Put the joystick down and go shoot your bow

[Charles Ek]

#2774

The December 2014/January 2015 issue of TBM is now available online. (If you’ve been smart enough to listen to our Webmother’s entreaties and sign up!) Among the gems is an article titled simply “Crecy”, by Wayne van Zwoll. The title is the name of a place that the English celebrate and the French would probably prefer to forget. You’ll have to read the article or consult some other source to know why, if you don’t already.

All this is to set the stage for a recitation here of a now-repealed English statute, the mandates of which we would all do well to remember:

“Anno 33rd Hen. VIII. c.9. A.D.1541-2.

CAP. IX

An Act for the Maintenance of Artillery, and debarring unlawful Games.

Recital of Stats. 3 H.8. c.3 a & 6 H.8 c.2. Several new devised Games the Cause of the decay of Archery –

All Men under the Age of fifty Years shall have Bows and Arrows for shooting. Men-Children between Seven Years and Seventeen Shall have a Bow and 2 Shafts. Men about Seventeen Years of Age shall keep a Bow and 4 Arrows.– Penalty 6s. 8d.

§1,2,3. Shooting at rovers. Shooting in Yew-Bows. The Inhabitants of every Town shall cut Butts and shoot at them.“

…

In this day of limitations on the export of arms technologies, it’s interesting to read these next provisions:

§ 8. Aliens shall not convey Bows or Arrows beyond the Sea.

§ 9. Aliens shall not use shooting in Long-bows; Penalty forfeiture of Bows.

There follows a prohibition for part of the year on various entertainments that were distracting archers from their shooting, including bowling, tennis, dicing, cards, etc. Various officials were authorized to enter places where these games were played and arrest and imprison the players and the operators until they put up sureties to secure their release.

The message is clear: Put the joystick down and go shoot your bow. The fate of England may not depend on it any more, but your success in the field undoubtedly does. 😉

[Stephen Graf]

#13125

The minimum arrow count is interesting. I think I exceeded 2 arrows at about 3 years of age and it has been increasing since. I just can’t seem to get rid of them. They might come in handy one day 😀

Of course, I was about the same age when I figured out how much fun the joystick was to play with too 😯 😳

[Charles Ek]

#13164

The van Zwoll article indicates that English military archers carried from three dozen to a hundred arrows onto the battlefield. When they burned through the hundred at Crécy, they plucked replacements from the ground and the corpses of the enemy …

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#13169

Looking forward to reading this article. Van Zwoll’s historical pieces are always interesting.

Personally, I think we should bring back the weekly, mandatory archery practice day for all citizenry. 😉

[Col Mike]

#13721

Steve

I believe he is referring to the joystick that you fly planes with not the one that shortens in equal increments as your draw length:lol: Now time to go order some more arras as Dr Ed would say.

[Charles Ek]

#13740

colmike wrote: Steve

I believe he is referring to the joystick that you fly planes with not the one that shortens in equal increments as your draw length:lol: Now time to go order some more arras as Dr Ed would say.

It was in fact computer game joysticks that I had in mind, in the context of new games that distract archers from practicing … ’nuff said. 🙄 😀

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