1.
Bow and arrow
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The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures. Archery is the art, practice, or skill of applying it, a bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles called arrows. A string joins the two ends of the bow and when the string is drawn back, the ends of the bow are flexed, when the string is released, the potential energy of the flexed stick is transformed into the kinetic energy of the arrow. Archery is the art or sport of shooting arrows from bows, today, bows and arrows are used primarily for hunting and for the sport of archery. Someone who makes bows is known as a bowyer, and one who makes arrows is a fletcher —or in the case of the manufacture of arrow heads. The bow and arrow appears around the transition from the Upper Paleolithic to the Mesolithic, at the site of Nataruk in Turkana County, Kenya, obsidian bladelets found embedded in a skull and within the thoracic cavity of another skeleton, suggest the use of stone-tipped arrows as weapons. After the end of the last glacial period, use of the bow seems to have spread to every inhabited continent, including the New World, the oldest extant bows in one piece are the elm Holmegaard bows from Denmark which were dated to 9,000 BCE. High-performance wooden bows are made following the Holmegaard design. Microliths discovered on the south coast of Africa suggest that arrows may be at least 71,000 years old, the bow was an important weapon for both hunting and warfare from prehistoric times until the widespread use of gunpowder in the 16th century. Organised warfare with bows ended in the mid 17th century in Europe, the British upper class led a revival of archery from the late 18th century. Sir Ashton Lever, an antiquarian and collector, formed the Toxophilite Society in London in 1781, under the patronage of George, the basic elements of a bow are a pair of curved elastic limbs, traditionally made from wood, joined by a riser. Both ends of the limbs are connected by a known as the bow string. By pulling the string backwards the archer exerts compressive force on the section, or belly, of the limbs as well as placing the outer section, or back. While the string is held, this stores the energy released in putting the arrow to flight. The force required to hold the string stationary at full draw is used to express the power of a bow. Other things being equal, a draw weight means a more powerful bow. The various parts of the bow can be subdivided into further sections, the topmost limb is known as the upper limb, while the bottom limb is the lower limb. At the tip of each limb is a nock, which is used to attach the bowstring to the limbs, the riser is usually divided into the grip, which is held by the archer, as well as the arrow rest and the bow window
2.
Bow shape
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In archery, the shape of the bow is usually taken to be the view from the side. It is the product of the relationship of material stresses. This shape, viewing the limbs, is designed to take account the construction materials, the performance required. There are many different kinds of bow shapes, however, most fall into three main categories, straight, recurve and compound. Straight and recurve are considered traditional bows, if a limb is straight its effective length remains the same as the bow is drawn. That is, the string directly to the nock in the strung position. The materials must withstand these stresses, store the energy, many bows, especially traditional self bows, are made approximately straight in side-view profile. Longbows as used by English Archers in the Middle Ages at such battles as Crecy, a recurve bow has tips that curve away from the archer when the bow is strung. By definition, the difference between recurve and other bows is that the string touches a section of the limb when the bow is strung. Recurve bows made out of materials were used by, among other groups, the Persians, Scythians, Hyksos, Magyars, Huns, Turks, Mongols. If a limb is straight its effective length remains the same as the bow is drawn and that is, the string goes directly to the nock in the strung position. When the limb is recurved, the string touches the limb before it gets to the nock, the effective length of the limb, as the draw commences, is therefore shorter. However, as the bow is drawn, the recurve unwinds, the limb becomes effectively longer, counter to this, stresses are building up in the materials of the limbs. The belly of the bow is in compression, the back is in tension, the materials must withstand these stresses, store the energy, and rapidly give back that energy efficiently. The amount of energy stored is determined by the stresses withstood, many bows, especially traditional self bows, are made approximately straight in side-view profile. They are generally referred to as straight, despite the minor curves of natural wood, when the archer commences the draw, mechanical advantage is at its greatest and the bow limbs are only pre-stressed to the strung position, therefore drawing weight is at a minimum. However, the weight rapidly increases because mechanical advantage reduces and stresses are building up in the limbs. On release, the reverse happens, the arrow is accelerated by maximum force, hence, the arrow must be sturdy enough to withstand such acceleration and, as the string may decelerate, it is possible for the arrow to leave the string prematurely, which is inefficient
3.
