English longbowmen and clothyard arrows
Chen-song Qin
to have used the two-finger draw (which also might have given rise to
the two-finger salute <g>) and drew to the cheek. Now I've also read
material on the clothyard arrows that mention their length as something
close to 3 feet. Considering how modern archers use the Mediterranean
draw to the cheek, and on average males have drawlengths of 29-30
inches, is it just me or did the Medieval English have very long arms?
So how long were clothyard arrows, really?
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Abkai juse, fucihifusa, ejen sefu, coohai janggin, guwan i besise!
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erilar
<cq...@ualberta.ca> wrote:
> From what I've read about the subject, Medieval English longbowmen seems
> to have used the two-finger draw (which also might have given rise to
> the two-finger salute <g>) and drew to the cheek. Now I've also read
> material on the clothyard arrows that mention their length as something
> close to 3 feet. Considering how modern archers use the Mediterranean
> draw to the cheek, and on average males have drawlengths of 29-30
> inches, is it just me or did the Medieval English have very long arms?
> So how long were clothyard arrows, really?
Why only draw to the cheek? I draw further back myself, and I'm just an
old lady who took up archery fairly recently with a 40# recurve.
Mary
--
Mary Loomer Oliver (aka erilar)
Much madness is divinest sense
To a discerning eye--
Much sense the starkest madness. (Emily, of course)
Erilar's Cave Annex: http://www.win.bright.net/~erilarlo (revised)
Chen-song Qin
erilar wrote:
> Why only draw to the cheek? I draw further back myself, and I'm just an
> old lady who took up archery fairly recently with a 40# recurve.
> Mary
Well, it's actually drawn to behind the cheek, after all that part will
provide a good anchor point. But the term "to the cheek" is just used to
describe it I believe. You can probably go back further with a mechanical
release, but I never messed with those things.
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> Typo somewhere, as the USSR didn't exist in 1900.
Well, you are wrong. I once read a Soviet textbook called "History of the
USSR from Ancient times till present". Chapter One began with the remains of
First Soviet Man dating from 600,000 BC.
USSR is forever! :-)
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Penny Roberts
Chen-song Qin wrote:
> So how long were clothyard arrows, really?
I came across a theory (sorry long time ago - Dorothy Hartley maybe) that said
that it ws the other way around. The clothyard arrow wasn't a yard. It was the
length of a person's clothyyard. It used to be traditional to measure a yard by
holding the end of a length of cloth in one hand and bringing the other end to
the nose. Thus each person's yard was dependant on the length of their arm.
Which would fit in just perfectly with the way an arrow length is decided.
Incidentally my mother taught me to measure cloth that way. My "yard" is only
2ft 6ins but the Mary Rose archers being 6ft would have had 3ft "yards" by this
method.
Penny
David Brewer
cq...@ualberta.ca "Chen-song Qin" writes:
> From what I've read about the subject, Medieval English longbowmen seems
> to have used the two-finger draw (which also might have given rise to
> the two-finger salute <g>) and drew to the cheek. Now I've also read
> material on the clothyard arrows that mention their length as something
> close to 3 feet. Considering how modern archers use the Mediterranean
> draw to the cheek, and on average males have drawlengths of 29-30
> inches, is it just me or did the Medieval English have very long arms?
Gosh, no. Surely everyone knows that medieval people were tiny
little folk.
On the other hand, Englishmen did have tails. Long arms and
body hair would be natural compliments.
> So how long were clothyard arrows, really?
There are, out there, far more informed sources than I.
That said, and this is all AFAIK, clothyards are a Flemish
measurement for cloth, otherwise an "ell". Something like 30
inches.
According to Clive Bartlett ("English Longbowman 1330-1515",
Osprey Warrior Series) "The vast majority of war arrows recovered
from the Mary Rose are, reputedly, some 30 1/2 in. long."
--
David Brewer
"It is foolishness and endless trouble to cast a stone at every
dog that barks at you." - George Silver, gentleman, c.1600
Mary Gentle
p...@bodley.ox.ac.uk (Penny Roberts) wrote:
<snip>
> It used to be traditional to measure a yard by holding the
>end of a length of cloth in one hand and bringing the other
> end to the nose.
What's this 'used to'? :)
>Thus each person's yard was dependant on the length of their
> arm. Which would fit in just perfectly with the way an
>arrow length is decided. Incidentally my mother taught me to
>measure cloth that way. My "yard" is only 2ft 6ins but the
>Mary Rose archers being 6ft would have had 3ft "yards"
> by this method.
Mother and grandmother, in my case. My clothyard isn't 36
inches either, but I find that once you've established what
it actually is, it's easy to measure off the required
accurate yardage by this method.
Mary