wych elm. The fact the normans were shocked to witness welsh warbows was recorded in their manuscripts, including the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis and William de Braose. So in conclusion, while the welsh were certainly not responsible for the introduction of the technology to the isles, they are the first recorded use of longbows as a primary weapon system of a fighting force (the welsh of south wales- the north walians were largely spear armed light infantry). Hope this helps. And btw- the 'welsh' element of the video is the style of the bow, their bows are based off the welsh type bows of wych elm/yew construction of the early to high medieval period- not the egyptian style bow of prehistory or the heavier french italian late medieval types which were based off the english warbow, which itself was created as an evolution of the welsh warbows edward longshanks was so impressed by in his invasions of south wales. edwards armies like many later late norman/english kings kept meticulous accounts of what troops they were taking into battle, who their captains were and how much they needed to be payed and fed. The english armies being organised by armies of scribes and quartermasters. Edward had recently completed his successful campaigns in wales, and he had vast new royal holdings in south wales (where the longbowmen came from). And he was naturally impressed by their use against his own troops, and had recently subjugated a large part of the welsh fighting age men's welsh noble employers, so he had a massive pool of combat veterans from his new holdings who were now jobless and he gladly put them to work in ireland and scotland. On the way up to scotland he complains bitterly in his manuscripts about how he has to martial the welsh under their own native officers or they refuse to obey english commands at all, and before he reaches stirling bridge he has to put down a massive drunken riot by the welsh where he is forced to send in his knights, and 80 men are killed before order is restored?!! This may have something to do with the later battle against the scots where the welsh bowmen either accidentally or deliberately fire a volley into the rear of the english knights. For this, the scots allow the welsh contingent of the army to leave the field of battle unmolested! The english don't officially adopt the welsh warbow until 1252, this is after two hundred years of fighting, often disastrously against the welsh longbow! And even when they do adopt the weapon, it takes them a hundred years to train their population effectively in its use, and in the meantime they rely on welsh mercenaries. Hope this helps
Very interesting video. I made the mistake of using Elm for a Welsh Longbow....... its Wych Elm that was used. And a superb timber it is......not Common Elm which cannot resist compression .
Thanks for this tidbit of welsh history. My grandma was Welsh, rest her soul, but also a mariner. This took her to Barbados in 1900. There she met my grandfather, a black man, a son of a former slave.
Hi! This is so interesting, and I'd love to learn more. Could some version of these bows be fired on horseback, for example? And could a "normal" Welsh person somehow get one back in the day if they wanted? Or was it the kind of thing that you have to wait for a rich lord to get for you?
I've always wondered how long it took for them to put horn in the notch, and I've always wondered if it was due to the force splitting the arrow I'm half.
I've made a few Horn reinforced nocks and they take about 10 minutes to finish if I don't include glue drying time and making the Horn into flat slabs first. I'm not sure of the tools used in the Medieval times but I used hacksaw blades to cut freehand. First cut down the centre line carefully with one blade then make the cut wider using a home made thicker blade consisting of 3 hacksaw blades glued together arranged with the center one reversed so flat side down with the two blades either side teeth down but set back a couple of mm so the center blade engages with the premade first cut guiding it. You are left with a notch exactly 3 blades wide which is perfect for the thickness of horn needed.
@@joe4freedom676 Yes it seems like it. There is not much info on this subject but it seems among modern archers up to 75 lbs draw weight, un-reinforced nocks are fine. But we know from the Mary Rose ship wreck finds that the arrows had slots cut for horn reinforcement and they wouldn’t have gone to the trouble to do this without very good reason! So yes at the high draw weights of war bows the horn must be needed especially as each arrow was fired only once in battle that tells me just one loosing could have caused problems if unreinforced?
From the Mary Rose arrows I've inspected the slits are either sawn with a very fine saw or split with a knife in some cases. In this video I peel the cow horn and thin with a chisel so no sanding is needed th-cam.com/video/JqSCJYFXMNQ/w-d-xo.html
I bought a recurve that was 5+ lbs too heavy to be comfortable for a decent session . Then found out the pull on a Welsh bow and the number of arrows loosed in a minute . They must have looked like cut-and-shut humans .
Here in the US, the Osage Orange is the premium wood for bows here. I took it to a bow shop and they put it on a bow press and cranked it back. It was 90 pounds at 20 inches. I had to put it across a padded arm chair to even get the flemish on it. I'm going to take it to a bow smith and have it tilled down to about 45 pounds. I'm 69 years old and don't have the muscle I used to have. I plan on taking it deer hunting near year when I'm 70 years old. I have some cedar shafts with razor tips on them to take a deer down. Here in the US, you can only take a 6 point or better so I'm hoping for a small deer that I can drag back to the house.
That sound's like a good plan. If drawn to 30", your bow would be over 100 pounds. I'd ask the bowyer to shorten a bit as well to keep the performance.
at the 2:00 mark it briefly shows you stringing a longbow. What kind of stringer are you guys using? I am fairly new to archery but have quickly got up to drawing my new 80lb longbow. But the step-in stringing method doesn't feel ok/good/right when the bow becomes 74" long!
Stringing a heavy bow with double looped stringer is easier and safer for the bow but the nock does need an extra groove. Some of the Mary Rose bows show evidence of this extra groove as witnessed in the cones at the tips.
According to Richardson's "Armour in England, 1325-99" which is a little later than the date TBX is set, wrought iron was more commonly used with a few examples of steel. Our mail was steel so, perhaps, more akin to high quality mail although I make no claim to it being metallurgically similar.
@@tonymaurice4157 It's true it's not easy to find suitable yew but it is out there in Wales. I hope that ash continues to be be available in the future with die back and the Asian emerald ash borer beetle on the horizon.
@@yeomanbowman yes the dieback is horrible. Pretty much all gone in the states, but I like ash just has to be wider it doesn't make a powerful bow when designed properly... Don't understand why Elm wasn't used more? Doesn't it grow much longer and straighter than yew?
How would you describe the archers of yore, strength-wise, compared with us lot of today? You two are strong guys for sure but do you think any of us could keep up with the old-school archers for stamina, strength and accuracy?
When you think of the limited gene pool that shoot the warbow now I'm sure that we would compare very unfavourably. In Medieval Wales and England, young men would have taken archery as seriously as being good at football, or alike, is now with lots of competition and peer status achieved by being good. Must have been a sight to behold.
We can actually tell who grew up to become basically professional archers back in those times by comparing the size of the arm bones with any remains we find from the time. An archer's arm bones are distinctively larger, and I think stronger than someone else's; even a knight's because of the constant training and practical application. The Welsh had been fighting for their right to exist since literally the fall of the Western Roman Empire; arguably before if you count the in-fighting with other warrior tribes on the British isles (Votadins, Strathclydes, etc.) as well as foreign invaders like the Angles and Saxons. Come the time of King Edward Longshanks: he was a jerk as far as how he treated anyone who wasn't English, but he wasn't stupid. He recognized the military potential of the Welsh longbow, and made a point to use it once Wales was controllable. As far as the demo goes it almost wasn't even a fair shot for the pig ribs. Chainmail isn't meant to protect the wearer from piercing weapons. Slashing weapons it could protect against quite adequately, but any weapon meant to pierce (arrow, spear, etc.) it was so useless you might as well not wear it.
