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Saturday 16 August 2014

Crossbow

The Chinese developed the crossbow around the 6th to 5th century BC, many centuries before its use in Europe. The earliest recorded use of a crossbow was in 341BC at the Battle of Ma-Ling, Linyi, China

The weapons were not introduced to England until the Normans arrived at the Battle Of Hastings in 1066.

The crossbow was particularly prominent in European warfare from the Battle of Hastings until about 1525. The bolt shot by medieval bowmen could travel over 1000 feet.

In 1139 Pope Innocent III and the second Lateran council outlawed the crossbow as a weapon causing unacceptable devastation.

The Saracens called the crossbow qaws Ferengi, or "Frankish bow", as the Crusaders used the crossbow against the Arab and Turkoman horsemen with remarkable success.

The French heroine Joan Of Arc was hit in the thigh by a crossbow bolt in 1429 during the attempted recapture of Paris, having a few months earlier been wounded by an arrow at Orleans.

The military of San Marino still has an active crossbow corps which has existed uninterrupted since 1295.

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