The History of the Crossbow
The crossbow is a weapon of antiquity. There is plausible evidence that the Chinese developed the weapon as early as 1500 BC Surviving examples exist in China from as far back as the third century BC These Han dynasty relics display a great deal of sophistication. The lock (chi) is comprised of a cast bronze box which holds a rotating nut and a two-lever seer and trigger that locks the release in a set position. Roman soldiers captured and ransomed in Sogdiana in central Asia in the first decades of modern reckoning are credited with bringing the technology of the crossbow to the West.
Though little remains of the tillers or prods of these early Roman crossbows, at least one nut has been found intact. This nut is cylindrical, with fingers cut into the top to hold a string, and a seer notch cut into the underside. It is center-bored for an axle. The cuts are more severe than on later examples, thus making the nut flatter than those found on more modern pieces. This artifact, with its easily recognizable geometry, proves the technical similarities between these and much later crossbows. One other artifact is a turned knob that is thought to be the handle end of the tiller. Depictions in column carvings and stone reliefs at Solignac France help confirm this speculation. These images show short, carbine-type tillers with lathe turned handles fitted with massive prods, often stylized in keeping with artistic representation of the period. These prods were not likely to be the severe recurves shown in these depictions. They were more probably simple wooden straight bows. It is likely that at least some of these were of simple composite construction, as the horn or horn and wood composite technology was kn...
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...d Lodge of Brussles and how the Archduchess Isabella became 'Queen of the Crossbowmen' by her own skill. The Archduchess was invited to the competition of the lodge in 1615, and as was her penchant, she sought entrance into this recreation. After taking aim for a short time, she let fly a bolt at the leather popinjay and pierced it, though it was set as high as a steeple. Amidst the applause she accepted the Kingship of the Confraternity, and was decorated with the honor on the altar of the Sablon Church. She then presented, in token of her kinship to her newfound company, a silk robe heavily embroidered with gold to each member of the company. She also had a lodgehouse built for the company near her palace, in order that she might more actively participate in their meetings, feasts, and competitions. In her honor, a medallion was minted to celebrate the occasion.
During the years leading up to and during the American Civil War there were a number of advancements in firearms technology. This paper will focus on a few of those advancements, namely the inventions of the Minié ball, the Spencer and Henry repeating rifles, and of the Gatling gun.
Compound hunting bows are a modern type of bow using a levering system of cables
Zen in the Art of Archery, by Eugen Herrigel describes the ritualistic arts of discipline and focus that the Zen religion focuses around. In this book, Herrigel describes many aspects of how archery is, in fact, not a sport, but an art form, and is very spiritual to those in the east. The process he describes shows how he overcame his initial inhibitions and began to look toward new ways of seeing and understanding. In the beginning of the book Herrigel tells us that he is writing about a ritual and religious practice, “whose aim consists in hitting a spiritual goal, so that fundamentally the marksman aims at himself and may even succeed in hitting himself.” (Herrigel p. 4) Through his studies, the author discovers that within the Zen ritual actions, archery in this case, there lies a deeper meaning. Herrigel explains throughout this book that it is not through the actual physical aspect of shooting arrows at targets that archery is Zen, but through the art and spirituality through which it is performed. It is not merely shooting an arrow to hit a target, but becoming the target yourself and then, in turn, hitting yourself spiritually. By meeting this spiritual goal, you will then meet the physical goal. The struggle then is, therefore not with the arrow or the target but within oneself.
head which was wrapped in buckskin on a wooden handle. They also used the common bow and
Guns have been apart of my life for as long as I can remember. When I was about six years old my dad came home one day and took me into the back yard. He told me he had something for me and that I needed to be vary careful with it. After I agreed to only using it while he was there to make sure I used it safely, he gave me my vary own BB gun. After a quick safety lesson it was time to start shooting, I had even drawn a target onto a cardboard box. After a few years of shooting and a few thousand BB’s later my dad took me out on my grandparents ranch. After a more serious talk about safety he gave me my first real gun. It wasn’t anything special just a little bolt-action .22 caliber rifle but it was a real gun. My collection of guns has grown over the years but I still shoot that .22 rifle to this day. Since I was younger I always wanted a lever action rifle. So when I turned eighteen I started looking to buy one. I though it was going to be simple just find a lever action and buy it, but as soon as I began to search I realized that it was not that simple. I saw that there are multiple different types of guns from all different time periods. I know the basics about guns but I do not know the details of their history.
