With drama, vigor and enthusiasm, Robert Hardy chronicles the arrival of the longbow in Britain and its gradual adoption as the most important weapon in the English military arsenal, and its coming of age at the battles of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt. Also examined is the longbow as a sporting and hunting weapon, and its status in Britain today.
Robert Hardy, noted actor and RAF in WWII. Studied under two of Oxford's most eminent names, JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis.
ReplyDeleteA good read is "Agincourt" by Bernard Cornwell, but then all his historical novels are good.
ReplyDeleteSecond Cornwell. His description of battle is as gripping as any I have read.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good book!
ReplyDeletesmoothest shooting bow i ever shot was a longbow.
ReplyDeleteAn English bowman could consistently hit a 12" round target at 100 yards, 7 times a minute. (from Cornwell's "Agincourt")
ReplyDeletec.1360 -20 shillings, the price of two cows, or almost three months’ pay for a carpenter, or half of the ransom of an archer captured by the French.
ReplyDeleteRight before Agincourt, the noble horsemen argued about who outranked whom in the chain of command, based on their titles. Meanwhile, some mere commoner was 'captain of archers', had most of the troops under his command, and led the troops that actually won the fight.
ReplyDelete~ Doctor Weasel
Hardy brilliantly portrayed “Siegfried” in the first All Creatures Great and Small television series back in the Seventies AND he worked closely with other authorities on Henry VIII’s favorite warship, The Mary Rose. The man was a true genius.
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