Weapons: The Arbalest (Crossbow)
Also
referred to as an arbalest, the crossbow was seen as early as 1066
but didnt become popular for about another century. The first
crossbows were
constructed entirely of wood but later models incorporated animal
cartilage in the yew wood frame for elasticity. The original crossbows
were actually
very poor weapons: very slow to load, prone to misfires, and overly
complicated for the generally mechanically disinclined population
of the period. As
technology improved during the middle ages and mechanical devices
were developed for loading and aiming crossbows, their use and popularity
increased. The main advantage crossbows had over bows was that they
could be loaded ahead of time and held effortlessly loaded while aiming.
Their
greatest detractors were their slow reload ability, inaccuracy, and
considerable weight. A crossbowman (also called an arbalester) was
only expected
to fire one bolt per six shots by an archer. Further, they were very
short ranged weapons and their bow strings (sinew or gut) were often
useless in wet
or damp weather. Most early crossbows had a stirrup on the front of
the stock (squint through this text to the crossbow on the wallpaper
for an
example). To reload the crossbow, the archer placed the stirrup on
the ground, his foot through the stirrup, and pulled the bowstring
back as hard as he
could until he notched it in the nut (the mechanism which held the
string in place, depressing the crude trigger bar allowed the bolt
to fly). Mechanical
loading devices involving pulleys and gears made this process considerably
simpler, but by no means easy. An interesting historical footnote
about
the crossbow: in 1139 the Pope decreed crossbows to be too murderous
for Christian warfare and directed an interdict against
them. Naturally, he
still encouraged their use against infidels. Richard the Lionhearted
disobeyed the edict and continued to employ crossbowmen in his armies.
To the
amused sense of irony for many of the period (and us), he was later
killed by a crossbow bolt.