Crossbow Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

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- Archaeology, Spatial Analysis, Late Bronze Age archaeology, Chinese archaeology
- by Matthew Landrus
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- Military History, Art History, Design, Early Modern History

. In "Quei maledetti normanni. Studi offerti a Errico Cuozzo per i suoi settant'annni dai suoi colleghi , allievi, amici", a c. di J. M. Martin e R. Alaggio, Centro Europeo di Studi Normanni, 2 voll., Ariano Irpino-Napoli, 2016. vol. I, pp, 23-36.
Weapons production, expecially crossbows, in Castel Capuano of Naples during the first years of Angevine Kingdom

- by Giovanni Amatuccio
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- Medieval Weapons and Equipment, Crossbow, Armi Nel Medioevo, Balestre

A paper given at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds in 2018 at the session "New Perspectives on Medieval Combat and Weaponry". It argues, in brief, for the advantages and disadvantages in developing a typology to better classify... more

- by Stuart Ellis-Gorman
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- Typology, Medieval Warfare, Crossbow, Medieval Technology

The result of research on the history of mechanical engineering and design, this study identifies Leonardo’s innovative approaches to technical problems, correcting previous assumptions about his lack of technical knowledge as an engineer. Innovative strategies include his use of Euclidian and Archimedean geometry, dimetric parallel projection, consistency of scale, proportions of one-third throughout the structure, and proportional calculations of its force. The sophistication and precision of the drawing, compared with others by Leonardo and his contemporaries, locates it among his plans for a military treatise, re-dates it to a later period of 1490-93, and associates it with similar working methods across disciplines at the turn of the sixteenth century.

- by Matthew Landrus
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- Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, History, Military History

This thesis has taken an archaeological approach to understanding how the design of bows and crossbows developed over the course of the Later Middle Ages. The primary evidence used in this work was surviving medieval weapons. The dimensions of these artefacts were compared with those from similar weapons across and within centuries. This showed both the variety of weapons that existed within a given century, and how these weapons changed over time. For the bow, this thesis was focused on showing how the longbow developed from a relatively weak prehistoric weapon to the powerful bows of the Mary Rose, and emphasised that length was a flawed metric for determining weapon power. In comparison, the crossbow was shown to be a weapon of significant variety – so much so that it does the weapon a disservice to be referred to simplistically with a single name – and one in need of further investigation. To supplement the archaeological analysis, this thesis included: a discussion of the mechanics of archery and their relationship to weapon design, details of the problems with using medieval art as a substitute for archaeological evidence, an overview of crossbow spanning devices, and a comparison of the roles filled by the bow and crossbow in medieval warfare.

The Terracotta Army that protected the tomb of the Chinese emperor Qin Shihuang offers an evocative image of the power and organisation of the Qin armies who unified China through conquest in the third century BC. It also provides evidence for the craft production and administrative control that underpinned the Qin state. Bronze trigger mechanisms are all that remain of crossbows that once equipped certain kinds of warrior in the Terracotta Army. A metrical and spatial analysis of these triggers reveals that they were produced in batches and that these separate batches were thereafter possibly stored in an arsenal, but eventually were transported to the mausoleum to equip groups of terracotta crossbowmen in individual sectors of Pit 1. The trigger evidence for large-scale and highly organised production parallels that also documented for the manufacture of the bronze-tipped arrows and proposed for the terracotta figures themselves.

- by Xiuzhen Li
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- History, Archaeology, Spatial Analysis, Late Bronze Age archaeology

The handgunners were a portuguese military squad whose emergence is noted during the second quarter of the fifteenth century. They obtained a considerable representation in the king’s army becoming one of the military corps that composed it. This evolution was coinciding with the widespread use of firearms in Europe. The handgunners used portable firearms (like the colobreta or the matchlock) that were, unlike the artillery, loaded and fired by only one person.
The internal organization of the squad was very similar to the one that is observed in the besteiros do conto (crossbowmen), specially in aspects concerning the geographical origin, social group of recruitment and the chain of command. Nonetheless, there were substancial diferences in the recruitment, provided, that the king reinforced the local militias of handgunners with professionalized members that received a considerable anual payment (tença). As for the privileges to which these members were entitled, it is reinforced that they have the exemption of the jugada (an important tax over the agricultural production), except in the cereal production, a concession lost by the besteiros do conto, still in the reign of D. John I.
The reign of King John II (1482-1495) was an important moment for the definition of the legal components of the squad and for the increase of the number of hangunnners. We registered 416 letters of privilege, distributed by 64 centers of recruitment, in Portuguese territory. Nevertheless, more than the immediate substitution of the besteiros do conto for the handgunners, the royal administration sought throughout the fifteenth century to converge the contributions of the two squads. The military action of handgunners is reported for a considerable part of the Portuguese campaigns in this century (Tangier (1437), Alfarrobeira (1449), Alcácer-Ceguer (1458), Arzila (1471), Toro (1476) and Graciosa (1489)), being, however, only in the Battle of Toro that their participation proved decisive for the outcome of the conflict.

