Horse-archers were employed thy the English in 1124 In the 10th Century, Europe had felt a wave of popularity for the cross how, and a master of eross-bowman was i great France of the period.
During the Crusides the eross-how estahlished beyond reproach its reputation. In' England, the old short how of Hastings became the instrument only for the mereenaties of the English armies; the more ficient eross-bow took its By 1339 the ong bow had hseome tue principal weapon of Wns! soldiers. Tt was about five feet long: and its shaft a_yard For byw Welch archer," a 3 penetrated an oak' door, four inches thick, and the stood out a hand's inner side. In rapidity the lor surpassed the eross how.
English kings from Edward It to Henry VIII wore the advocates of archery, and the pages of history are strewn with such five-sounding victories as Falki Poitiers and Agi the celebrated English archer in fantry. Scotland and Ireland, too, paid attention to archery.
Even when firearms came for warfare they did not in the beginning compare favourably for cffcieney with the long bow ax used cly the English archers. The first niuskets had Tite to recommend them, Dut they announced the he-ing of modern warfare and the oom of archery.
The Noble Rodman The last appearance of the cross-Dow in war is given as the Battle of Taku in 1860 when it was used by the Chinese soldiery. The long. bow, a finer weapon in every respect, reniainedl one of the principal arn of the English soldiers until about 1500. In 1807, there were 1500 horse-archers in chain armour who fought with a fine gallantry against Napoleon in Poland. And perhaps in passing, the bows and arrows of the red men of the American Plains should be mentioned. There, histor-whist deceased wan al. the and endeavouring wot to let his Fight hand know what his left hand was doing.'
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.