Ash and yew which are favoured woods for what’s called a self bow naturally grow with layers that have complimentary properties under tension and compression. It’s why they split the wood rather than saw it.
The Welsh archers of Prince Llywelyn (and before) were defeating the English (or rather the Normans?) long before Edward I took the archers into his army. I do wonder if the modern archers with their weights & pulleys on their best day would be anywhere near a match to a medieval archer on their worst day. 🤔
English and Welsh archer skeletons have been dug up and they were found to have had over developed shoulders and arms to compensate for the growth of muscle in that area. So to answer your question, with my opinion. No, modern archers couldn't come close in competing with medeival archers.
Well cool. I shoot a 70 lb, aluminium & composite, compound bow, that will put a carbon fibre & steel arrow through & out the other side of a wild pig’s rib cadge at about 20 to 30 meters. It’s got arrow rests, stabilisers, sights, string silencers… all sorts of stuff. It’s amazing to see what can Still be done, buy a skilled shooter, armed with knowledge, ability, & an ancient ancestor of my hunting rig. That’s some Powerful shooting, gave me the shivers to watch. No way I’d want to be in front of a man armed with that. It would be a recipe to get real dead, real quick. Thanks for the video. Excellent. 👍🇦🇺👏🇬🇧
@@yeomanbowman I like your craftsmanship and also your videos and illustrations of livery arrows. Do you sell bows made from. Italian or Pacific yew staves as well as native Welsh wood?
The French never had a chance until they finally realized they could slow the English conquest by forcing the English to waste time by hiding their armies behind castle walls in lengthy sieges.
canmore.org.uk/site/71910/rotten-bottom Predating the Ashcott Heath bow you mention. The claim is more about the massed military usage of a powerful long bow in the field, as opposed to crossbows. Bradbury's book makes the case well. A very good read www.amazon.co.uk/Medieval-Archer-Revised-Jim-Bradbury/dp/0851156754
Somerset was part of Wales until the arrival of the Anglo Saxons 5th century all of Britain was Welsh. The Welsh name for Somerset is gwlad yr haf it means land of summer it was renamed by the Anglo Saxons who then called it somer set 😊
Retreat to the woods, craft the bow and shafts in few hours and off to make war. Perfect actually. Who needs sophistication when you have a rather large shaft of wood through your chest and out the other side.
Set, or string follow, in the middle would be the opposite of elliptical tiller. You should seek out the video of Robert Hardy drawing an actual Tudor longbow from the Mary Rose to 30 inches and observe the shape.
Well... I see three problems right away. #1 - Nobody has doubted the ability of these war bows to penetrate mail at close distance. But I'll wager that these arrows would bounce off plate armor. Agincourt seems to be a myth... something else happened but it wasn't English bows decimating foppish French Knights. #2 - Again this is very short distance. By the time attacking forces got this close to lightly armed bowmen the latter were essentially dead or fled. Swords and axes have a much greater 'rate of fire' than bows. Unless you have a strong defensive wall to stand behind it doesn't matter that you can kill your enemy at very short distance.#3 - Timing. Even a controlled cavalry charge of 20 kph would deliver a solid wall of horsey death in about 3 seconds from that tree to those bowmen. There's no time to shoot again... so how many attackers would they stop with each arrow?
You can’t argue with history, the volume of arrows each archer could get into the air in one minute was about 12 , with say about 5000 archers at agincourt . This by simple calculation would mean once the French horsemen were in the killing ground from 3 to 400 yards a hail of some 60,000 arrows would fall on them before they reached the English . Yes they may have had armour of varying qualities but gaps or weak spots in this armour and especially with their horses meant it would have been catastrophic . The conditions did not suit heavy dismounted knights who sank in the mud and would find it difficult to climb over the dead and downed horses . Your reluctance to see what these war bows which became more lethal as the enemy got closer due to lowering the trajectory and being closer to the target meant even armour had a chance to be compromised. Luckily for the Spanish they never came up against the English longbow or they would have the same respect as was given by the French .
@@pincermovement72 I absolutely can argue with incorrect history (Unless you have video of Agincourt). I have seen many attempts at recreating arrow v. armor for this period and the armor wins by a wide margin. I don't think any credible historian buys the story we were told as children that the French were obliterated by arrow fire. Even the last movies on this subject focus on the dismounted English knights defeating the French cavalry. If your archer fired 12 arrows at the elite plate armor of the day you would only get 12 'doinks'. Especially at the ridiculously long distances you cite. THe arrows would be falling at terminal velocity which the armor would laugh off. Maybe, just maybe, at 20-25 yards point blank fire from longbows would have some effect on elite heavy cavalry because, statistically, you'll hit some gaps, eyeslits, horses, etc. More likely? The terrain, the mud, the defensive barriers, and the arrows combined to clump the French in fronit of the English line where most of them were blocked from fighting by their own troops. Then English dismounted knights chopped them up from the outside of this mass. This means only a fraction (the perimeter) of the French could fight at any given time and this would balance their numerical advantage. Also, in melee, dismounted knights and men at arms are much more effective than mounted knights who spend much of their time trying to control their horse.
@@georgegonzalez-rivas3787 Even the best plate armour had gaps or weaker spots...when you have thousands of arrows flying at you, it's only a matter of probability that one will find a gap like the eye slit or hit an unarmoured part of your horse.
@@keyboardmamma Sounds plausible but I don't think so. I was just at the Higgins armory and I couldn't help but notice that armorers weren't stupid. Those "gaps" are on the downside and arrows are not on an upward trajectory when they hit an armored knight. I would say that a knight in quality armor could stand a flight of 14th, 15th century arrows quite comfortably for hours. Hours. Arrows may have wounded horses and caused confusion but I just don't think that they inflicted meaningful casualties to the corps of French Knights. The whole story of Agincourt is a myth. The battle was won on the ground, hand-to-hand. Perhaps they French were tired after dealing with arrows and mud and confusion. But that's the only advantage the English got from their archers. (maybe they killed some retainers and men-at-arms or other light infantry or crossbowmen, too).
@@georgegonzalez-rivas3787 You seem very confident. Please volunteer to wear a full harness and then be continually shot at by 1 thousand trained archers using high poundage bows for as you say, hours. Once I see that and the miracle that would be you still standing by the end of 60min then I will consider your argument with more plausibility. The fact you don't think arrows can inflict devastating maiming or lethal blows to horses is concerning. You also forget that armour existed in varying quality. Not all plate armour was carbon steel and/or heat treated and many of the smaller articulating plates for flexible areas were not as thick as you might think, certainly not as thick as the breastplate. Also we know from many sources that it's most likely that the archers were shooting on a flatter trajectory, not raining them down from a maximum range where they would have less power. This opens up more possibilities for arrows to find gaps. You forget the most important gap that is in full view, the eye slit. Bodkin points were narrow enough that they quite likely could have penetrable to lethal depth through the eye slit. You also forget that people are people, no matter how trained and generally are very adverse to things that can kill them. It was not uncommon for cavalry units and formations to be broken simply by the psychological effect of a storm of arrows even when they didn't necessarily kill many people.