- by Pedro Sebastião
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- History, European History, Military History, Artillery
- by Fabio Romanoni
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- History, Military History, Medieval History, War Studies

This is an essay for describe an inventory of weapons and objects of the Castellammare in Palermo. The inventory was written in 1478, for the death of Antonio Fuxa warden of the castle, and shows defensive power of the city. Can you look... more

- by Gaetano Conte
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- Military History, Military Science, Strategy (Military Science), Medieval History
- by Elvis Mallorquí
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- Medieval History, Medieval Peasantry, Medieval Weapons and Equipment, Crossbow

In 2005–2016 a number of isolated metal finds of medieval and early modern date ended up in collections of various museums in eastern Bohemia and in the Bohemian-Moravian borderland. These especially include militaria, equestrian equipment, but other find categories are present as well. The objects have different evidential value, but in a number of cases, they represent valuable sources of knowledge about areas which are archaeologically still little known. Bohemian-Moravian borderland – Middle Ages – metal objects Úvod Od r. 2005 (po obsazení archeologického pracoviště v Regionálním muzeu ve Vysokém Mýtě) zde byla věnována značná pozornost problematice používání i zneužívání detekto-rů kovů. V této souvislosti tu byly přebírány náhodné nálezy učiněné s detektory kovů, později řadu nálezů poskytli spolupracovníci uvedené instituce, na řadě lokalit pak pro-váděl cílený detektorový průzkum archeolog Regionálního muzea ve Vysokém Mýtě za účasti spolupracovníků. Vedle kolekcí z nejrůznějších lokalit, které byly a jsou postupně předmětem prezentace v odborném tisku, docházelo rovněž k ojedinělým nálezům vrchol-ně středověkých artefaktů a artefaktů ze staršího novověku. I když jejich vypovídací hod-nota je značně nižší, protože nepochází z intaktních archeologických situací v rámci stan-dardních výzkumů či z větších nálezových kolekcí, které by usnadnily interpretaci, i tyto předměty si nepochybně zaslouží bližší pozornost. Jejich zveřejnění (mimo numismatické nálezy) je úkolem následujících řádků. 1 1 Příspěvek byl vypracován v rámci programu aplikovaného výzkumu a vývoje národní a kulturní identity (NAKI II) č. DG16P02R031 (Moravské křižovatky).

- by Giovanni Amatuccio
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- Military History, Medieval History, Crossbow, Angevin Italy

Little is known about ranged weapons in pre-modern India such as slingshots and catapults, the crossbow and early cannon. To a certain extent, the scarcity of pertinent sources will undeniably help to explain our lack of knowledge connected to the subject, but it is equally true that texts with unquestionable significance have largely been ignored by historical military research on India. Among those neglected sources the
Rājataraṅgiṇīs and the Mokṣopāya rank first. Not only do they testify to the existence of such weapons in medieval Kashmir, but the context of the fighting events detailed by their authors also allows to draw conclusions with sufficient certainty about the actual use in combat and the lethal impact of the arms under consideration, which are made the subject of the present paper.

- by Walter Slaje
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- Sanskrit language and literature, Kashmir, Early Medieval Warfare, Indology

Helmut Nickel, German art historian, anthropologist, cartoon artist, and former curator in charge of the Department of Arms and Armor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, died on June 5, 2019, aged 95. This note, based in part on obituaries written by Stuart Pyhrr (published in the press and forthcoming in the journal Waffen- und Kostümkunde), shares some personal reminiscences and memories about one of the towering personalities in the field of arms and armor studies.

