Medieval crossbowman
As a crossbowman you would carry a weapon that could pierce mail at close range and needed little strength to aim – the trade-off being a slow, fiddly reload.
How the crossbow worked
A crossbow is a short bow mounted crosswise on a wooden stock, with a trigger mechanism – often a rotating ‘nut’ – that holds the string until released. It shoots a short, heavy bolt, or quarrel. Medieval bows were first made of wood, then of composite horn and sinew, and from the 14th century increasingly of steel, giving very high draw weights. To span the stronger ones, crossbowmen used a stirrup at the front to brace the bow with the foot, a belt hook, a goat’s-foot lever, and later a windlass or a geared cranequin.
Slow but deadly
A trained archer could shoot several arrows in the time a crossbowman reloaded once – estimates suggest around two bolts per minute for a typical crossbow. But the crossbow could be held cocked, aimed calmly and learned relatively quickly. It was ideal for sieges and for defending walls, and in the field crossbowmen often worked behind a pavise, a large standing shield carried by an assistant or on their backs.
Genoese crossbowmen were Europe’s most famous mercenaries. At Crécy in 1346, fighting for France, they were reportedly hampered by rain and by having left their pavises with the baggage, and suffered heavily under English arrows.
Banned, then everywhere
The Second Lateran Council of 1139 condemned the use of bows and crossbows against Christians – a ban widely ignored. Towns across Europe, including in Poland, formed marksmen’s confraternities to train citizens for defence, and Polish town militias and castle garrisons relied heavily on crossbows. Kraków’s Bractwo Kurkowe, the Fowler Brotherhood, traces its roots to the 13th century and still holds its annual shooting contest.