@@gg-eu3tr Longbows (d shaped selfbows of high poundages) were used during the neolithic period. The English and welsh just used it on mass, unlike many other nations that opted for the crossbow because of the lower degree of training needed to use the weapons effectively.
@@deusvult5875you're wrong there mate. First recorded use of welsh longbow en masse was 633AD, in battle against Northumbria, where king Cadwallon of Gwynedd and his retainers actually killed Ofrid, the son of king Edwin and many of his men, to which the saxons had no answer. 400 years later they faced the same welsh problem when the saxon earl ralph of hereford was campaigning against Gruffydd ap Llewelyn. He also writes in manuscript (abingdon chronicle) that while campaigning in mid wales he marched his army into the welsh mountains in 1055 (11 years before hastings) where his cavalry was engaged in a surprise attack by the welsh forces armed with longbows 'of such power and accuracy that the english were put to flight before a spear was thrown', he lost some 500 men to no welsh losses. The welsh in south wales were employing the longbow militarily as a primary weapon system pre 1066, and the vikings never made any great strides in bow warfare technology at all. Saxon border wars and topography of the marches necessitated hit and run tactics, ambush and missile based warfare long before the norman short bows were introduced, and the technology of the longbow had been around since the Neolithic. The welsh 'warbows' were of slightly higher draw weight than the lighter hunting models. And the welsh largely used wych elm. The fact the normans were shocked to witness welsh warbows was recorded in their manuscripts, including the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis and William de Braose. So in conclusion, while the welsh were certainly not responsible for the introduction of the technology to the isles, they are the first recorded use of longbows as a primary weapon system of a fighting force (the welsh of south wales- the north walians were largely spear armed light infantry). Hope this helps. And btw- the 'welsh' element of the video is the style of the bow, their bows are based off the welsh type bows of wych elm/yew construction of the early to high medieval period- not the egyptian style bow of prehistory or the heavier french italian late medieval types which were based off the english warbow, which itself was created as an evolution of the welsh warbows edward longshanks was so impressed by in his invasions of south wales.
Don't want to be the pooper at the party, but straight bows are rather inefficient... Large amount of your force ends up in accelerating the bow limbs instead of the arrow. Doesn't mean that longbows aren't fun to shoot. Just that the advertisement falls a bit short, in global comparison.
you're wrong there mate. First recorded use of welsh longbow en masse was 633AD, in battle against Northumbria, where king Cadwallon of Gwynedd and his retainers actually killed Ofrid, the son of king Edwin and many of his men, to which the saxons had no answer. 400 years later they faced the same welsh problem when the saxon earl ralph of hereford was campaigning against Gruffydd ap Llewelyn. He also writes in manuscript (abingdon chronicle) that while campaigning in mid wales he marched his army into the welsh mountains in 1055 (11 years before hastings) where his cavalry was engaged in a surprise attack by the welsh forces armed with longbows 'of such power and accuracy that the english were put to flight before a spear was thrown', he lost some 500 men to no welsh losses. The welsh in south wales were employing the longbow militarily as a primary weapon system pre 1066, and the vikings never made any great strides in bow warfare technology at all. Saxon border wars and topography of the marches necessitated hit and run tactics, ambush and missile based warfare long before the norman short bows were introduced, and the technology of the longbow had been around since the Neolithic. The welsh 'warbows' were of slightly higher draw weight than the lighter hunting models. And the welsh largely used wych elm. The fact the normans were shocked to witness welsh warbows was recorded in their manuscripts, including the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis and William de Braose. So in conclusion, while the welsh were certainly not responsible for the introduction of the technology to the isles, they are the first recorded use of longbows as a primary weapon system of a fighting force (the welsh of south wales- the north walians were largely spear armed light infantry). Hope this helps. And btw- the 'welsh' element of the video is the style of the bow, their bows are based off the welsh type bows of wych elm/yew construction of the early to high medieval period- not the egyptian style bow of prehistory or the heavier french italian late medieval types which were based off the english warbow, which itself was created as an evolution of the welsh warbows edward longshanks was so impressed by in his invasions of south wales.
It's not particually Welsh, 6ft longbows were used by the Egyptians and a six foot two example was included in a Viking burial. It was the Vikings in the guise of Normans who introduced the longbow, as well as the short cavalry bow, to the British isles. The French square cut longbow made from Italian Yew from the late 1400's is considered the best of all.
I fully agree that the yew longbow design is not, of itself, Welsh and has existed for thousands of years. In Somerset, Britain, the ‘Ashcott Bow’ (a longbow) was excavated and is dated to 2665 BC. Ötzi the Iceman had a yew longbow on him when he died in the Alps of his wounds about 635 years earlier. Despite the huge time gap, Ötzi would have recognised a Welsh warbow, as it was so similar to his own.
"It was the Vikings in the guise of Normans who introduced the longbow, as well as the short cavalry bow, to the British isles." No. Very wrong. The oldest longbows found in the UK were found in Somerset. From 2,500 years ago.
Somerset was part of Wales 2000 years ago all of Britain was celtic and there is a big difference in the draw weight of a long bow Welsh longbow as a draw weight of 200 pounds and can hit a person 300 yards away no problem
Two points Gwyn. Go to your local supermarket lay out ten bags of sugar (2.2Lb), then lay out a another ten bags on top, then another, and another until you have nine layers then add eight more. That is 200lbs to be drawn with three fingers by a much smaller man who's life expectincy was 32.5 years because of diet and comprimised immune system. Second point is that it is indeed possible to hit a standing man at 200yds if you have 24 arrows. It is impossible to hit a moving man.
Hi, I think you're basing you’re who premise on a single early medieval reference from Gerald of Wales , writing in 1188 about his journey through Wales, recounted feats of archery prowess from South Welsh archers in his Itinerarium Cambriae. “The bows they use are not made of horn, nor of sapwood, nor yet of yew. The Welsh carve their bows out of the dwarf elm-trees in the forest.” However, there are other references which prove the Welsh used other woods, including yew. Have a look at this by Iolo Goch (1320-1398) or Iolo the Red in English. He was a medieval Welsh bard and composed poems addressed to Welsh nobles, including Owain Glyndŵr.
“Supposing I were in yonder sloping wood opposite, and in my hand a bow of red yew ready bent, with a tough, tight string, and a straight round shaft with a well-rounded nock, having long slender feathers of a green silk fastenting, and a sharp-edged steel head, heavy and thick, and an inch wide, of a green-blue temper, that would draw blood out of a weathercock. And with my foot to a hillock, and my back to an oak, and the wind to my back, and the sun towards my side; and the girl I love best, hard by, looking at me; and I conscious of her being there; I would shoot him such a shot, so strong and far-drawn, so low and sharp, that it would be no better there were between him and me a breastplate and a Milan hauberk, than a wisp of fern, a kiln rug or a herring-net!” Even this aside, if you lived in South East Wales you’d see the plentiful supply of yew and see how unlikely it would be that yew was not used.