- by Dirk H Breiding
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- American History, Cultural History, Anthropology, Art History

Since the second half of the 12 th and until the middle of 15 th century the crossbow is the main projectile weapon in greater part of Western and Central Europe 1. Notwithstanding the domineering of the composite bow in Eastern Europe and the Middle East the crossbow is also a popular weapon here, especially in wars at sea and fortress besieging. This can be observed not only in regions with Western European influence like the Baltics and Northwest Russia 2 but also where recognition of this weapon was slower, as Byzantiu m during the 14 th century 3. In fact the crossbow is a weapon used for a long time in the Arab world 4 , very typical for Maghreb. However, only recently there has been paid attention to the role of the crossbow in the Second Bu lgarian Empire. The data from the archeological research showed that during the 14 th century its importance is far greater than it was previously suspected 5. It is a newly found artifact related to this weapon – a bone plate from a crossbow stock (Figs. 1, 2) – that is the subject of this study. It is not only a certain dated evidence for the usage of cross-bow in med ieval Bu lgaria, but it is the first monument of that type originating there. Fig. 1: Bone crossbow plate from Trapezitsa, photo D. Rabovyanov. The plate was found during the archeological research conducted in 2011 in the Southern Section of Trapezitsa – the second stronghold of the medieval Bulgarian capital Tarnovgrad, in Veliko Tarnovo. It was found in a waste pit and its stratigraphic position and the 20 coins found in it show beyond a doubt that its filling up was done in the '50s of the 14 th century. That also renders certainty to the dating of the period when the object went out of circulat ion. The plate was made fro m longitudinally sectioned tubular ru minant bone (Fig. 1). The spongy substance within was almost removed. The plate is polished on the inner and the outer, but there is no trace of other processing on the outer side which can change the natural bone curving profile. The obtained form is that of a very prolonged trapeziu m whose wider side base is formed as a profile triangular projection and the opposite narrower side is evenly cut. In sideview it resembles sliced ellipse with flat base and prominent round back (Fig. 2). In the flat base and along the whole plate, through material removal, is formed semi-cylindrical groove with length of 9,8 cm, width 1 cm and depth 0,4 cm. The flat edges surrounding the groove are wide 0,7 – 0,8 cm, but the right one gets narrower until it reaches 0,5 cm which renders some asymmetry. 4,1 cm away fro m the flat cut plate base on

- by Germain Butaud
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- Medieval History, The Hundred Years War, Avignon Papacy, Medieval Military History

Nou anys després d'haver comprat el domini directe d'uns masos a Riudellots de la Selva, el clergue Guillem Gaufred, tresorer de la seu de Girona, s'enfronta a un procés en què l'acusen de ser una persona no idònia per posseir aquest domini, anteriorment en mans dels senyors de Vilademany. Per això, s'enceta una enquesta a uns quants membres de la comunitat pagesa de Riudellots sobre a quin domini pertanyien els masos adquirits. Aquest procés judicial és el punt de partida d'una recerca sobre els més de cent masos medievals de la parròquia de Riudellots, pertanyents a més de vint senyors directes diferents.

- by Elvis Mallorquí
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- History of the Clergy, Toponymy, Crossbow, Toponimia

Presentation (in German) about shooting contests in the Holy Roman Empire in the 15th and 16th centuries. This paper was the first part of a two-part paper held in Münster on October 2016. The first half intends to draw a line between two regional configurations of shooting contests : whereas Northern Germany knew popinjay shootings, Southern and Middle Germany knew contests that attracted hundreds of competitors from different regional networks. The paper analyses also how, among more than thousand competitions, some patterns and continuities (regional leagues, etc.) can be identified.

- by Maciek Miścicki
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- Late Middle Ages, Crossbow, Teutonic Order, Antler, bone, horn & ivory artefacts

By comparison with the great interest in medieval armour, relatively little metallurgical research has been undertaken or published into the projectiles themselves.This study aims to increase the information available on projectile technology by studying a group of eight arrow and crossbow quarrel heads. The results of these, and earlier, analyses will be discussed in the light of documentary references to the necessity of providing hardened arrowheads.

- by David Starley
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- Arms and Armor Studies, Archaeometallurgy, Arms and Armour, Crossbow
- by Lech Marek
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- Arms and Armor Studies, Medieval Archaeology, Crossbow
- by Jean-Dominique Delle Luche
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- Late Middle Ages, Urban History, Sports History, Calendars
- by Jan Moens and +2
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- Crossbow
- by Dirk H Breiding
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- Arms and Armor Studies, Arms and Armour, Baden-Württemberg, Crossbow

The paper focuses on the results of survey carried out at the former stronghold Trojaň (Český Krumlov distr.) and its surroundings. Numerous relics of former Medieval and Early Modern Age landscape were detected by means of terrain survey. An iron belt-hook used to span a crossbow was found
through a metal detector survey performed by the archaeologists.

