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Archery: and the Knights of the Bow

Achilles’ heel, Philipp of Macedon’s right eye, Penelope’s three suitors, Saint Sebastian, the apple on Walter Tell’s head, the shoulder of Richard the Lionhearted, George Armstrong Custer - these are some of history’s most famous archery targets. From the walls of Carthage to the fields of Agincourt the bow has been central in military history, and through its deadly power kingdoms rose and fell for millenia. In 1900 Albert de Bertier, V. Cordier, A Guglielmini published this book,Le Tir à l’Arc,as a tribute to the bow’s special place in history with specific emphasis on the ancient Archery Companies of France. These “Knights of the Bow” began as village militias dating to a time before Charlemagne, and they continued to play a key role in the martial history of that nation until the musket rendered them wholly obsolete - and yet the Archery Companies lived on. Even to the present day these confraternities gather at their “archery gardens” in northern France and Belgium to practice in largely the same manner as their ancestors did one thousand years ago. This book is both a broad history of the art of the bow and a manual for archery as it was practiced around 1900, especially in France and in England which the authors consider to be the land of bowmanshippar excellence.It draws upon source materials from the medieval period, most notably the mid-14th century work entitledKing Modus’ Hunting Bookwhich instructs the reader as follows:Number one, the bowstring had to be of silk (green or otherwise) for three reasons: First, it was strong enough to last long without breaking, second, when well made it is tough enough to send “a sayette (arrow) or boujon (bolt) further and could provide a better shot than any other cordage. Third, when a string is of silk one can make it as thin as one pleases.Number two, if you want to shoot straight you must be sure that the arrow points at what you want to hit and take care that the fletching is flat relative to the bow, otherwise it will strike the bow at the moment of release a

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