Flatbow
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A flatbow is a bow with non-recurved, flat, relatively wide limbs that are approximately rectangular in cross-section. Because the limbs are relatively wide, flatbows will usually narrow and become deeper at the handle, with a rounded and this design differs from that of a longbow, which has rounded limbs that are circular or D shaped in cross-section, and is usually widest at the handle. A flatbow can be just as long as a longbow, traditional flatbows are usually wooden self bows, though laminated and composite flatbows have been made in ancient and modern times. The flatbow is a bow design for almost all materials because the stress is more evenly spread out than with rounded limb sections. A bow limb is essentially a flexed beam undergoing bending, when a limb is rounded, as in a longbow, some material sticks out farther from the neutral axis, and thus is put under greater stress. Only particularly resilient timbers can make an effective and powerful wooden longbow, in most parts of the world, common hardwoods may be used to create excellent bows. Suitable and easily available timbers include elm, maple, sycamore, hazel, the flatbow design also lends itself to very dense, high strength woods such as hickory and especially osage orange. This is economical of wood and of the bowyers time, flatbows fell from favour in Europe after the Mesolithic, replaced with yew longbows. The trade of yew wood for English longbows was such that it depleted the stocks of yew over a huge area, flatbows are currently used by the paleolithic Sentinelese tribes of the Andaman Islands. Flatbows survived in areas, such as Finland, where yew does not grow naturally because of the unsuitable climate. The traditional Finnish flatbow is made either from ash, or as birch/pine laminate glued together with fish or hide glue, the American flatbow, also known as the American longbow, was developed in the 1930s. It resulted from scientific investigation into the best cross-sectional shape for a bow limb and this research was expected to explain why the English longbows D-section was superior to all other extant designs. Instead, it showed that the best cross-section was a simple rectangle, the American Flatbow was developed by applying these research findings to the English longbow. The result was an efficient and stable bow which can be made from more common woods. Because of its resemblance to some Native American bows, the American flatbow is also known as the semi-Indian bow. The American flatbow was popularised by Howard Hill and quickly displaced the English longbow as the bow for target shooting. The tips are rather than static
4.
Hunting
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Hunting is the practice of killing or trapping animals, or pursuing or tracking them with the intent of doing so. Hunting wildlife or feral animals is most commonly done by humans for food, recreation, to predators that are dangerous to humans or domestic animals. Lawful hunting is distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species. The species that are hunted are referred to as game or prey and are usually mammals, Hunting can also be a means of pest control. However, hunting has also contributed to the endangerment, extirpation and extinction of many animals. The pursuit, capture and release, or capture for food of fish is called fishing, the practice of foraging or gathering materials from plants and mushrooms is also considered separate from hunting. The word hunt serves as both a noun and a verb, the noun has been dated to the early 12th century, act of chasing game, from the verb hunt. The meaning of a body of persons associated for the purpose of hunting with a pack of hounds is first recorded in the 1570s, meaning the act of searching for someone or something is from about 1600. The verb, Old English huntian to chase game, perhaps developed from hunta hunter, is related to hentan to seize, from Proto-Germanic huntojan, the general sense of search diligently is first recorded c. Hunting has a history and may well pre-date the rise of the species Homo sapiens. Evidence from western Kenya suggests that hunting has been occurring for more two million years. Furthermore, evidence exists that hunting may have one of the multiple environmental factors leading to the Holocene extinction of megafauna. North American megafauna extinction was coincidental with the Younger Dryas impact event, however, in other locations such as Australia, humans are thought to have played a very significant role in the extinction of the Australian megafauna that was widespread prior to human occupation. The closest surviving relatives of the species are the two species of Pan, the common chimpanzee and bonobos. Common chimpanzees have a diet that includes troop hunting behaviour based on beta males being led by an alpha male. Bonobos have also observed to occasionally engage in group hunting. With the establishment of language, culture, and religion, hunting became a theme of stories and myths, as well as such as dance. Hunting was a component of hunter-gatherer societies before the domestication of livestock
5.
