Why did the English longbow take a minute to fire six arrows?

Question

Why?

*I got that info from The Western Heritage by Donald Kagan

Answer 1

That rate of fire is established as the amount of time that it would take a bowman to release the arrow, pull another from the quiver, load it, aim it and release. In a single shot weapon (this applies to firearms as well as "primitive" weapons such as bows and cross bows), the rate of fire is determined as the number of aimed shots that can be fired in one minute. Just lofting arrows up in the direction of the enemy (effective against massed formations), a good bowman might be able to sustain a dozen or more arrows per minute.

In full automatic weapons, the rate of fire is, generally, fixed, while the rate of fire for a semi-automatic will be extrapolated from the amount of time it takes to fire a full magazine, as this type of weapon cannot load enough ammunition at it's cyclic (fastest) rate of fire.

Answer 2

No it couldn't- it had a very hard time penetrating armor at Agincourt (despite popular myths of a "arrow storm that slaughtered the French nobility") By the late 1400s the Bodkin arrow, and the Longbow had passed its prime- armor had just become to complex and refined for it to penetrate like it did at Create. In fact, almost nothing could penetrate Gothic armor. It got to a point where two knights would fight together- taking turns giving the other a chance to rest because the only risk of death was from passing out- as nothing could really penetrate the armor. Ironically this is when gunpowder got put into wide scale use. So the Zenith of armor, was also its decline.

Answer 3

Six arrows per minute, in this context, reflects the under-fire battlefield discipline of Load, Draw, Aim, Release; NOT a Guinness Book of Records "contest." Every bolt was critical so hitting the target the first time, every time was of paramount importance. That said, six "successful" arrows per 60-seconds can only be the work of a highly skilled bowman. In fact with the English Longbow (and its exceptionally long arrows), it's doubtful too many, if any, Olympic-class archers could better that time today.

A more rapid rate-of-fire, up to fifteen or more bolts per minute, was possible and sometimes demanded but, typically, such speed was only required in training and/or for providing blanketing fire over a distant (a relative term) enemy.

Answer 4

There were no shortage of arrows at the big battles they had them in there thousands and there was no need for accuracy as volleys of arrows caused carnage.
The longbow was a real mother and although they were made with a variation up pull strength required they were still tiring to use.
English Longbow men and boys did archery practise daily as we would train for sport.
Finally that obscene two finger gesture we see so much nowadays came from those early archers. The French hated the archers and if they captured one they would cut those two fingers off. So you can guess how they signalled the French

Answer 5

The bowman has to pull the arrow (very long by the way) from his quiver. Then place the notch of the arrow onto the bow..less than quarter of an inch wide...almost as bad as threading a needle. Then pull the bowstring back...a string with exceptional tensile strength for the time...aim and release.

ALL IN 10 SECONDS. Not to bad. Six arrows in a minute sounds slow.....but 1 every 10 seconds once you know what is involved is pretty fast. I doubt you ot I could do it.

Answer 6

Kagan would appear to be mistaken, as the link indicates that an average Bowman was expected to shoot 10 arrows in one minute and an experienced bowman 20 in one minute.

Answer 7

If it is what I think it is.....Saw what I think was a longbow in one of my European History classes years ago....

The thing was huge. It was taller than I am (5'3") and it took huge strength to pull back the string. Could you imagine trying to steady such a monster, line an arrow up, pull back that monstrous string, aim, and fire....I would think it would take a long time to fire each shot.

Answer 8

that's the rate of fire if you wanted to be accurate at a distance.

you could fire much faster but you lose accuracy and you also have a finite number of arrows.

remember arrows are rather large and although not heavy they are rather expensive, and once your out your bow is useless. You could only carry maybe a couple dozen at best and replacements were not readily available.

so it was better the kill you target with less arrows at a slower rate than it was to shoot wildly and waste your limited ammo.

Answer 9

Because it takes 10 seconds to load each arrow?

Answer 10

If you are hitting targets that is a good rate of fire.
Once all of your arrows are gone you're screwed so you aren't looking to waste them.