With a Bended Bow by Erik Roth

Author:Erik Roth
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780752477978
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2012-02-14T00:00:00+00:00

A youth of clean compacted limb

Who, with a comely grace in his left hand

Holding his bow, did take a steadfast stand,

Setting his left leg somewhat forth before,

His arrow with his right hand nocking sure.

Then with his left hand, little above his sight

Stretching his arm out with an easy strength,

to draw an arrow of a yard in length …

It is odd that with so many written references to drawing to the ear, that we should find so few manuscript illustrations showing archers shooting in this way. Many illustrations, from periods in which we know the draw to the ear was used, show men shooting longbows at level marks drawing to the breast. This was done when shooting at roving marks. Short handbows, small bows, are shown being used in this way, the arrows being too short for the draw to the ear. These bows are also occasionally shown being drawn to the chin or cheek, especially when shooting downwards, and are usually drawn with two fingers rather than three. The two-finger draw is suitable for weaker bows as these bows generally were. The archer has a little more control at the loose and there is not such a tendency for the fingers to get pinched against the arrow.

Modern archers often draw to the chin or cheek, as drawing to the ear means that the right eye is not over the arrow. Modern shooters who sight along the shaft would find this a distinct disadvantage for aiming. Howard Hill drew to the cheek and, in addition to his slightly hunched posture, canted the bow to bring the tail of the arrow under his eye. Some bowmen in Roberts’ time, drawing to the ear, canted their bows also. And while Roi Modus says to keep the bow perpendicular, Ascham caustically commented on some archers he observed: ‘an other waggeth the upper end of his bow one way, the nether end an other way’. In drawing to the ear the bowstring will not permit much canting of the bow and we shall learn that if the bowman is aiming instinctively, it is really of no importance whether the arrow is under the eye or not.

In the Luttrell Psalter, a man is shown preparing to shoot in a manner that modern flight shooters call ‘free style’, lying on his back, his feet against the bow middle, and drawing with both hands. This is a method by which a man can shoot in a bow that would otherwise be beyond his strength, but accuracy is out of the question.

Some archers deviated from the straightforward classical shooting style and Ascham, an incurable purist, commented on variations he observed at the butts. He considered them perversions, lumping them together with facial grimaces and the like, but apparently some archers in Ascham’s time, as well as archers in other times and places, found them of value.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.