War
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War is a state of armed conflict between societies. It is generally characterized by extreme aggression, destruction, and mortality, an absence of war is usually called peace. Warfare refers to the activities and characteristics of types of war. Total war is warfare that is not restricted to legitimate military targets. While some scholars see war as a universal and ancestral aspect of human nature, as concerns a belligerents losses in proportion to its prewar population, the most destructive war in modern history may have been the Paraguayan War. In 2013 war resulted in 31,000 deaths, down from 72,000 deaths in 1990, in 2003, Richard Smalley identified war as the sixth biggest problem facing humanity for the next fifty years. Another byproduct of some wars is the prevalence of propaganda by some or all parties in the conflict, the word is related to the Old Saxon werran, Old High German werran, and the German verwirren, meaning “to confuse”, “to perplex”, and “to bring into confusion”. In German, the equivalent is Krieg, the Spanish, Portuguese, the scholarly study of war is sometimes called polemology, from the Greek polemos, meaning war, and -logy, meaning the study of. Studies of war by military theorists throughout military history have sought to identify the philosophy of war, asymmetric warfare is a conflict between two populations of drastically different levels of military capability or size. Biological warfare, or germ warfare, is the use of weaponized biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, chemical warfare involves the use of weaponized chemicals in combat. Poison gas as a weapon was principally used during World War I. Civil war is a war between forces belonging to the nation or political entity. Conventional warfare is declared war between states in which nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons are not used or see limited deployment, cyberwarfare involves the actions by a nation-state or international organization to attack and attempt to damage another nations information systems. Information warfare is the application of force on a large scale against information assets and systems, against the computers. Nuclear warfare is warfare in which weapons are the primary, or a major. War of aggression is a war for conquest or gain rather than self-defense, the earliest recorded evidence of war belongs to the Mesolithic cemetery Site 117, which has been determined to be approximately 14,000 years old. About forty-five percent of the skeletons there displayed signs of violent death, since the rise of the state some 5,000 years ago, military activity has occurred over much of the globe. The advent of gunpowder and the acceleration of technological advances led to modern warfare
6.
Paleolithic
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It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools, probably by Homo habilis initially,2.6 million years ago, to the end of the Pleistocene around 10,000 BP. The Paleolithic era is followed by the Mesolithic, the date of the Paleolithic–Mesolithic boundary may vary by locality as much as several thousand years. During the Paleolithic period, humans grouped together in small societies such as bands, the Paleolithic is characterized by the use of knapped stone tools, although at the time humans also used wood and bone tools. Other organic commodities were adapted for use as tools, including leather and vegetable fibers, however, due to their nature, surviving artifacts of the Paleolithic era are known as paleoliths. About 50,000 years ago, there was a increase in the diversity of artifacts. For the first time in Africa, bone artifacts and the first art appear in the archaeological record, the first evidence of human fishing is also noted, from artifacts in places such as Blombos cave in South Africa. The new technology generated an explosion of modern humans which is believed to have led to the extinction of the Neanderthals. Humankind gradually evolved from members of the genus Homo—such as Homo habilis. The climate during the Paleolithic consisted of a set of glacial and interglacial periods in which the climate periodically fluctuated between warm and cool temperatures, by c. 50,000 – c. 40,000 BP, the first humans set foot in Australia. By c. 45,000 BP, humans lived at 61°N latitude in Europe, by c. 30,000 BP, Japan was reached, and by c. 27,000 BP humans were present in Siberia, above the Arctic Circle. At the end of the Upper Paleolithic, a group of humans crossed Beringia, the term Paleolithic was coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865. It derives from Greek, παλαιός, palaios, old, and λίθος, lithos, stone, human evolution is the part of biological evolution concerning the emergence of anatomically modern humans as a distinct species. The Paleolithic Period coincides almost exactly with the Pleistocene epoch of geologic time and this epoch experienced important geographic and climatic changes that affected human societies. During the preceding Pliocene, continents had continued to drift from possibly as far as 250 km from their present locations to positions only 70 km from their current location. South America became linked to North America through the Isthmus of Panama, most of Central America formed during the Pliocene to connect the continents of North and South America, allowing fauna from these continents to leave their native habitats and colonize new areas. Africas collision with Asia created the Mediterranean Sea, cutting off the remnants of the Tethys Ocean, climates during the Pliocene became cooler and drier, and seasonal, similar to modern climates. The formation of an Arctic ice cap around 3 million years ago is signaled by a shift in oxygen isotope ratios and ice-rafted cobbles in the North Atlantic. Mid-latitude glaciation probably began before the end of the epoch, the global cooling that occurred during the Pliocene may have spurred on the disappearance of forests and the spread of grasslands and savannas
7.
Bronze Age
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The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition, although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic. Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing, according to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems. The overall period is characterized by use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques, tin must be mined and smelted separately, then added to molten copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of use of metals. The dating of the foil has been disputed, the Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and mathematics, the usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people, ur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The earliest mention of Babylonia appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC, the Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it took over the other city-states. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use, by that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use. Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia, in the Old Elamite period, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a role in the Gutian Empire and especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it
8.
