Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-09
HISTORY OF THE cRossBoW.
Records of Workmanship - Weapon
Never Had a Full Chance

From the London Globe.
Military history repeats itself In nothing
more than In its records of the progress of
craftsmanship. To the English mind it may
be said to have eliminated in the national
epic of the bow, with its long array of yeo-
men heroes and stalwarts, supreme masters
OF the cloth-yard shaft. 1t is certain that
our archers were long "the terror of war
like Christendom,' though we may hesitate
to accept many of the traditions concerning
the skill of individuals. For instance, our
friend John Ridd fatty refused TO believe the
story of Robin Hood and the peeled wand,
as related in ''Ivanhoe,'' and satirically sug-
gests that some people are in practice with
longer shots from the tongue than from the
shoulder Curiously enough, the arbalist,
or crossbow, although a weapon OF greater
force and precision than its fellow, never
seems to have met with much encourage
ment in England. 1t was certainly regard
ed with a good deal of jealousy and some
contempt by the older race of bowmen,
though at one period it was clearly in the
possession of many hands. statute of
Henry VII declares that the Kings sub
jects did greatly delight themselves in us
ing of crossbows, to the great hurt and en-
feeblng of this realm and thenceforth no
pei son was allowed to shoot with an arba-
lis without a license under the privy seal.
Some historians have seen in this statute
desire to keep the crossbow from plebeian
hards, which perhaps only our own famil-
iarity with more deadly weapon seems
now to render puerie.
Now we know that gunpowder at first
almost universally regarded as a ''leveler.
In Carlyle's words lit makes all men alike
tall" Which, as piece Of abstract phil
oSophy, may hold a kernel of truth, while
we see it practically negatved every day.
But the fact is that the crossbow had al
ready stood the brunt of the many dark
sayings afterward directed against gunpow-
der. Like that gigantic agent, 1t clearly did
put a weapon into the hands of a man who
might not have been equal to the task of
drawing the ''yewen' bow of Old England
Arbalists, of course were of various de-
grees of power, but even the lighter ones,
chiefly used in the chase, required some
kind of tool to adjust the metal string to
the trigger. The steel bow of the heavier
kinds was so powerful that the arbalister
had to carry a sort of windlass, or revolv
ing winch, at his belt 70 effect the same
purpose In Charles Reade's "CIoister and
the Hearth there is a scene which shows
the power. use. and outlook of the cross
bow in a singularly vivid fashion. When
Gerard made a trial shot with his comrade
DeEys' arbalist, the strange power of the
instrument surprised him. THE short but
thick steel bow Jared him to the very heel
as it went off and the swift steel shaft was
inv sible in its passage"
What a deadly thing cries Gerard, and
Denys then told how it was gaining ground
every day, in spite of all the laws and proc
lamation5 against 1t. But G rarI's look was
ahead, and ne foresaw the time when both
long ana crOSSDOW SnOulQ disappear DefOre
"a pinch of black dust leaden ball, and
childs finger" Altogether it is a most dra-
matte little fragment, solid chapter of his
tory deftly interviewer with fiction.
Some authorities are inclined to regard
the crossbow weapon which never had
its full chance. With prejudlces overcome
and improvements made, 1t seems probable
that the arbalist would in time have ousted
the long bow had not its own life been
duly cut short by the coming power. But
immediate events took an oddly circuitous
turn. AS arm of precision the crossbow
was necessarily superior to its forerunner.
which it must ultimately have superseded,
even if gunpoWder. had not been invented.
1t developed into the arquebus. from which
was evolved the ''muSquet" which was to
grow in time into the old Brown Bess."
MuSket barrels were 'grooved'' by the Vene-
tans in 1893. Here is the central secret of
precision-the rotation of the bullet during
its flight from the gun. More than three
centuries later9it was said to take ''the SOL
dier's weight In lead to kill him" In spite
of the gradual ascendency of the matchbox
it seems to have been generally admitted
than the bow was by far the deadlier weap-
on. AT the battle of Lepanto. even the COM
paratively weak Turkish bows did more mis-
chief than the Christian artillery. In 1893
the practice of archery still warmly de-
feuded in England. one of its advantages
being that every archer could shoot thrice
to a gunners once. And st:pDoslng the for
mer to have commanded a sufficient supply
Of arrows he could doubtless have done still
better, seeing that the TnuSket remained an
uncertain and unwieidly weapon for at least
a hundred years afterward. AS was OBJ
served by a high authority of the period,