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The Crooked Stick: A History of the Longbow (Weapons in History) | 
 enlarge | Author: Hugh D. H. Soar
Publisher: Westholme Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $6.28
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Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 559987
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 243
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 1594160023
Dewey Decimal Number: 355.8241
EAN: 9781594160028
ASIN: 1594160023
Publication Date: November 1, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Hardback 14 - Copyright 2004, excellent, new, speedy delivery
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Book Description
On a clear July morning in 1346, a small force approached the walls of Caen for battle. The attackers rode to the field on horseback, banners and pennants fluttering in the light breeze. Behind them marched bowmen in tightly ranked units. At the sound of a crisp battle horn, they halted. A twinge of apprehension rippled through the thousands of Norman defenders as they looked down at the opposing army, for precision archery formation had long since disappeared as a military concept in medieval France. Here was not the expected rabble of unrated bucolics cowed by the might of France; confronting them was a quietly determined group of trained soldiers armed, not with the familiar arbalest, but with a new and strange weapon of great length. The defenders of Caen were about to meet the English war bow and its deadly battle shaft. For the next 100 years, this weapon, the "crooked stick," would command continental battlefields, etching its fearsome reputation at Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt, and Verneuil, while establishing England as a international power for the first time. Although the longbow is best known for its deployment during the Hundred Years' War, its origins lie with ancient Saxon seafighters and Welsh craftsmen, while today the bow is a vibrant part of the traditional archery scene. In The Crooked Stick: A History of the Longbow, distinguished historian Hugh H. D. Soar pulls together all of these strings, presenting the engaging and often surprising story of this most charismatic stand-off weapon. After a careful consideration of Neolithic bows and arrows, the author weighs both the Welsh and English claims as first masters of the longbow; he then describes the bow's use in the medieval hunt and its associated customs. The bow, however, made its deepest mark in warfare and the author follows the weapon's development and tactical deployment, from the hand-bow used during William the Conqueror's campaigns and the brutal struggles of the Scots, Welsh, and English to the continental set-piece battles between England and France where arrow storms launched by massed longbow archers brought death in the hundreds to both man and horse. After more than a century as the most potent battlefield weapon, the longbow gave way reluctantly to firearms. Its hold on the national character of England was set, though, and its legend was kept alive with great stories, such as Robin Hood, and its retention as a weapon with Royal favor. In addition, the recreational use of the bow became immensely popular and, particularly during the Regency and Victorian periods, archery clubs and societies provided one of the few opportunities for men and women to meet socially. In the twentieth century it appeared as if the longbow would finally disappear into the fog of legend, but a new interest in traditional craft and expertise gained hold, and the pleasure of using this ancient instrument is now firmly part of archery around the world. Through a remarkable command of manuscript and printed sources and a judicious use of archaeological evidence, including prehistoric rock paintings, artifacts preserved in peat bogs, and magnificent finds such as a frozen Neolithic hunter and the wreck of the Mary Rose, the author establishes the deep connections of this bow to England, Scotland, and Wales. Figures in the past, William Wallace, Edward III, and Henry V appear alongside detailed descriptions of bows, strings, arrows, and arrowheads, while the rise of institutions and craftsmen devoted to the longbow are presented to show how knowledge of this weapon was carried forward across the centuries. Today, bowhunters, target shooters, and others in the sport of archery will find that The Crooked Stick will enhance their own interests in a bow of ancient pedigree and legendary status.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 One of the great books on the storied history of the longbow April 30, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I read this book for a graduate course in medieval history.
Hugh Soar is a great historian of the longbow. "The Crooked Stick: A History of the Longbow," is a great comprehensive work for the history of this medieval weapon of mass destruction. In his book, Featherstone has meticulously researched the history of the longbow, from ancient history through its greatest impact in warfare during the Hundred Years' War; specifically, the battles of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt.
Soar turns his attention to the more detailed study of the longbow's genesis and development in Britain. It is definitively impossible to know when the longbow first came into existence in Britain. However, history does record several historical periods when we know that the longbow, or a weapon similar to it, was used and introduced by invaders of the British Isles. There is evidence that shows that the Germanic longbow made its way into Britain with the invasion of the Saxons in the fifth century. Viking law, from mid-tenth century, required that while aboard ship, fighting men must be equipped with bows and arrows as an addition to their other usual weapons that they employed in their raiding parties. One can still read Viking Sagas of the era extolling the use of bows and arrows as weapons. In 1055, Welsh bowmen while firing from hidden positions on mountain ridges, cut down the Earl of Hereford's Saxon cavalry with devastating effect. This action would be a great lesson lost on King Harold eleven years later, in his defeat at the battle of Hastings. King Harold did have some longbow men in the battle, if one takes the Bayeux Tapestry to be a true pictorial history of the Norman Conquest. Unfortunately, for the Anglo-Saxon army of King Harold, he had to travel very quickly over 250 miles south to engage the invading Normans, which prevented him from taking many archers on foot. In fact, the Bayeux Tapestry is famous for its depiction of King Harold being fatally shot in the eye by a Norman arrow, and thus, changing the course of British history forever.
It is during the fourteenth century in Britain that the longbow gains its reputation as a force multiplier in battle. In military terminology, a force multiplier denotes a factor, in this case, the longbow providing a technological factor, dramatically increasing the combat capability of a military force. In keeping with the theme of our course in comparing fourteenth century events to modern times, one can easily equate the importance of the longbow to fourteenth century warfare in the same way that one can compare the importance that the machine gun had on early twentieth century warfare-specifically during World War I. The longbow provided the English armies of Edward I, through the end of the Hundred Years' War, a distinct and singular advantage over the French armies and their cavalry forces.