Taxus baccata
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Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may now be known as English yew. The word yew is from Proto-Germanic *īwa-, possibly originally a loanword from Gaulish *ivos, compare Irish ēo, Welsh ywen, baccata is Latin for bearing red berries. The word yew as it was originally used seems to refer to the color brown, the yew was known to Theophrastus, who noted its preference for mountain coolness and shade, its evergreen character and its slow growth. Most Romance languages, with the exception of French, kept a version of the Latin word taxus from the same root as toxic. In Slavic languages, the root is preserved, Russian tis, Slovakian tis, Slovenian tisa. In German it is known as Eibe, in Iran, the tree is known as sorkhdār. The common yew was one of the species first described by Linnaeus. It is one of around 30 conifer species in seven genera in the family Taxaceae and it is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree, growing 10–20 metres tall, with a trunk up to 2 metres diameter. The bark is thin, scaly brown, coming off in small flakes aligned with the stem, the aril is 8–15 millimetres long and wide and open at the end. The arils mature 6 to 9 months after pollination, and with the contained, are eaten by thrushes, waxwings and other birds. Maturation of the arils is spread over 2 to 3 months, the seeds themselves are poisonous and bitter, but are opened and eaten by some bird species including hawfinches, greenfinches and great tits. The aril is not poisonous, it is gelatinous and very sweet tasting, the male cones are globose, 3–6 millimetres diameter, and shed their pollen in early spring. The yew is mostly dioecious, but occasional individuals can be variably monoecious, Taxus baccata can reach 400 to 600 years of age. Some specimens live longer but the age of yews is often overestimated, ten yews in Britain are believed to predate the 10th century. The potential age of yews is impossible to accurately and is subject to much dispute. There is rarely any wood as old as the tree, while the boughs themselves often become hollow with age. One characteristic contributing to yews longevity is that it is able to split under the weight of advanced growth without succumbing to disease in the fracture, as do most other trees
9.
Ulmus glabra
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A large, deciduous tree, it is essentially a montane species, growing at elevations of up to 1500 m, preferring sites with moist soils and high humidity. The tree can form pure forests in Scandinavia and occurs as far north as latitude 67°N at Beiarn in Norway, wych elm has also been successfully introduced to Narsarsuaq, near the southern tip of Greenland. The tree was by far the most common elm in the north, however, this is contested, the correct Gaelic name considered Loch Laomainn, its origin obscure. The word wych comes from the Old English wice, meaning pliant or supple, an older name for the tree was wych hazel, perhaps based on the similar appearance of hazel and wych elm shoots. Some botanists, notably Lindquist have proposed dividing the species into two subspecies, Ulmus glabra subsp, glabra in the south of the species range, with broad leaves, trees often with a short, forked trunk and a low, broad crown Ulmus glabra subsp. Montana Lindqvist in the north of the range, the leaves are narrower, trees commonly with a long single trunk. The wych elm sometimes reaches heights of 40 m, typically with a crown where open-grown. There are not normally root suckers, natural reproduction is by seed alone, the tree is notable for its very tough, supple young shoots, which are always without the corky ridges or wings characteristic of many elms. The alternate leaves are deciduous, 6–17 cm long by 3–12 cm broad, usually obovate with a base, the lobe often completely covering the short petiole. Leaves on juvenile or shade-grown shoots sometimes have three or more lobes near the apex, the perfect hermaphrodite flowers appear before the leaves in early spring, produced in clusters of 10–20, they are 4 mm across on 10 mm long stems and, being wind-pollinated, are apetalous. The fruit is a winged samara 20 mm long and 15 mm broad, with a single, round,6 mm seed in the centre, maturing in late spring. Montana While the species is susceptible to Dutch elm disease. Research in Spain has indicated the presence of a triterpene, alnulin, moreover, once the tree is dying, its bark is quickly colonized by the fungus Phoma, which radically reduces the amount of bark available for the beetle to breed on. In European trials, clones of apparently resistant trees were inoculated with the pathogen, DNA analysis by Cemagref in France has determined the genetic diversity within the species is very limited, making the chances of a resistant tree evolving rather remote. The Swedish Forest Tree Breeding Association at Källstorp produced triploid and tetraploid forms of the tree, in trials conducted in Italy, the tree was found to have a slight to moderate susceptibility to elm yellows, and a high susceptibility to the elm leaf beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola. The wych elm is moderately shade-tolerant, but requires deep, rich soils as typically found along river valleys, however, the species is intolerant of flooding, as it is of prolonged drought. Although rarely used as a street tree owing to its shape, it can be tolerant of urban air pollution, constricted growing conditions. As wych elm does not sucker from the roots, and any seedlings are often consumed by uncontrolled deer populations, the resultant decline has been extreme, and the wych elm is now uncommon over much of its former range
10.