- by Jan John
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- Archaeology, Airborne Laser Scanning, Middle Ages, LiDAR for Landscape Archaeology

Selected artefacts from Vimperk Castle. Material from the excavation by Tomáš Durdík in 2010. The
goal of this contribution is to publish important finds from the excavation in Vimperk Castle and Chateaux,
which took place in 2010. In addition to a piece of Late Palaeolithic/Mesolithic (?) chipped stone industry,
the analyzed assemblage of stratified artefacts consists of two armor plates from a brigandine, a fragmented bone lining of a crossbow’s body, four crossbow/bow arrowheads and a fragment of a currycomb.

- by Petr Menšík
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- Archaeology, Late Middle Ages, Castles, Weapons

Powerpoint presentation (unchanged version) held in Münster, October 2016 on the occasion on the conference "Urban cultures of contest in premodern Europe", illustrated and in english.
The presentation is in two parts : First part analyses the differences between Northern and Southern Germany. Second part illustrates the sources for the shooting contests and what I called the "pilot-fish programs" that came along: lotteries, races, and other sorts of shows and contests in the 15th and 16th centuries".

At the heart of Qin bureaucratic practice during China’s first empire were regular, little acts of accountancy in which objects (and people) were marked so their movements could be kept track of, their quality checked and their numbers marshalled for the large-scale purposes of the Qin state. In the mausoleum complex of the Qin Shihuang, the longer text and short inscribed marks found on the bronze weapons of the Terracotta Army are reasonably well known, and this information is helping us understand aspects of workshop organisation and logistics at this crucial period. This paper’s modest starting point is a study of two less well-known ink inscriptions found on crossbow triggers from Terracotta Army Pit 1. Using a mixture of multispectral photography, digital microscopy and Raman analysis, we uncover evidence of further marks on the same two triggers that suggest a similar pattern of ‘matching’ marks as suggested by the incised evidence. We also identify the black substance used to make the marks as a soot-based ink. Spatial analysis of the inked and incised trigger marks provides wider context and insight about how such marking practices amongst Qin bronze-workers may have operated.

- by Xiuzhen Li and +1
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- Spatial Analysis, Multispectral Imaging, Raman Spectroscopy, Chinese archaeology

Metal detector survey of Zítkov Castle yielded about two hundred arrowheads, which attest that the castle has been besieged approximately at the turn between the 14th and 15th centuries. In about two thirds of all these projectiles it was also possible to document the position in which the one or another point was found; it mostly was perpendicular to the course of contour lines of the slope. The question remains whether this orientation follows the original shooting direction, or whether it is a result of post-depositional processes. The analysis of finds from Zítkov rather indicates the former possibility, but it will be necessary to verify it at other localities.

- by David Vích
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- Medieval Archaeology, Battlefield Archaeology, Castles, Mediaeval Archaeology
- by Alberto Reche Ontillera
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- Medieval Warfare, Early Modern Warfare, Crossbow, Ballestas

Se discute un grupo de ballestas pertenecientes a Maximiliano 1 de Austria. La aparición de marcas no documentadas
hasta el momento confirman que todos sus elementos fueron construídos en España, resaltando,
igualmente, el papel del reino de Aragón como centro productor.
The author describes a set of crossbows belonging to Maximilian 1 of Austria. Trademarks hitherto unobserved
confirm that they were manufactured in Spain, specially in Aragon.

- by Giovanni Amatuccio
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- Military History, Medieval History, Crossbow, Angevin Italy

Présentation pour le colloque international "Spiele und Wettkämpfe in mittelalterlichen Gesellschaften / Jeux et compétitions dans les sociétés médiévales" 14-17 février 2018, Institut Historique Allemand (Paris) : V. Kopp, G. Bureaux, C.... more

Présentation pour le colloque international "Spiele und Wettkämpfe in mittelalterlichen Gesellschaften / Jeux et compétitions dans les sociétés médiévales"
14-17 février 2018, Institut Historique Allemand (Paris) : V. Kopp, G. Bureaux, C. Buyken, P. Monnet

- by Jean-Dominique Delle Luche
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- Sports History, Holy Roman Empire, Munich, Nuremberg

Vorstellung einer Armbrustnuss des 12. Jh. vom Gelände der Ortenburg in Bautzen. Presentation of a 12th century crossbow nut from the site of Ortenburg castle in Bautzen, Saxony.

- by Moritz Seeburger
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- Crossbow, Armbrust

Fundvorstellung einer unkonventionellen Spannvorrichtung für Armbruste aus der Mitte des 15. Jh. von Burg Ramstein, Schwarzwald. Presentation of an unconventional spanning device for crossbows from the mid 1400s, found at Ramstein castle,... more