Despite all of the early history of the longbow in Britain, it is Edward I who is the real progenitor of the longbow, as used in battle. Edward I keenly learned the tactics and logistics that were necessary to employ with great success the longbow on the battlefields of Wales and Scotland. He realized that the longbow was less expensive and awkward to use in battle then the crossbow, and with a moderate amount of practice, his Welsh bowmen could shoot more arrows in a given time then cross bowmen could. He worked hard at building a national army. In 1298, at the battle of Falkirk, most of his longbow men were Welsh. By 1346, most longbow men were English. They were well trained, well paid, and could be counted by the thousands. Longbow men where deemed so important to the army that they were given pardons for all types of offenses, including murder, in order to go off to France to fight. Their pay was comparable to that of master craftsmen. During the reign of Edward II, English military prowess was in decline. Although Edward II continued many of the recruiting and logistical policies of his father, his tactical decisions, and those of his commanders, were sorely lacking. He suffered an embarrassing defeat at the battle of Bannockburn at the hands of Robert the Bruce of Scotland. However, the lessons his son, Edward III, learned from that defeat put the British army in good stead for fighting in the Hundred Years' War. Those lessons, learned and used in such future battles as Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, were insuring good organization before battle and good discipline of soldiers during the fight. In addition, cavalry without longbow support was useless against enemy spearmen. Conversely, longbow men who were isolated on the battlefield without support, would easily fall prey to enemy cavalry attack.
Crecy is emblematic of the successes that the British enjoyed at the battles of Poitiers and Agincourt. It was the sight of the first major battle of The Hundred Years' War and was a rousing success for the invading British army of Edward III and his sixteen-year-old son, Edward, also known as the Black Prince. Edward III had 12,000 men arrayed against a French force of between 30,000 to 40,000 combatants. Although heavily outnumbered, Edward's longbow men were the force multiplier that garnered a stunning victory for the British over the French. The record shows that the English longbow men were capable of firing ten arrows in a minute. Most estimates of the longbow tactics used in the battle, state that the over one-half million arrows fired by the British, easily cut down the French armored cavalry. The longbow, and the brilliant way in which it was employed, were responsible for the lopsided casualty figures of the battle. Although casualty figures are somewhat unreliable, most sources put the French losses at one-third of the French nobility-about 12,000 men in all, against the British losses of 150 to 1,000 total. In the battle, longbow men comprised anywhere from between five to one, upwards to three to one, of the English invading force. Soar states in his book, "They were some of the finest, most highly trained and militarily efficient troops that any nation ever put into the field of battle." So, why did the French when seeing the efficient destructive power of the longbow, not learn from the advantage it could afford them and emulate the English? Soar postulates a few reasons, such as, the French culture of class snobbery made it difficult for the nobles to accept peasants as equals on the battlefield. In addition, cavalry and chivalry were too hard for French nobles to give up. Another reason was that the French King did not have the power to field a national army in the same way that his English counterparts did. French kings had to rely on their nobles and Italian mercenaries to prosecute their wars during this time; thus, they could not enforce regular training regimens, nor standardized battlefield logistics and tactics. In fact, the longbow reigned supreme on the battlefield until the mid-sixteenth century. By this time, other technologies such as better-tempered armor, cannon, and musketry, overtook the effectiveness of the longbow.
In conclusion, I highly recommend Soar's book to any serious student of medieval history. "The Crooked Stick: A History of the Longbow," is an excellent introductory work for understanding the significance that the weapon had during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It is well written and appointed with plenty of illustrations. The book is a very enjoyable read for anyone with even a casual interest in the longbow or the Hundred Years' War.
Recommended reading for those interested in medieval history, and military history.
If you are into Archery February 7, 2007
This is a very excellent book on the subject out done only by his subsequent book on the English War Bow. He is a most knowledgeable! Both of his books are MUST haves!
A Must-Read for Anyone Interested in the Longbow July 31, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In The Crooked Stick, Hugh Soar provides historically sound and wonderfully entertaining information about diverse aspects of the history of the longbow. Though he gives appropriate attention to the much-studied use of the longbow in the Hundred Years War, Soar begins his book with fascinating chapters about the early development of the bow and the place of the bow in the elaborate ritual of medieval hunting. After continuing through an excellent discussion of the English war bow, Soar moves on to the less familiar ground of the development of recreational and social archery in England, including the rise of the archery societies in the Victorian period.
Throughout the book Soar maintains a pleasant, somewhat conversational style. The reader can easily imagine that he is listening to Mr. Soar as he gives a talk to one of the longbow societies in which he is well known. The combination of this agreeable tone with the well selected historical information makes for a thoroughly pleasurable and rewarding read. The Crooked Stick should be read by anyone with even a casual interest in the longbow, and should be added to the library of anyone with a deeper interest.
 Easy reading for a bow buff March 2, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A good, easy to read history of the longbow without getting bogged down in details.Some of the English terms could use a little explaining to us Americans
 I shot an arrow..... February 11, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have just finished reading "The Crooked Stick" and have found it an interesting if pedantic history of the great English long bow (the deadliest military weapon of its day) and the general field of archery since that time. I now know more about archery than I ever did but was left wanting more. I would like to see a greatly expanded glossary and index. Soar seems to be writing to the archery crowd who are already familiar with arcane archery terms, but the general reader is left in a bit of a fog.
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