@@yeomanbowman Not really. You got that from the first few sentences on WarbowWales, tab The Welsh Longbow, yes?... So I'd like to ask it again, why show chopping elm, and then only show the iconic yew english longbow?
you're wrong there mate. First recorded use of welsh longbow en masse was 633AD, in battle against Northumbria, where king Cadwallon of Gwynedd and his retainers actually killed Ofrid, the son of king Edwin and many of his men, to which the saxons had no answer. 400 years later they faced the same welsh problem when the saxon earl ralph of hereford was campaigning against Gruffydd ap Llewelyn. He also writes in manuscript (abingdon chronicle) that while campaigning in mid wales he marched his army into the welsh mountains in 1055 (11 years before hastings) where his cavalry was engaged in a surprise attack by the welsh forces armed with longbows 'of such power and accuracy that the english were put to flight before a spear was thrown', he lost some 500 men to no welsh losses. The welsh in south wales were employing the longbow militarily as a primary weapon system pre 1066, and the vikings never made any great strides in bow warfare technology at all. Saxon border wars and topography of the marches necessitated hit and run tactics, ambush and missile based warfare long before the norman short bows were introduced, and the technology of the longbow had been around since the Neolithic. The welsh 'warbows' were of slightly higher draw weight than the lighter hunting models. And the welsh largely used wych elm. The fact the normans were shocked to witness welsh warbows was recorded in their manuscripts, including the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis and William de Braose. So in conclusion, while the welsh were certainly not responsible for the introduction of the technology to the isles, they are the first recorded use of longbows as a primary weapon system of a fighting force (the welsh of south wales- the north walians were largely spear armed light infantry). Hope this helps. And btw- the 'welsh' element of the video is the style of the bow, their bows are based off the welsh type bows of wych elm/yew construction of the early to high medieval period- not the egyptian style bow of prehistory or the heavier french italian late medieval types which were based off the english warbow, which itself was created as an evolution of the welsh warbows edward longshanks was so impressed by in his invasions of south wales.
I never knew about the heritage of the long bow being Welsh! This is fantastic! Thanks for sharing this video!
As a proud Welshman it’s fantastic to see something about Welsh bows on here. I also now want one.
It was Welshmen that won thw war for england lol
I also got a Yew Bow with 85 Pound ..ok not THAT much for a Warbow , but MAN it has Power ..
I am a German guy who really like Classic longbows , Welsh style , my Arrows are Handmade by myself
I created the arrows with horn reinforcement and based on the Mary Rose arrows
Cedar wood and goose feathers.
With its 85 pounds, the bow has a VERY nice power ..
I read that an arrowhead was stuck into the oak of the Tower of London and it was calculated that the bow from which this arrow was shot had 220 pounds of pulling power....
That's FREAKING AWESOME!!
The welsh and the red indians have much in common, apart from the bows the American painted horse is not far off the same as the welsh mountain pony and if you look they really are simular....its said in about 572 Prince madoc went to America raking horses with him as well as bows and other stuff....this was long before columbus, and much later in the 1700s two English explorers came across the MANDAN tribe who spoke a language that they could only describe as welsh, one of them knowing a few words of welsh, just a peice of useless info but very interesting considering the bows and the horses....
@@deanmorgan7011 I’ve seen a lot of renewed interest in the theory that Prince Madoc visited and traded with native Americans. I think a lot of stuff pre-1500 in our historical knowledge is sketchy at best.
@@intotheblakeness then you really should alun wilson, also professor Lee penale of michigan and other universities, they even found ancient Welsh writing on stones, including burial mounds all over America, I don't understand of course as much of 5th century British history is lost, this was known as the dark ages, people think its because vriton was invaded but in truth it's because of the comet of 562, the comet decimated britain causing lots of inhabitants to flee, this was because of the huge toxicity left by the comet, one of those people was maroc, and a shortly after Arthur 2, I respect and understand your thoughts but it does make much sense
Just _one_ of the reasons why it took _so_ long to conquer Wales.....
🏹✊🏴
The longbow is a neolithic weapon most likely used for hunting, not warfare.
The Welsh used the longbow in great numbers at Crug Mawr and deveastated the Norman army.
Once the Norman conquest was complete, Welsh longbowmen were paid to fight in English armies. The Normans saw the power of the longbow and adopted its use in warfare across England.
amazing craftsmanship. Great to see such being kept alive
The closest I've gotten to a authentic war bow is an 86 lb at 26" juniper shortie.
Despite there being a few pretty good woods in my area, the juniper is a sacred ancient elder. Good on compression, zero tension. It requires a hard backing of sinew, rawhide or modern material.
I still have a hard time pulling that bow.
As noel Grayson said " I will always listen to someone else who builds bows"
I'll check it out.
This is my favourite video! Great to see you guys in action. :)
Excellent video
indeed, the welsh didn't bring the technology to britain first, but they were the first military proponents of it in the uk and probably the finest. First recorded use of welsh longbow en masse was 633AD, in battle against Northumbria, where king Cadwallon of Gwynedd and his retainers actually killed Ofrid, the son of king Edwin and many of his men, to which the saxons had no answer. 400 years later they faced the same welsh problem when the saxon earl ralph of hereford was campaigning against Gruffydd ap Llewelyn. He also writes in manuscript (abingdon chronicle) that while campaigning in mid wales he marched his army into the welsh mountains in 1055 (11 years before hastings) where his cavalry was engaged in a surprise attack by the welsh forces armed with longbows 'of such power and accuracy that the english were put to flight before a spear was thrown', he lost some 500 men to no welsh losses. The welsh in south wales were employing the longbow militarily as a primary weapon system pre 1066, and the vikings never made any great strides in bow warfare technology at all. Wars with the saxon border and topography of the marches necessitated hit and run tactics, ambush and missile based warfare long before the norman short bows were introduced, and the technology of the longbow had been around since the Neolithic. The welsh 'warbows' were of slightly higher draw weight than the lighter hunting models. And the welsh largely used wych elm. The fact the normans were shocked to witness welsh warbows was recorded in their manuscripts, including the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis and William de Braose. So in conclusion, while the welsh were certainly not responsible for the introduction of the technology to the isles, they are the first recorded use of longbows as a primary weapon system of a fighting force (the welsh of south wales- the north walians were largely spear armed light infantry). Hope this helps. And btw- the 'welsh' element of the video is the style of the bow, their bows are based off the welsh type bows of wych elm/yew construction of the early to high medieval period- not the egyptian style bow of prehistory or the heavier french italian late medieval types which were based off the english warbow, which itself was created as an evolution of the welsh warbows edward longshanks was so impressed by in his invasions of south wales.
edwards armies like many later late norman/english kings kept meticulous accounts of what troops they were taking into battle, who their captains were and how much they needed to be payed and fed. The english armies being organised by armies of scribes and quartermasters. Edward had recently completed his successful campaigns in wales, and he had vast new royal holdings in south wales (where the longbowmen came from). And he was naturally impressed by their use against his own troops, and had recently subjugated a large part of the welsh fighting age men's welsh noble employers, so he had a massive pool of combat veterans from his new holdings who were now jobless and he gladly put them to work in ireland and scotland. On the way up to scotland he complains bitterly in his manuscripts about how he has to martial the welsh under their own native officers or they refuse to obey english commands at all, and before he reaches stirling bridge he has to put down a massive drunken riot by the welsh where he is forced to send in his knights, and 80 men are killed before order is restored?!! This may have something to do with the later battle against the scots where the welsh bowmen either accidentally or deliberately fire a volley into the rear of the english knights. For this, the scots allow the welsh contingent of the army to leave the field of battle unmolested!
