Bows and Arrows

Although bows were widely used by the continental Saxons, the Anglo-Saxons seem to have used the bow mainly for hunting, displaying a certain disdain for it's use in battle. The bow was more widespread as a weapon amongst the Vikings, but even then was not terribly common. Bows were mainly made of yew, elm or ash, 'D' shaped in section and tapering from the centre to the tips. Near the tip, the bow could either taper to a point in the traditional style, or swell to a 'spade' end as evident in some manuscripts. Bow from Nydam stick to the former pattern, and also incorporate a small iron peg as a string keep lodged in the side of the bow end. The grip was left bare without any leather or cloth for grip, and the 'knocking point' of the arrow didn't have a sliver of horn to protect the bow stave as can be seen on later bows. The spade ended types have what is known as a side nock, that is a slot on only one side of the bow to anchor the string. Knotting styles of the string varied from region to region.

The bows tended to be between 1.65 - 1.9m ( 66'' - 76'' ) long, reflecting the height, reach and preference of the user. Depending upon the quality of the wood that the bow was made from, it could be smooth and regular along it's length, or quite knobbly where knots had to be accommodated in it's design. They were sometimes bound every few inches with linen or sinew to help prevent the wood from splitting as can be seen on the examples from Nydam. Some of these earlier bows had horn or metal nocks which could be sharp enough to possibly use the bow like a spear in an emergency. Reconstruction of these types of bows have demonstrated that they had a draw weight in the 50lb - 70lb range making them quite powerful enough to kill an unarmored man.

These are quite adequate to hunt animals, and are also perfectly suited for use in battle. The only hindrance being the armour and the shields that warriors of the period carried. Mail armour is sufficient enough to prevent a broad head arrow from penetrating the skin, even though it's arrival would be very apparent. The bodkin with it's plain pointed head is much more likely to burst through the links, however, a shield of only 1cm thickness in Lime ( or Linden ) wood will stop all of the arrows, whatever their type as the bow wasn't powerful enough. Again practical demonstrations bear this out.

The only exception is where a shield may be so battered that there is a soft or 'sweet' spot in the wood. A good archer will seek this out, but in the heat of battle there would be little time to pick and choose. Most archery in set piece battles would no doubt have followed the Norman example at Hastings, with arrows lobbed into the mass of enemy, and good fortune guiding the arrow to a target.

Arrows were generally broad headed and made of Iron, with sockets or tangs on cheaper more quickly made arrowheads. Some arrowheads of antler have been found, these were probably intended for hunting. Earlier arrows tended to be almost purely of the tanged type. Bodkins ( armour piercing arrows ) were known and became more common in the eleventh century. By then, arrowheads were normally socketed, but it is a matter of conjecture as to how many arrows were expected to be recovered, even if you were the victors.

This information provided by Regia.org