Self bow
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A self bow or simple bow is a bow made from a single piece of wood. Extra material such as horn nocks on the ends, or built-up handles, some modern authorities would also accept a bow spliced together in the handle from two pieces of wood. An effective self bow can be made widely available local material in most inhabited parts of the world, with limited tools whose functions include chopping, shaving. A day of work may be needed, starting with a seasoned stave, self bows must be the height of the archer if they are to allow a long draw, and they are less efficient in the specialized art of flight archery. Well-designed composite bows of high draw-weight give higher arrow velocity, however, for infantry use the self bow is in no way inferior to the composite bow, for example the famed English longbow are self bows. At the weights more usual for amateurs, the greater density of horn. The first bow artifacts, the Stellmoor and Holmegaard artifacts of Northern Europe, are self bows, the Stellmoor bow was made from the heartwood of a Scots pine while the oldest Holmegaard bows were carved from small-diameter elms. In primitive flight archery competitions, bows inspired by the design of the Holmegaard bows perform very well because of their light, in most inhabited areas, common timbers can be made into high-quality self bows. The pieces must be enough, and the grain must be sufficiently straight. In Europe and North America, common woods such as maple, ash, elm, and oak make excellent flat bows, the fibres on the back of a self bow must be, so far as possible, continuous. The density of timber correlates well with its ability to store energy as it is bent, denser timbers can make narrower bows. The same design for less dense timbers results in the bow taking excessive set-string follow, however, equally effective bows may be made from less dense timber by making them wider near the centre. The mass of equivalent bows is closely similar whatever the density of wood, the overall length of bending wood must be about 2.3 times the draw length. Narrow bows can bend in the handle, wider bows must be narrow in the handle if they are to be practical, but the handle must be made thicker so as not to bend, and the complete bow will therefore tend to be longer. Self bows may be of any side-view profile, moderate recurving can often be achieved with heat, crossbow Cable-backed bow Compound bow Laminated bow The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 1. ISBN 1-58574-085-3 The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 2, ISBN 1-58574-086-1 The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 3. ISBN 1-58574-087-X The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 4
11.
Archery
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Archery is the sport, practice or skill of using a bow to propel arrows. The word comes from the Latin arcus, historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern times, it is mainly a competitive sport and recreational activity, a person who participates in archery is typically called an archer or a bowman, and a person who is fond of or an expert at archery is sometimes called a toxophilite. The bow and arrow seems to have invented in the later Paleolithic or early Mesolithic periods. The oldest signs of its use in Europe come from the Stellmoor in the Ahrensburg valley north of Hamburg, Germany and dates from the late Paleolithic, about 10, 000–9000 BC. The arrows were made of pine and consisted of a mainshaft, there are no definite earlier bows, previous pointed shafts are known, but may have been launched by spear-throwers rather than bows. The oldest bows known so far come from the Holmegård swamp in Denmark, bows and arrows have been present in Egyptian culture since its predynastic origins. In the Levant, artifacts that could be arrow-shaft straighteners are known from the Natufian culture, the Khiamian and PPN A shouldered Khiam-points may well be arrowheads. Classical civilizations, notably the Assyrians, Greeks, Armenians, Persians, Parthians, Indians, Koreans, Chinese, akkadians were the first to use composite bows in war according to the victory stele of Naram-Sin of Akkad. The Welsh longbow proved its worth for the first time in Continental warfare at the Battle of Crécy, in the Americas archery was widespread at European contact. Archery was highly developed in Asia, the Sanskrit term for archery, dhanurveda, came to refer to martial arts in general. In East Asia, Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea was well known for its regiments of skilled archers. Central Asian tribesmen and American Plains Indians became extremely adept at archery on horseback, lightly armoured, but highly mobile archers were excellently suited to warfare in the Central Asian steppes, and they formed a large part of armies that repeatedly conquered large areas of Eurasia. Shorter bows are more suited to use on horseback, and the bow enabled mounted archers to use powerful weapons. It is possible that barbarian peoples were responsible for introducing archery or certain types of bows to their civilized counterparts—the Xiong-nu, similarly, short bows seem to have been introduced to Japan by northeast Asian groups. The development of firearms rendered bows obsolete in warfare, albeit efforts were made to preserve archery practice. In Wales and England, for example, the government tried to practice with the Longbow until the end of the 16th century. This was because it was recognised that the bow had been instrumental to military success during the Hundred Years War, early firearms were inferior in rate-of-fire, and were very susceptible to wet weather
12.