The english don't officially adopt the welsh warbow until 1252, this is after two hundred years of fighting, often disastrously against the welsh longbow! And even when they do adopt the weapon, it takes them a hundred years to train their population effectively in its use, and in the meantime they rely on welsh mercenaries. Hope this helps
Excellent
From Texas. SUBSCRIBED JUST NOW! GREAT VIDEO!
this is real archery no sights or any goofy modern bs just eyes n arrows
How much does the species of the wood matter? I understood Yew was the go too?
Yes, definitely the best with wych elm a distant but serviceable second
Hi Jerry, that is a nice demonstration and video. Can you give me some details on the arrow? Weight? Bodkin?
Hi, the arrows are about 75grams and we shot various heads but heavy type 10s and needle bodkins worked the best.
This bow is a beast.
Never insult a man from Gwent from afar, you're not safe.
Very interesting video. I made the mistake of using Elm for a Welsh Longbow....... its Wych Elm that was used. And a superb timber it is......not Common Elm which cannot resist compression .
We don't much 'common' elm left after the beetle, very sadly. A handsome tree but not as good as wych, as you say.
Thanks for this tidbit of welsh history. My grandma was Welsh, rest her soul, but also a mariner. This took her to Barbados in 1900. There she met my grandfather, a black man, a son of a former slave.
Good Job! Pork is interesting 😋 I am learning and teaching Korean archery. You are impressive. Welsh people are frank and persuasive.
Hi! This is so interesting, and I'd love to learn more. Could some version of these bows be fired on horseback, for example? And could a "normal" Welsh person somehow get one back in the day if they wanted? Or was it the kind of thing that you have to wait for a rich lord to get for you?
Yes, these were affordable weapons made from locally sourced materials. I know longbows were, on occasion shot from horseback but it's not ideal.
It would be great if you could make a video on how to string or brace a warbow of say 150 pounds or more.
Is their a discount if your last name is Welsh?
Should be
Wow, I can’t believe I only just found this channel.
TH-cam algorithm did a good thing for once.
I've always wondered how long it took for them to put horn in the notch, and I've always wondered if it was due to the force splitting the arrow I'm half.
I've made a few Horn reinforced nocks and they take about 10 minutes to finish if I don't include glue drying time and making the Horn into flat slabs first. I'm not sure of the tools used in the Medieval times but I used hacksaw blades to cut freehand. First cut down the centre line carefully with one blade then make the cut wider using a home made thicker blade consisting of 3 hacksaw blades glued together arranged with the center one reversed so flat side down with the two blades either side teeth down but set back a couple of mm so the center blade engages with the premade first cut guiding it. You are left with a notch exactly 3 blades wide which is perfect for the thickness of horn needed.
@@Bushcraft-xz6xd Was horn used because the force of the bow would split the arrow?
@@joe4freedom676 Yes it seems like it. There is not much info on this subject but it seems among modern archers up to 75 lbs draw weight, un-reinforced nocks are fine. But we know from the Mary Rose ship wreck finds that the arrows had slots cut for horn reinforcement and they wouldn’t have gone to the trouble to do this without very good reason! So yes at the high draw weights of war bows the horn must be needed especially as each arrow was fired only once in battle that tells me just one loosing could have caused problems if unreinforced?
From the Mary Rose arrows I've inspected the slits are either sawn with a very fine saw or split with a knife in some cases. In this video I peel the cow horn and thin with a chisel so no sanding is needed
th-cam.com/video/JqSCJYFXMNQ/w-d-xo.html
I bought a recurve that was 5+ lbs too heavy to be comfortable for a decent session . Then found out the pull on a Welsh bow and the number of arrows loosed in a minute . They must have looked like cut-and-shut humans .
The Mary Rose archers had denser bones on their bow arm side to handle the compressive forces of a warbow.
@@yeomanbowman
The Indians used to save the last arrow for themselves .
Yeah I need one.
How do I get one
My contact details are on the Warbow Wales website 👍
What kind of wood is it?
Here in the US, the Osage Orange is the premium wood for bows here. I took it to a bow shop and they put it on a bow press and cranked it back. It was 90 pounds at 20 inches. I had to put it across a padded arm chair to even get the flemish on it. I'm going to take it to a bow smith and have it tilled down to about 45 pounds. I'm 69 years old and don't have the muscle I used to have. I plan on taking it deer hunting near year when I'm 70 years old. I have some cedar shafts with razor tips on them to take a deer down. Here in the US, you can only take a 6 point or better so I'm hoping for a small deer that I can drag back to the house.
That sound's like a good plan. If drawn to 30", your bow would be over 100 pounds. I'd ask the bowyer to shorten a bit as well to keep the performance.
at the 2:00 mark it briefly shows you stringing a longbow. What kind of stringer are you guys using? I am fairly new to archery but have quickly got up to drawing my new 80lb longbow. But the step-in stringing method doesn't feel ok/good/right when the bow becomes 74" long!
Stringing a heavy bow with double looped stringer is easier and safer for the bow but the nock does need an extra groove. Some of the Mary Rose bows show evidence of this extra groove as witnessed in the cones at the tips.
My far distant kinfolk are Welch hundreds of years back
Welsh* or you can use our own name 'Cymru'
Wait, steel mail? Wasn't mail then made of softened wrought iron?
According to Richardson's "Armour in England, 1325-99" which is a little later than the date TBX is set, wrought iron was more commonly used with a few examples of steel. Our mail was steel so, perhaps, more akin to high quality mail although I make no claim to it being metallurgically similar.
@@yeomanbowman where do you guys find your straight pieces of yew?? Most of it is twisted but there is good straight Ash
@@tonymaurice4157 It's true it's not easy to find suitable yew but it is out there in Wales. I hope that ash continues to be be available in the future with die back and the Asian emerald ash borer beetle on the horizon.
@@yeomanbowman yes the dieback is horrible. Pretty much all gone in the states, but I like ash just has to be wider it doesn't make a powerful bow when designed properly... Don't understand why Elm wasn't used more? Doesn't it grow much longer and straighter than yew?
Was made of both. True Most were iron but there are many surviving examples made of carbon steel.
How would you describe the archers of yore, strength-wise, compared with us lot of today? You two are strong guys for sure but do you think any of us could keep up with the old-school archers for stamina, strength and accuracy?
When you think of the limited gene pool that shoot the warbow now I'm sure that we would compare very unfavourably. In Medieval Wales and England, young men would have taken archery as seriously as being good at football, or alike, is now with lots of competition and peer status achieved by being good. Must have been a sight to behold.
We aren't raised in a truly martial culture today the way those men were.
