It is interesting, though the POD would need to be far before the actual tax dodging snit got eggy. (Before the American Revolution for those of you who expect sensible English)
Intriguing article and thanks for pointing it out Perdu. However I am not sure that the decline of the longbow was solely due to the decline of archery as a past time. Remember even when peace reigned in the British Isles plenty of English, Scots, Irish, Welsh, Man and Cornish found employment abroad as mercenaries.
Left unaddressed is why longbow armed mercenaries ceased to be among the most sought after professional military contractors? Something else must have been going on to dissuade the real enthusiasts of both war and toxophily from carrying on with the longbow.
Then again looking at HS II's question on the assumption that yes the British Government do rely on archery what problems are thrown up?
One of the issues with training archers to use the longbow is that it took considerable amounts of time. Not only does this effect the ability of the British Crown to expand its available force in times of conflict but it further restricts the social groups that can be recruited from.
Wellington described the British common soldier as the scum of the earth but while a bit harsh it was certainly true that by the C18th the British Army was recruiting the majority of regulars from the labouring (and criminal) classes while officers came overwhelmingly from the gentry.
The longbow however was an arm of the English and Welsh yeomanry, that is small land holders or tenant farmer who were rich enough to pay only money rents and from the towns shopkeepers and artisan craftsmen. The English Parliament had experimented with raising an army of horse, artillery and pike and shot infantry from these sorts of people and turning them into professional long service troops. It was called the New Model Army and while wonderfully effective when it came to the battlefield was far too politically minded to be tolerated post the restoration.
Besides an awful lot of those yeoman types actually backed the ideas of the American Colonists.
The biggest problem with the longbow is the length of time it takes to learn and the muscle power in the upper body required for a bow that could be up to 185lb draw weight.
Training[edit]
Longbows were very difficult to master because the force required to deliver an arrow through the improving
armour of medieval Europe was very high by modern standards. Although the draw weight of a typical English longbow is disputed, it was at least 360
newtons (81
pounds-force) and possibly more than 600 N (130 lbf), with some estimates as high as 900 N (200 lbf).[
citation needed] Considerable practice was required to produce the swift and effective combat shooting required.
Skeletons of longbow archers are recognisably adapted, with enlarged left arms and often
bone spurs on left wrists, left shoulders and right fingers.
[22]
It was the difficulty in using the longbow which led various monarchs of England to issue instructions encouraging their ownership and practice, including the
Assize of Arms of 1252 and
King Edward III's declaration of 1363: "Whereas the people of our realm, rich and poor alike, were accustomed formerly in their games to practise archery – whence by God's help, it is well known that high honour and profit came to our realm, and no small advantage to ourselves in our warlike enterprises... that every man in the same country, if he be able-bodied, shall, upon holidays, make use, in his games, of bows and arrows... and so learn and practise archery." If the people practised archery, it would be that much easier for the King to recruit the proficient longbowmen he needed for his wars. Along with the improving ability of gunfire to penetrate plate armour, it was the long training needed by longbowmen which eventually led to their being replaced by musketmen.
On the battlefield English archers stored their arrows stabbed upright into the ground at their feet, reducing the time it took to notch, draw and shoot.
Range[edit]
The range of the medieval weapon is not accurately known, with much depending on both the power of the bow and the type of arrow. It has been suggested that a flight arrow of a professional archer of Edward III's time would reach 400 yd (370 m)
[23] but the longest mark shot at on the London practice ground of
Finsbury Fields in the 16th century was 345 yd (315 m).
[24] In 1542, Henry VIII set a minimum practice range for adults using flight arrows of 220 yd (200 m); ranges below this had to be shot with heavy arrows.
[25] Modern experiments broadly concur with these historical ranges. A 667 N (150 lbf)
Mary Rose replica longbow was able to shoot a 53.6 g (1.89 oz) arrow 328 m (359 yd) and a 95.9 g (3.38 oz) a distance of 249.9 m (273.3 yd).
[26] In 2012, Joe Gibbs shot a 2.25 oz (64 g) livery arrow 292 yd (267 m) with a 170 lbf yew bow.
[27]