English longbow
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The English longbow, also called the Welsh longbow, is a powerful medieval type of longbow about 6 ft long used by the English and Welsh for hunting and as a weapon in medieval warfare. More than 130 bows survive from the Renaissance period, however, more than 3,500 arrows and 137 whole longbows were recovered from the Mary Rose, a ship of Henry VIIIs navy that sank at Portsmouth in 1545. A longbow must be enough to allow its user to draw the string to a point on the face or body. In continental Europe it was seen as any bow longer than 1.2 m. The Society of Antiquaries of London says it is of 5 or 6 feet in length, Richard Bartelot, of the Royal Artillery Institution, said that the bow was of yew,6 feet long, with a 3-foot arrow. Gaston III, Count of Foix, wrote in 1388 that a longbow should be of yew or boxwood, historian Jim Bradbury said they were an average of about 5 feet and 8 inches. All but the last estimate were made before the excavation of the Mary Rose, estimates for the draw of these bows varies considerably. Before the recovery of the Mary Rose, Count M. Mildmay Stayner, Recorder of the British Long Bow Society, estimated the bows of the Medieval period drew 90–110 pounds-force, maximum, and Mr. W. F. Paterson, Chairman of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries, believed the weapon had a draw weight of only 80–90 lbf. Other sources suggest significantly higher draw weights, the original draw forces of examples from the Mary Rose are estimated by Robert Hardy at 150–160 lbf at a 30-inch draw length, the full range of draw weights was between 100–185 lbf. The 30-inch draw length was used because that is the length allowed by the commonly found on the Mary Rose. A modern longbows draw is typically 60 lbf or less, historically, hunting bows usually had draw weights of 50–60 lbf, which is enough for all but the very largest game and which most reasonably fit adults can manage with practice. Today, there are few modern longbowmen capable of using 180–185 lbf bows accurately. A record of how boys and men trained to use the bows with high draw weights survives from the reign of Henry VII. taught me how to draw, not to draw with strength of arms as divers other nations do. I had my bows bought me according to my age and strength, as I increased in them, for men shall never shoot well unless they be brought up to it. Hence probably arose the phrase bending the bow, and the French of drawing one, the preferred material to make the longbow was yew, although ash, elm and other woods were also used. The traditional construction of a longbow consists of drying the yew wood for 1 to 2 years, then working the wood into shape. The bow stave is shaped into a D-section, the inner side of the bow stave consists of rounded heartwood
13.
Victorian era
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The Victorian era was the period of Queen Victorias reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities. Some scholars date the beginning of the period in terms of sensibilities, the era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period. The later half of the Victorian age roughly coincided with the first part of the Belle Époque era of continental Europe, culturally there was a transition away from the rationalism of the Georgian period and toward romanticism and mysticism with regard to religion, social values, and arts. The end of the saw the Boer War. Domestically, the agenda was increasingly liberal with a number of shifts in the direction of political reform, industrial reform. Two especially important figures in period of British history are the prime ministers Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone. Disraeli, favoured by the queen, was a gregarious Conservative and his rival Gladstone, a Liberal distrusted by the Queen, served more terms and oversaw much of the overall legislative development of the era. The population of England and Wales almost doubled from 16.8 million in 1851 to 30.5 million in 1901, Scotlands population also rose rapidly, from 2.8 million in 1851 to 4.4 million in 1901. However, Irelands population decreased sharply, from 8.2 million in 1841 to less than 4.5 million in 1901, mostly due to the Great Famine. Between 1837 and 1901 about 15 million emigrants departed the UK permanently, in search of a life in the United States, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia. During the early part of the era, politics in the House of Commons involved battles between the two parties, the Whigs/Liberals and the Conservatives. These parties were led by such prominent statesmen as Lord Melbourne, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Derby, Lord Palmerston, Gladstone, Disraeli, Victoria became queen in 1837 at age 18. Her long reign until 1901 was mainly a time of peace, Britain reached the zenith of its economic, political, diplomatic and cultural power. The era saw the expansion of the second British Empire, Historians have characterised the mid-Victorian era as Britains Golden Years. There was prosperity, as the income per person grew by half. There was peace abroad, and social peace at home, opposition to the new order melted away, says Porter. The Chartist movement peaked as a movement among the working class in 1848, its leaders moved to other pursuits, such as trade unions
14.