We can actually tell who grew up to become basically professional archers back in those times by comparing the size of the arm bones with any remains we find from the time. An archer's arm bones are distinctively larger, and I think stronger than someone else's; even a knight's because of the constant training and practical application. The Welsh had been fighting for their right to exist since literally the fall of the Western Roman Empire; arguably before if you count the in-fighting with other warrior tribes on the British isles (Votadins, Strathclydes, etc.) as well as foreign invaders like the Angles and Saxons.
Come the time of King Edward Longshanks: he was a jerk as far as how he treated anyone who wasn't English, but he wasn't stupid. He recognized the military potential of the Welsh longbow, and made a point to use it once Wales was controllable.
As far as the demo goes it almost wasn't even a fair shot for the pig ribs. Chainmail isn't meant to protect the wearer from piercing weapons. Slashing weapons it could protect against quite adequately, but any weapon meant to pierce (arrow, spear, etc.) it was so useless you might as well not wear it.
@@spike7319 I recommend ash or yew!
How can I get one
Our contact details are on the Warbow Wales website www.warbowwales.com
Im an english archer very intersting video on the welch warbow
Never welch out on archery, Pud 🙂
So what species do you use?
Welsh yew and wych elm bow are featured in the video
Glorious
Good vid mate. Keep it up!!!
Great vid mate. Keep it up!!!
Thanks, will do!
What is the Wood for the Bow ??
We shoot Welsh wych elm and yew bows in the video
Those are lethal but 300 yards is stretching it a bit. Did they make any laminate bows?
Ash and yew which are favoured woods for what’s called a self bow naturally grow with layers that have complimentary properties under tension and compression. It’s why they split the wood rather than saw it.
The Norwegian record distance for a self yew warbow and feathered bamboo flight arrow is about 440 yards or nearly a 1/4 of a mile.
I'd like to order one and a quiver of those WICKED ARROWS 👍🤙
The contact details ore on the warbow wales website www.warbowwales.com
applauds in rivveted mail
The Welsh archers of Prince Llywelyn (and before) were defeating the English (or rather the Normans?) long before Edward I took the archers into his army.
I do wonder if the modern archers with their weights & pulleys on their best day would be anywhere near a match to a medieval archer on their worst day. 🤔
English and Welsh archer skeletons have been dug up and they were found to have had over developed shoulders and arms to compensate for the growth of muscle in that area.
So to answer your question, with my opinion. No, modern archers couldn't come close in competing with medeival archers.
Didn't mention what species of wood they used.
Welsh yew and elm bows were shown
@@yeomanbowman ok thank you.
Could I buy a Longbow
Jeremy do you run classes on bow making?
I'm looking to start some at Coleg y Cymoedd in Pontypridd . I'll keep you posted
How heavy were those bows?
About 135/140
Hi, we shot a few from 130 to 140#
Well cool. I shoot a 70 lb, aluminium & composite, compound bow, that will put a carbon fibre & steel arrow through & out the other side of a wild pig’s rib cadge at about 20 to 30 meters. It’s got arrow rests, stabilisers, sights, string silencers… all sorts of stuff. It’s amazing to see what can Still be done, buy a skilled shooter, armed with knowledge, ability, & an ancient ancestor of my hunting rig. That’s some Powerful shooting, gave me the shivers to watch.
No way I’d want to be in front of a man armed with that. It would be a recipe to get real dead, real quick.
Thanks for the video. Excellent. 👍🇦🇺👏🇬🇧
cool whizzing sounds!
What type of wood do you use in 1:05 ?
Welsh wych elm
Ok. Thank you for the answer
I wonder how it penetrates a modern bulletproof vest...?
I think kevlar helmets have been penetrated not sure about the vests
Hope that pork got put to good use?
Don't worry, it was shared out amongst the carnivores and not a bit was wasted
Do you sell bow and arrow
Hi Aaron, yes we do
@@yeomanbowman I like your craftsmanship and also your videos and illustrations of livery arrows. Do you sell bows made from. Italian or Pacific yew staves as well as native Welsh wood?
Hell yes
The Welsh bowmen were utterly feared.
Azincourt ... just to give an example .. The French knights / nobles were not happy that day ..
The French never had a chance until they finally realized they could slow the English conquest by forcing the English to waste time by hiding their armies behind castle walls in lengthy sieges.
@@hardcharging True
Was that elm? Ash?
We're working a wych elm stave
Would love to buy a hand made recurve bow always grew up shooting bows to find out I have 10% Wales in my blood ❤
damnit now I want one
The wood, the wood, what is it?
The woods shown are Welsh yew and wych elm
@@yeomanbowman thank you for the information
"How far, 8, 9 inches maybe?" If that's what your wife thinks, then that's what it is.
Is this the longbow?
There are many types but dating back to the Neolithic but this is certainly a longbow type bow.
Hello
Keep it under your hat Boy's,,
Welsh warbow? I wonder about this claim. The oldest longbows found in the UK were dug up in Somerset, 2,500 years old....
Makes one wonder....
Yes, very true and perhaps a lot older still with the wonderfully named Rotten Bottom bow
canmore.org.uk/site/71910/rotten-bottom
Predating the Ashcott Heath bow you mention. The claim is more about the massed military usage of a powerful long bow in the field, as opposed to crossbows.
Bradbury's book makes the case well. A very good read
www.amazon.co.uk/Medieval-Archer-Revised-Jim-Bradbury/dp/0851156754
Somerset was part of Wales until the arrival of the Anglo Saxons 5th century all of Britain was Welsh. The Welsh name for Somerset is gwlad yr haf it means land of summer it was renamed by the Anglo Saxons who then called it somer set 😊
Yarp.
loves this
The least sophisticated of all European and Asian bows. It substitutes brute force for improved design.
True, but also ease of construction, economy of materials and durability. Like an AK47!
Retreat to the woods, craft the bow and shafts in few hours and off to make war. Perfect actually. Who needs sophistication when you have a rather large shaft of wood through your chest and out the other side.
What a load of hyped up cobblers.....some set in the middle of that 'warbow' guys.....Elliptical tiller :)
Set, or string follow, in the middle would be the opposite of elliptical tiller. You should seek out the video of Robert Hardy drawing an actual Tudor longbow from the Mary Rose to 30 inches and observe the shape.
Well... I see three problems right away. #1 - Nobody has doubted the ability of these war bows to penetrate mail at close distance. But I'll wager that these arrows would bounce off plate armor. Agincourt seems to be a myth... something else happened but it wasn't English bows decimating foppish French Knights.
#2 - Again this is very short distance. By the time attacking forces got this close to lightly armed bowmen the latter were essentially dead or fled. Swords and axes have a much greater 'rate of fire' than bows. Unless you have a strong defensive wall to stand behind it doesn't matter that you can kill your enemy at very short distance.#3 - Timing. Even a controlled cavalry charge of 20 kph would deliver a solid wall of horsey death in about 3 seconds from that tree to those bowmen. There's no time to shoot again... so how many attackers would they stop with each arrow?
