On this blog I usually discuss stories, their process of creation, and ones that I particularly enjoy. Despite my penchant for fantasy, I’m also an eager student of history. I suspect the same is true for most fantasy writers. Most of us like to ground our fantasies in reality; even in a world full of magic, its important to know the difference between a gladius and a spatha. Writers usually pick an analogous time period and stick with it. If a writer is creating a medieval fantasy, he must understand the feudal system, the terminology for arms and armor, which tools that were available to people of that period, what the common food staples were, and so on and so forth. The amount of research needed to assemble all this information is considerable and will make a history enthusiast even from those who were not previously inclined. In today’s post, I’d like to provide a resource for writers that might save them an hour of research. For the rest of you, sit back and relax as we discuss all things archery.
I’ve been an archer for about as long as I can remember. I’m not sure who first introduced me to the sport, but my grandfather served as my great teacher. He gave me four bows over the course of his life, three of which were coveted Ben Pearson recurves. My first bow was a compound with a draw weight around ten pounds. Draw weight is the amount of weight it takes to pull the string back to its full draw. The force associated with that weight is then transferred to the arrow, making draw weight a standard measure of bow power. Essentially, my bow with a ten pound draw weight requires me to lift ten pounds with my fingers every time I want to draw the bow. Grandpa gave me the first recurve the day I proved I could pull back the thirty-five pound draw. Next were the forty-five pound and fifty-five pound bows, the latter of which I still regularly shoot today.
There are three broad types of bows: longbows, recurves, and compounds. Longbows are the most traditional bow. They are comprised of a stiff stick and a string. The stiffness of the wood resists being bent, and stores potential energy when bent by the string. Drawing the string back further loads the bow with potential energy. On release, the string transfers the energy into the arrow as the wood snaps back into a more relaxed position. Longbows generally have considerable “stacking”, which means that the last few inches of the draw contain a disproportionately greater amount of the draw weight. A bow that stacks is generally more difficult to shoot than a “smooth” drawing bow (draw weight is more proportionally distributed throughout the draw). In longbows, the power of the bow is directly related to its stiffness and the bow length.
Recurve bows have limbs that curve forward when unstrung. The forward curve is achieved by heating and bending the wood into position, or by construction from several pieces. Stringing a recurve bow loads considerably more energy into the limbs than stringing a longbow because the limbs are being pulled back further. In many recurve bows, the limbs may be pulled 180º from their original position. The amount of flexibility and elasticity required for such a large range of limb movement is more than wood can handle, so recurves are generally constructed of composite materials. In the ancient world, sinew and horn were used to strengthen the wood of recurve bows; sinew was glued on the back of the limbs for elasticity, horn on the inside belly for stiffness. Composite recurve bows were first used by the nomadic pastoralists on the Eurasian Steppe, who famously used the bows for horse archery. The clever design of the composite recurve allowed for the construction of shorter bows that were easier to manage while mounted, but still held considerable power. but became the bow of choice for most people that lived on the edges of that region. In Europe, the Greeks and the Romans adopted the recurve bow and it became popular in all areas that were sufficiently dry for its use. The animal glue that held the composite bows together didn’t hold up well in wet climates, so it never became popular in places like the British Isles. Modern composite recurves are made with multiple layers of wood and fiberglass. The best bow woods are yew and Osage orange because they have an internal laminate structure that mimics composite materials.
Compound bows are the most popular bows used for hunting today. They have pulleys that considerably increase the power of the bow. Compound bows also have a resting state at full draw, which prevents the archer from having to hold the full weight of the draw. Traditional bows are generally not held at full draw for very long because of the strain on the archer, but compound bows can be held at full draw nearly indefinitely. Compound bows are generally constructed of metal, plastic, carbon fiber, and fiberglass. The compound bow was invented in the late 1960’s, and most models today are highly modular. A compound bow may be outfitted with a quiver, sights, counterweights, and mechanical release systems. While very effective for hunting, the compound bow’s long and irregular draw would make it a very poor weapon of war.
Humans have been using bows for around 18,000 years and the evidence suggests that they have been used both as a hunting tool and a weapon of war for the breadth of their history. The bow has turned the tide of many a battle. The Scythian victory over the Achaemenid Empire, the Parthian defeat of the Romans at the Battle of Carrhae, and the English victory over the French at Agincourt were all thanks to the power of archery. The Huns ravaged Europe with the bow, and with it the Mongols built the largest land empire the world has ever seen. The bow is a great leveler on the field of battle. The Mongols conquered half the world using arrow points primarily made of stone and bone. A simple steel point is armor piercing, even against the sophisticated plate armor of the 16th century. However, bows are not a weapon that anyone may pick up and be proficient with. Bows require strength to use, and take years of practice to master. That being said, they take less strength than melee weapons and are intuitive to use. This has no doubt led to the rise in fantasy circles of the bow being a “dexterity” weapon, one that is always used by the weak and small. While it’s true that a bow with enough power to kill requires little strength, most bows used in war had considerable draw weights. The famous bowmen of England pulled longbows with draw weights of two hundred pounds, forces that put so much strain on their bodies that it permanently deformed their skeletons. Smaller composite recurves used for war would have had substantially lower draw weights, but the point stands. The infamous women archers of Scythia (likely the inspiration for the Amazons) would probably have used bows with considerable draw weights.
Since this post is getting rather long, I think I’ll break it into two parts. Next week we’ll look at quivers, arrows, and shooting techniques.
The Sensiahd word of the day is “cwra”, meaning “bow”. Example sentence: Eth cosilien cwrae fyn. The wood elves have bows.