The purpose of this video was to demonstrate the comparative speed of shot between the English longbow, and the hand-spanned crossbow.

As you can see in the video, the crossbow wasn't as slow to shoot as many people make out, but please keep in mind that the hand-spanned crossbow is a very quick weapon to span and shoot, much quicker that the other types of crossbow in use during the middle ages.

Due to the heavy construction of the crossbow's steel prod, or bow, and the short draw length along the crossbow's tiller, the crossbow was a very inefficient weapon. Although the crossbow in the video has a draw weight of around 130 lb, compared to the longbow's 110 lb, our crossbow could only manage a maximum range of some 90 yards, compared to the longbow's 250 yards. To compensate, medieval crossbows were often many times the draw weight of the bow used here, and thus required the use of a belt and hook, Goats Foot or Windlass to draw. This made them much slower than the longbow. Due to this slow re-loading crossbowmen often sheltered behind Pavises, or large shields, while re-loading on an open battlefield. These shortcomings were not an issue, however, when the crossbow was used to defend walled towns or castles, a situation where the crossbow excelled.

If you wish to see the longbow compared with the more powerful, but slower, windlass crossbow, then watch the new series of Warriors on the History Channel. In episode 5, on the English Knight, you can see Martin and I going head to head, pitting a 110 lb yew longbow against an 850lb windlass crossbow, while Terry Schappert counts the amount of arrows and bolts we manage to loose in 1 minute. It makes for a very interesting comparison with this video! (The episode was screened in the US on April 2nd, and comes to the UK in the Autumn, but it is available to watch on the History Channel website too).

Here are some answers to the most common questions we receive:

1.The longbow was made by the Italian bowyer Celestio Poletti. It is made of high-altitude Italian Yew, has a draw weight of 110 lb and cost around £700

2.The crossbow was made by Robin Knight. It has a steel prod and a draw weight of around 130 lb. It cost around £250.

3.We do not make crossbows, arrows or longbows for other people.

4.The music is shareware by Jean Paul Grois and Forson Meyer, and can be obtained through the Soundclick website.

Please feel free to post sensible comments.

Best wishes,

Nick

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Why the title? - Well we couldn't help but have a little joke at the expense of those who surf YouTube looking for adult material. Plus we thought it would be fun to see if a suggestive title would have any effect on the amount of hits this video receives compared to our others.

The title does of course have a legitimate meaning. The feather that sits at 90 degrees to the bow when the arrow is on the string is known as the "Cock Feather", and naturally the video contains many shots of arrows achieving "Deep Penetration" into the targets.

For those that are interested the bow Martin shoots in the video was made by the Italian bowyer Celestino Poletti. It has a draw weight of 110 lbs and is made of close-grained high-altitude Italian Yew.

The arrows were half inch tapered to 3/8" at the nock, with heads made by Martin himself and John Marshall. The metal used in the heads is steel and the shafts are Poplar or Birch.

Martin did not penetrate completely through either pieces of wood (we didn't think he would), but he did go through the plate without any trouble at all. And for those "clankies" among you that think we are making some kind of statement about medieval armour - WE ARE NOT. Please do not write to tell us that medieval armour was thicker and harder, because we already know this - thank you!

Sorry, but we do not make arrows or bows for other people so please do not ask us to.

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The purpose of this test was to see what protection a section of butted maille (chainmail) would give against arrows, with a variety of medieval heads, shot from 100lb English longbows.

The maille used in this demonstration was of 6-in-1 construction, made from 8mm spring Steel rings. This is a much tighter design than the more commonly used 4-in-1 construction, of which most medieval armour was made.

We are well aware medieval maille was riveted or made of alternate rows of riveted and solid/welded rings, as compared with this test piece which was only butted. We also accept that butted maille rings will part easier than riveted rings, but this was the only maille we had to hand and once we can obtain some more authentic maille we shall do some further tests and post them here.