You can’t argue with history, the volume of arrows each archer could get into the air in one minute was about 12 , with say about 5000 archers at agincourt . This by simple calculation would mean once the French horsemen were in the killing ground from 3 to 400 yards a hail of some 60,000 arrows would fall on them before they reached the English . Yes they may have had armour of varying qualities but gaps or weak spots in this armour and especially with their horses meant it would have been catastrophic . The conditions did not suit heavy dismounted knights who sank in the mud and would find it difficult to climb over the dead and downed horses . Your reluctance to see what these war bows which became more lethal as the enemy got closer due to lowering the trajectory and being closer to the target meant even armour had a chance to be compromised. Luckily for the Spanish they never came up against the English longbow or they would have the same respect as was given by the French .
@@pincermovement72 I absolutely can argue with incorrect history (Unless you have video of Agincourt). I have seen many attempts at recreating arrow v. armor for this period and the armor wins by a wide margin. I don't think any credible historian buys the story we were told as children that the French were obliterated by arrow fire.
Even the last movies on this subject focus on the dismounted English knights defeating the French cavalry.
If your archer fired 12 arrows at the elite plate armor of the day you would only get 12 'doinks'. Especially at the ridiculously long distances you cite. THe arrows would be falling at terminal velocity which the armor would laugh off. Maybe, just maybe, at 20-25 yards point blank fire from longbows would have some effect on elite heavy cavalry because, statistically, you'll hit some gaps, eyeslits, horses, etc.
More likely? The terrain, the mud, the defensive barriers, and the arrows combined to clump the French in fronit of the English line where most of them were blocked from fighting by their own troops. Then English dismounted knights chopped them up from the outside of this mass. This means only a fraction (the perimeter) of the French could fight at any given time and this would balance their numerical advantage. Also, in melee, dismounted knights and men at arms are much more effective than mounted knights who spend much of their time trying to control their horse.
@@georgegonzalez-rivas3787 Even the best plate armour had gaps or weaker spots...when you have thousands of arrows flying at you, it's only a matter of probability that one will find a gap like the eye slit or hit an unarmoured part of your horse.
@@keyboardmamma Sounds plausible but I don't think so. I was just at the Higgins armory and I couldn't help but notice that armorers weren't stupid. Those "gaps" are on the downside and arrows are not on an upward trajectory when they hit an armored knight. I would say that a knight in quality armor could stand a flight of 14th, 15th century arrows quite comfortably for hours. Hours. Arrows may have wounded horses and caused confusion but I just don't think that they inflicted meaningful casualties to the corps of French Knights. The whole story of Agincourt is a myth. The battle was won on the ground, hand-to-hand. Perhaps they French were tired after dealing with arrows and mud and confusion. But that's the only advantage the English got from their archers.
(maybe they killed some retainers and men-at-arms or other light infantry or crossbowmen, too).
@@georgegonzalez-rivas3787 You seem very confident. Please volunteer to wear a full harness and then be continually shot at by 1 thousand trained archers using high poundage bows for as you say, hours. Once I see that and the miracle that would be you still standing by the end of 60min then I will consider your argument with more plausibility. The fact you don't think arrows can inflict devastating maiming or lethal blows to horses is concerning. You also forget that armour existed in varying quality. Not all plate armour was carbon steel and/or heat treated and many of the smaller articulating plates for flexible areas were not as thick as you might think, certainly not as thick as the breastplate. Also we know from many sources that it's most likely that the archers were shooting on a flatter trajectory, not raining them down from a maximum range where they would have less power. This opens up more possibilities for arrows to find gaps. You forget the most important gap that is in full view, the eye slit. Bodkin points were narrow enough that they quite likely could have penetrable to lethal depth through the eye slit. You also forget that people are people, no matter how trained and generally are very adverse to things that can kill them. It was not uncommon for cavalry units and formations to be broken simply by the psychological effect of a storm of arrows even when they didn't necessarily kill many people.
Why do the English call it the "English" longbow?
The longbow design doesn't really 'belong' to any country but Anglo-Welsh armies perfected it's use by massed infantry
Because they stolen it from the welsh like allwise
@@gg-eu3tr Longbows (d shaped selfbows of high poundages) were used during the neolithic period. The English and welsh just used it on mass, unlike many other nations that opted for the crossbow because of the lower degree of training needed to use the weapons effectively.
@@deusvult5875you're wrong there mate. First recorded use of welsh longbow en masse was 633AD, in battle against Northumbria, where king Cadwallon of Gwynedd and his retainers actually killed Ofrid, the son of king Edwin and many of his men, to which the saxons had no answer. 400 years later they faced the same welsh problem when the saxon earl ralph of hereford was campaigning against Gruffydd ap Llewelyn. He also writes in manuscript (abingdon chronicle) that while campaigning in mid wales he marched his army into the welsh mountains in 1055 (11 years before hastings) where his cavalry was engaged in a surprise attack by the welsh forces armed with longbows 'of such power and accuracy that the english were put to flight before a spear was thrown', he lost some 500 men to no welsh losses. The welsh in south wales were employing the longbow militarily as a primary weapon system pre 1066, and the vikings never made any great strides in bow warfare technology at all. Saxon border wars and topography of the marches necessitated hit and run tactics, ambush and missile based warfare long before the norman short bows were introduced, and the technology of the longbow had been around since the Neolithic. The welsh 'warbows' were of slightly higher draw weight than the lighter hunting models. And the welsh largely used wych elm. The fact the normans were shocked to witness welsh warbows was recorded in their manuscripts, including the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis and William de Braose. So in conclusion, while the welsh were certainly not responsible for the introduction of the technology to the isles, they are the first recorded use of longbows as a primary weapon system of a fighting force (the welsh of south wales- the north walians were largely spear armed light infantry). Hope this helps. And btw- the 'welsh' element of the video is the style of the bow, their bows are based off the welsh type bows of wych elm/yew construction of the early to high medieval period- not the egyptian style bow of prehistory or the heavier french italian late medieval types which were based off the english warbow, which itself was created as an evolution of the welsh warbows edward longshanks was so impressed by in his invasions of south wales.
Don't want to be the pooper at the party, but straight bows are rather inefficient...
Large amount of your force ends up in accelerating the bow limbs instead of the arrow.
Doesn't mean that longbows aren't fun to shoot. Just that the advertisement falls a bit short, in global comparison.
I thought the longbow was English longbow
The design goes back to the Neolithic at least
you're wrong there mate. First recorded use of welsh longbow en masse was 633AD, in battle against Northumbria, where king Cadwallon of Gwynedd and his retainers actually killed Ofrid, the son of king Edwin and many of his men, to which the saxons had no answer. 400 years later they faced the same welsh problem when the saxon earl ralph of hereford was campaigning against Gruffydd ap Llewelyn. He also writes in manuscript (abingdon chronicle) that while campaigning in mid wales he marched his army into the welsh mountains in 1055 (11 years before hastings) where his cavalry was engaged in a surprise attack by the welsh forces armed with longbows 'of such power and accuracy that the english were put to flight before a spear was thrown', he lost some 500 men to no welsh losses. The welsh in south wales were employing the longbow militarily as a primary weapon system pre 1066, and the vikings never made any great strides in bow warfare technology at all. Saxon border wars and topography of the marches necessitated hit and run tactics, ambush and missile based warfare long before the norman short bows were introduced, and the technology of the longbow had been around since the Neolithic. The welsh 'warbows' were of slightly higher draw weight than the lighter hunting models. And the welsh largely used wych elm. The fact the normans were shocked to witness welsh warbows was recorded in their manuscripts, including the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis and William de Braose. So in conclusion, while the welsh were certainly not responsible for the introduction of the technology to the isles, they are the first recorded use of longbows as a primary weapon system of a fighting force (the welsh of south wales- the north walians were largely spear armed light infantry). Hope this helps. And btw- the 'welsh' element of the video is the style of the bow, their bows are based off the welsh type bows of wych elm/yew construction of the early to high medieval period- not the egyptian style bow of prehistory or the heavier french italian late medieval types which were based off the english warbow, which itself was created as an evolution of the welsh warbows edward longshanks was so impressed by in his invasions of south wales.