Elm
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Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The genus first appeared in the Miocene geological period about 20 million years ago, Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests. Some individual elms reached great size and age, however, in recent decades, most mature elms of European or North American origin have died from Dutch elm disease, caused by a microfungus dispersed by bark beetles. In response, disease-resistant cultivars have been developed, capable of restoring the elm to forestry, eight species are endemic to North America, and a smaller number to Europe, the greatest diversity is found in Asia. The classification adopted in the List of elm species, varieties, cultivars, a large number of synonyms have accumulated over the last three centuries, their currently accepted names can be found in the list List of elm Synonyms and Accepted Names. Botanists who study elms and argue over elm identification and classification are called pteleologists, as part of the sub-order urticalean rosids they are distant cousins of cannabis, hops, and nettles. The name Ulmus is the Latin name for these trees, while the English elm, the genus is hermaphroditic, having apetalous perfect flowers which are wind-pollinated. Elm leaves are alternate, with simple, single- or, most commonly, doubly serrate margins, usually asymmetric at the base, the fruit is a round wind-dispersed samara flushed with chlorophyll, facilitating photosynthesis before the leaves emerge. All species are tolerant of a range of soils and pH levels but, with few exceptions. The elm tree can grow to height, often with a split trunk creating a vase-shape profile. Dutch elm disease devastated elms throughout Europe and much of North America in the half of the 20th century. It derives its name Dutch from the first description of the disease and its cause in the 1920s by the Dutch botanists Bea Schwarz, DED is caused by a micro-fungus transmitted by two species of Scolytus elm-bark beetle which act as vectors. The disease affects all species of elm native to North America and Europe, fungal spores, introduced into wounds in the tree caused by the beetles, invade the xylem or vascular system. The tree responds by producing tyloses, effectively blocking the flow from roots to leaves, woodland trees in North America are not quite as susceptible to the disease because they usually lack the root-grafting of the urban elms and are somewhat more isolated from each other. In France, inoculation with the fungus of over three hundred clones of the European species failed to find a single variety possessed of any significant resistance. The second, far more virulent strain of the disease Ophiostoma novo-ulmi was identified in Europe in the late 1960s, Elm phloem necrosis is a disease of elm trees that is spread by leafhoppers or by root grafts. This very aggressive disease, with no cure, occurs in the Eastern United States, southern Ontario in Canada. It is caused by phytoplasmas which infect the phloem of the tree, infection and death of the phloem effectively girdles the tree and stops the flow of water and nutrients
15.
Mummy
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Some authorities restrict the use of the term to bodies deliberately embalmed with chemicals, but the use of the word to cover accidentally desiccated bodies goes back to at least 1615 CE. Mummies of humans and other animals have found on every continent. Over one million animal mummies have been found in Egypt, many of which are cats, in addition to the well-known mummies of ancient Egypt, deliberate mummification was a feature of several ancient cultures in areas of America and Asia with very dry climates. The Spirit Cave mummies of Fallon, Nevada in North America were accurately dated at more than 9,400 years old. Before this discovery, the oldest known deliberate mummy was a child, one of the Chinchorro mummies found in the Camarones Valley, Chile, which dates around 5050 BCE. The oldest known naturally mummified corpse is a severed head dated as 6,000 years old. These substances were defined as mummia, the OED defines a mummy as the body of a human being or animal embalmed as a preparation for burial, citing sources from 1615 CE onward. However, Chambers Cyclopædia and the Victorian zoologist Francis Trevelyan Buckland define a mummy as follows, also applied to the frozen carcase of an animal imbedded in prehistoric snow. Wasps of the genus Aleiodes are known as mummy wasps because they wrap their prey as mummies. While interest in the study of mummies dates as far back as Ptolemaic Greece, prior to this, many rediscovered mummies were sold as curiosities or for use in pseudoscientific novelties such as mummia. The first modern scientific examinations of mummies began in 1901, conducted by professors at the English-language Government School of Medicine in Cairo, Egypt. The first X-ray of a mummy came in 1903, when professors Grafton Elliot Smith, British chemist Alfred Lucas applied chemical analyses to Egyptian mummies during this same period, which returned many results about the types of substances used in embalming. Lucas also made significant contributions to the analysis of Tutankhamun in 1922, pathological study of mummies saw varying levels of popularity throughout the 20th century. In 1992, the First World Congress on Mummy Studies was held in Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, more than 300 scientists attended the Congress to share nearly 100 years of collected data on mummies. This was not possible prior to the Congress due to the unique, in more recent years, CT scanning has become an invaluable tool in the study of mummification by allowing researchers to digitally unwrap mummies without risking damage to the body. The level of detail in such scans is so intricate that small linens used in areas such as the nostrils can be digitally reconstructed in 3-D. Such modelling has been utilized to perform autopsies on mummies to determine cause of death and lifestyle. Mummies are typically divided into one of two categories, anthropogenic or spontaneous
16.
