The Composite Bow by Mike Loades

Author:Mike Loades
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781472821614
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-04-12T04:00:00+00:00

The Ottoman track

A 17th-century Ottoman manual of military horsemanship, the Kitab-ı Makbûl der-Hâl-i Huyûl, describes elaborate mounted exercises that incorporated the use of the bow together with the sword, the mace and the shield; giving us insight into the dynamic, multi-weapon virtuosity of the horse-archer and his capabilities on the battlefield. My thanks to Gökmen Altinkulp for information on this manuscript, which is not currently available in English translation.

All the drills required the archer to be ambidextrous, making alternate runs of the track shooting to the right with the bow in the right hand and then shooting to the left with the bow in the left hand; for some of the more advanced exercises, the bow had to be switched mid-course. The archer was also required to maintain constant contact with the reins by means of a small finger loop attached to the reins by a lanyard, which he held in his bow-hand.

Of particular note was the deployment of the kalkan (shield) while shooting. Suspended by a strap, the shield had to be shifted nimbly from shoulder to shoulder according to which hand held the bow. For a right-handed-shot (bow in left hand) to a target on the left, the shield had to be on the right shoulder, and vice versa. There was much emphasis placed on the ability to swiftly switch bow and kalkan between runs.

Nearly 20 different drills are described, ranging from simple three-shot runs, drawing arrows from the quiver, to courses that demanded an arrow be shot both going towards and going away from each target. For this doubling attack, hitting each target with a one–two shot, it was recommended that additional arrows were carried in the string-hand.

More complex exercises required a combination of archery and strikes with the sword. In one example the archer is instructed to unsheath the sword, hang it from the right arm, take three arrows, nock one and put the other two between the fingers of the string-hand. At the gallop, he is then required to shoot forwards into the first target; then shoot behind himself to the same target; shoot the third arrow at the qabaq target; cut at the next sword target, sheath the sword; then shoot at the next target. For another run, which focused on the low sand-mound targets, the archer was not permitted to nock the arrow until after he had passed the target. Some courses required all three sword targets to be struck in addition to archery shots. Likewise, the mace was incorporated to attack the sword targets. One run required setting the mace on the first sand-pile, shooting the bow on approach, picking up the mace, twirling it three times, striking a target with it, then shooting at the qabaq, then drawing the sword and cutting a target to the right.

Even more extreme feats were summoned for archers who could shoot at a target on the approach, then – while still at full gallop – unstring and restring their bow, cut at a sword target, followed by a shot at the qabaq and finally slice a gourd in two with their sword.

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