It's not particually Welsh, 6ft longbows were used by the Egyptians and a six foot two example was included in a Viking burial. It was the Vikings in the guise of Normans who introduced the longbow, as well as the short cavalry bow, to the British isles. The French square cut longbow made from Italian Yew from the late 1400's is considered the best of all.
I fully agree that the yew longbow design is not, of itself, Welsh and has existed for thousands of years. In Somerset, Britain, the ‘Ashcott Bow’ (a longbow) was excavated and is dated to 2665 BC. Ötzi the Iceman had a yew longbow on him when he died in the Alps of his wounds about 635 years earlier. Despite the huge time gap, Ötzi would have recognised a Welsh warbow, as it was so similar to his own.
"It was the Vikings in the guise of Normans who introduced the longbow, as well as the short cavalry bow, to the British isles."
No. Very wrong. The oldest longbows found in the UK were found in Somerset. From 2,500 years ago.
Sorry, I should have been more explicit. I meant introduced as a military weapon en mass as opposed to a hunting impliment.
Somerset was part of Wales 2000 years ago all of Britain was celtic and there is a big difference in the draw weight of a long bow Welsh longbow as a draw weight of 200 pounds and can hit a person 300 yards away no problem
Two points Gwyn. Go to your local supermarket lay out ten bags of sugar (2.2Lb), then lay out a another ten bags on top, then another, and another until you have nine layers then add eight more. That is 200lbs to be drawn with three fingers by a much smaller man who's life expectincy was 32.5 years because of diet and comprimised immune system.
Second point is that it is indeed possible to hit a standing man at 200yds if you have 24 arrows. It is impossible to hit a moving man.
The welsh warbow was elm, not yew like we see in the intro and for the shooting. Why chop elm wood, and then only show yew?
Hi, I think you're basing you’re who premise on a single early medieval reference from Gerald of Wales , writing in 1188 about his journey through Wales, recounted feats of archery prowess from South Welsh archers in his Itinerarium Cambriae.
“The bows they use are not made of horn, nor of sapwood, nor yet of yew. The Welsh carve their bows out of the dwarf elm-trees in the forest.”
However, there are other references which prove the Welsh used other woods, including yew. Have a look at this by Iolo Goch (1320-1398) or Iolo the Red in English. He was a medieval Welsh bard and composed poems addressed to Welsh nobles, including Owain Glyndŵr.
“Supposing I were in yonder sloping wood opposite, and in my hand a bow of red yew ready bent, with a tough, tight string, and a straight round shaft with a well-rounded nock, having long slender feathers of a green silk fastenting, and a sharp-edged steel head, heavy and thick, and an inch wide, of a green-blue temper, that would draw blood out of a weathercock. And with my foot to a hillock, and my back to an oak, and the wind to my back, and the sun towards my side; and the girl I love best, hard by, looking at me; and I conscious of her being there; I would shoot him such a shot, so strong and far-drawn, so low and sharp, that it would be no better there were between him and me a breastplate and a Milan hauberk, than a wisp of fern, a kiln rug or a herring-net!”
Even this aside, if you lived in South East Wales you’d see the plentiful supply of yew and see how unlikely it would be that yew was not used.
@@yeomanbowman Not really. You got that from the first few sentences on WarbowWales, tab The Welsh Longbow, yes?... So I'd like to ask it again, why show chopping elm, and then only show the iconic yew english longbow?
@@bonsaivlaamseardennen2269 because there are no elms left, none you are allowed to cut to make bows at least
@@bonsaivlaamseardennen2269 There's nothing particularly English about yew, it was used for bowmaking in many many places, including Wales.
Alistair made my bow. Unfortunately, age is catching up with me so I am no longer able to draw it comfortably.
Alas, anno domini! I'm sure it could be worked down
1 your so close,
2 it'd take centuries to make your bows per fighter.
I'm quite sure most of the killing shots were at about 30 yards as the trajectory is flat
@@yeomanbowmanyes.and mostly from ambush? Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
🍼 👶🍼 🏹
I hope you guys aren't hunting and testing with live animals...
Of course not! After the filming, the pig was shared amongst people and eaten. Nothing was wasted.
I only shoot Irish Warbows...who doesnt know the ILB....muuuuaahahahahaaaa
I've seen Albrecht Durer's image of Irish solder's including and archer of 1521. Looked like a short wood or horn bow.
Please stop making sound effects on arrows… really Awkward😅😅
Check out this video th-cam.com/video/56_FE0kRY9o/w-d-xo.html
@@yeomanbowman so?
Not Welsh
We're not claiming the longbow was a Welsh invention. The design in at least 10,000 years old and found all around the world
you're wrong there mate. First recorded use of welsh longbow en masse was 633AD, in battle against Northumbria, where king Cadwallon of Gwynedd and his retainers actually killed Ofrid, the son of king Edwin and many of his men, to which the saxons had no answer. 400 years later they faced the same welsh problem when the saxon earl ralph of hereford was campaigning against Gruffydd ap Llewelyn. He also writes in manuscript (abingdon chronicle) that while campaigning in mid wales he marched his army into the welsh mountains in 1055 (11 years before hastings) where his cavalry was engaged in a surprise attack by the welsh forces armed with longbows 'of such power and accuracy that the english were put to flight before a spear was thrown', he lost some 500 men to no welsh losses. The welsh in south wales were employing the longbow militarily as a primary weapon system pre 1066, and the vikings never made any great strides in bow warfare technology at all. Saxon border wars and topography of the marches necessitated hit and run tactics, ambush and missile based warfare long before the norman short bows were introduced, and the technology of the longbow had been around since the Neolithic. The welsh 'warbows' were of slightly higher draw weight than the lighter hunting models. And the welsh largely used wych elm. The fact the normans were shocked to witness welsh warbows was recorded in their manuscripts, including the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis and William de Braose. So in conclusion, while the welsh were certainly not responsible for the introduction of the technology to the isles, they are the first recorded use of longbows as a primary weapon system of a fighting force (the welsh of south wales- the north walians were largely spear armed light infantry). Hope this helps. And btw- the 'welsh' element of the video is the style of the bow, their bows are based off the welsh type bows of wych elm/yew construction of the early to high medieval period- not the egyptian style bow of prehistory or the heavier french italian late medieval types which were based off the english warbow, which itself was created as an evolution of the welsh warbows edward longshanks was so impressed by in his invasions of south wales.
Dont complicate the procress.
Not sure what you mean?