We are also aware that a maille shirt would have been worn over the top of a padded jack, which would thus afford extra protection. During these tests we noted that the arrows that missed the maille went right through the straw target, with their heads protruding on the other side to a distance of up to 2 inches, whereas the arrows that hit the maille did not come through. Therefore the maille was effective in absorbing a good deal of the arrow's momentum. However, the arrows still penetrated the straw target by a good inch, and if it can be accepted that the straw target is denser than a typical padded jack then it is our guess that the arrow head would still penetrate far enough through maille and jack to puncture the skin. There may also be enough blunt force trauma from the arrow to break bones even if the arrow were not to penetrate far into flesh.

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The modern day debate over whether or not arrows penetrated medieval armour in the 14th and 15th centuries is one that is conducted by those "for" and "against" with almost as much passion as the combatants on the fields of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt fought during the Hundred Years War.

What cannot be ignored by either side is that there are contemporary records from eye witnesses to these battles and others, that record both arrows penetrating plate armour, and of arrows bouncing off. No reasonable person should claim that arrows either always defeated plate, or always glanced off. To do so would be naïve at best.

Our video aims neither to prove nor dispel these accounts. It is to be viewed with an open mind and for you to take as you please. All we ask is that you keep in mind the following points:

1. The bows we are shooting are at the lower end of the poundage medieval archers would have used during the period that concerns us. The finds from the wreck of the Mary Rose prove that the medieval longbow used by the military archer, typically referred to as the Warbow, would more likely have been around 120lbs draw weight, and possibly more.

2. The heads on the arrows we are shooting have not been sharpened nor hardened, as was often the case in medieval times.

3. The carbon content of the steel we are shooting at is higher than the average medieval armour, and therefore tougher.

4. The armour of a medieval knight would have been thickest on the breastplate and the front of the helmet. To reduce weight the armour would have been thinner elsewhere. In this video we are therefore shooting directly at the areas of a knights armour that were specifically designed to resist the penetrative effects of an arrow. That they bounce off should come as no surprise, but note that every arrow penetrated up to half an inch before doing so.

5. There are only 3 of us shooting here and we are shooting directly from the front. In a medieval battle the front line would have stretched for many hundreds or thousands of yards. The front at Agincourt was 3/4 of a mile long. With thousands of archers shooting at once into the massed ranks of approaching knights and men at arms it is natural to suppose that not every archer would have shot at a target directly to his front. Hits to the sides of the armour would have been common.

6. In order to have the greatest chance of killing, an archer would have shot to hit the weak points of the enemy's armour, namely the visor slits, the legs, the sides and the joints.

7. Many arrows would have glanced off their intended targets and would have gone ricocheting at crazy angles through the ranks to either side, in so doing quite possibly finding these weak points by accident.

8. Not all the combatants on any field of conflict would have been rich enough, or of the social class, to wear the very best state-of-the-art armour that was available at that time. Many would have worn old armour, handed down armour or just the few pieces they could afford or had scavenged from previous battles. Many would have worn maille (chainmail) or just padded jacks and leather armour.

9. The blunt force trauma from each hit could have been enough to injure alone, or at least severely put the knight off his stride.

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The Heavy bow archers of Hampshire and Dorset practising with longbows of 90lbs to 125lbs draw weight.

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My first attempts at shooting my new bow.

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Martin's first real attempt at shooting his new bow..

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Nick's first draw of his new 123lb Italian Yew longbow in the workshop of Steve Stratton of DIY Archery.

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Martin's first draw of his new 110lb Italian Yew longbow in the workshop of Steve Stratton at DIY Archery.

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A step-by-step look at how I make 1/2" medieval-style arrows for use with a heavy poundage English Longbow.

The heads shown in the video are hand forged by Hector Cole and John Marshall. Hector can be Googled on the web or seen in person at major UK re-enactment fayres.

The music is by Ennio Morricone, made famous by the "Spaghetti Westerns" featuring Clint Eastwood.

Sorry, but I do not make arrows for other people.

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100 lb English longbows in action against a variety of targets

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A short "how-to" guide to drawing and shooting the English Warbow

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