As a prominent figure in his village, Gaston was a very skilled marksman, displaying a high level of proficiency with a bow and arrow, in addition to his mastery of the Blunderbuss, a single shot, muzzle loading fire arm with a short, 54 caliber barrel, which is made from steel and is flared at the muzzle, taking the shape of a trumpet.
With the creation of gun powder the Chinese were anxious to use this, in order to do that they needed something to be created so they made the fire lance it was a small cannon on a stick several feet long this is the earliest firearm ever discovered it is thought to be from the late 12th century. This was more of an addition to the soldiers spear than a gun it was not until later that the first hand cannon was made unlike the fire lance this was a weapon of its own and could shoot almost anything that the soldier could jam in the barrel that they could find on the battlefield. Both of these were fired...
What is the importance of the gun? The gun is one of the most important tools in the defense of our nation. Guns are responsible for a lot of death and injuries, but these things were going on before the existence of the gun. Guns aren't the reason for the death and injuries, they are just a means to it. They are tools and an engineering marvel of our age. The gun has evolved from a simple weapon that caused limited destruction to the modern gun that is so fast and powerful it is capable of mass destruction. Through the evolution of the gun, it has become a political tool.
At the time when humans were learning to use spears constructed out of sticks and stones and the
Long distance weapons were essential to European combat. The main long distance weapons used by Europeans during that time were the longbow and the crossbow. Each form of weaponry had its unique advantages and their pejorative. The long bow (shown in figure 1) was the original form of distance weapons. The term ‘bow’ means to be made from wood, iron or steel. The Welsh, who inhabited England, were the first people to use longbows. Longbows were 6-7 feet long and had a range of 250 yards, and still had the ability to pierce a knight’s armor (Byam 12). A well trained archer could shot 10- 12 arrows in a single minute. Despite these pro’s the longbow had a lot of disadvantages as well. One draw back was only skilled archers, who were costly to train, could use a longbow. Another disadvantage was it didn’t have a ready loaded arrow (Edge 34). The crossbow (shown in figure 2) on the other had been emphatically different. The crossbow had a span of 2-3 feet and could kill a knight on horseback with one shot, because of good aim (Byam 30). Crossbows had ready loaded projectiles, while the longbow didn’t and the crossbow could be used by anyone since it didn’t require any skill. The crossbow did have a down side though, it had slow reloaded because of a crank and it was expensive. Crossbows were also used for other thi...
The Viking weapons are artistic displays of metal forgery and woodwork, adorned with intricate Nordic and rune symbols, showing the value they place on their weapons, just as the Norse did with the sword reformed by Regin, in Sigurd the Volsung. Sigurd was not satisfied with the first couple of swords Regin forged for him, so he gave Regin the pieces of his father’s sword to create a worthy sword. When Sigurd’s father was killed, he foretold that the sword we be remade into a great weapon named Gram, which help Sigurd accomplish great deeds and earn fame (Rosenberg,
In this essay, I will uncover the countless insights that can be learned about the characters in Beowulf, as well as the society as a whole, based on the weapons the characters choose to use in battle. During the Anglo-Saxon time, roughly between 400 and 1066, swords were considered the most precious weapon someone could own. Although it is not certain who wrote Beowulf, and when, many people believe it was composed in the middle to end of the Anglo-Saxon period. Analyzing the different weapons, and significance of each, in Beowulf, and comparing them to the weaponry at the time, provides the readers with a great deal of insight into the society during this period. The use of weapons in Beowulf not only provides the readers with insight into
A lot of people just think of hunting as a thing were you go up into a tree and wait for a duck to come flying bye or a deer to walk in the sight so we can shoot them well you see that is hunting but how did we get to here. Why do we hunt the way that we do well it is because of how we got ideas off of the old ways we did it the history of hunting, the old way that we did things not the waiting for it to come to use the I am going to go get what I want and need. Now you see many people think that all hunting was from a tree and that it was from a deer stand and that we used high powered rifles to shoot deer from hundreds of yards. Well I can say that if you think that then you are just wrong that wasn’t the way that we hunted thousands of years ago or even hundreds of years ago similar but not the same.
Complex technical studies in recent times have shown that one can split a wooden arrow with another, but that it will become stuck in the first shaft, seems nearly impossible. Nowadays, this would be an ‘honor’ more likely for archers who are using tubular shafts made of aluminum or carbon.
These guilds adopted the new Continental system of fighting with the sword and buckler (a small hand-held shield) as their own, and this system became established as the typical English style. Fighting with these instruments left most of the defense to the buckler, while the sword was used primarily for slashing...