Bog
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A bog is a wetland that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses, and in a majority of cases, sphagnum moss. It is one of the four types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, quagmire, and muskeg and they are frequently covered in ericaceous shrubs rooted in the sphagnum moss and peat. The gradual accumulation of decayed plant material in a bog functions as a carbon sink, Bogs occur where the water at the ground surface is acidic and low in nutrients. In some cases, the water is derived entirely from precipitation, water flowing out of bogs has a characteristic brown colour, which comes from dissolved peat tannins. In general, the low fertility and cool climate results in relatively slow plant growth, large areas of landscape can be covered many metres deep in peat. Bogs have distinctive assemblages of animal, fungal and plant species, Bogs are widely distributed in cold, temperate climes, mostly in boreal ecosystems in the Northern Hemisphere. The worlds largest wetland is the bogs of the Western Siberian Lowlands in Russia. Large peat bogs also occur in North America, particularly the Hudson Bay Lowland and they are less common in the Southern Hemisphere, with the largest being the Magellanic moorland, comprising some 44,000 square kilometres. Sphagnum bogs were widespread in northern Europe but have often been cleared and drained for agriculture, a 2014 expedition leaving from Itanga village, Republic of the Congo discovered a peat bog as big as England which stretches into neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. There are many highly specialised animals, fungi and plants associated with bog habitat, most are capable of tolerating the combination of low nutrient levels and waterlogging. Sphagnum moss is generally abundant, along with ericaceous shrubs, the shrubs are often evergreen, which is understood to assist in conservation of nutrients. In drier locations, evergreen trees can occur, in case the bog blends into the surrounding expanses of boreal evergreen forest. Sedges are one of the more common herbaceous species, carnivorous plants such as sundews and pitcher plants have adapted to the low-nutrient conditions by using invertebrates as a nutrient source. Orchids have adapted to these conditions through the use of fungi to extract nutrients. Some shrubs such as Myrica gale have root nodules in which nitrogen fixation occurs, Bogs are recognized as a significant/specific habitat type by a number of governmental and conservation agencies. They can provide habitat for mammals, such as caribou, moose, the United Kingdom in its Biodiversity Action Plan establishes bog habitats as a priority for conservation. Russia has a reserve system in the West Siberian Lowland
17.
Nydam Mose
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Nydam Mose is an archaeological site located at Øster Sottrup, a town located in Sundeved, eight kilometres from Sønderborg, Denmark. In the Iron Age, the site of the bog was a sacred place, many items were deliberately destroyed in ritual sacrificial acts, from the period 200 to 400 AD. Nydam Bog has played a role in the Danish national claim for Southern Jutland, the first known finds from the bog date from the 1830s, when a local farmer gave old swords and shields as toys to his children. Amongst numerous other items, three boats were found in Nydam Bog, the oak boat is on display at the archaeological museum in Gottorp Castle, Schleswig, Germany. From 1859 to 1863, archaeologist Conrad Engelhardt excavated the bog, Engelhardt found weapons, tools, pieces of clothing and two intact clinker built boats, one made of oak and one made of pine. The weapons include lances, spears, bows, arrows and round shields, under these finds were the remains of a third boat, which apparently had been demolished already during the sacrifice. Engelhardt’s work ceased with the outbreak of the Second Schleswig War in early 1864, some of the discoveries from the bog were lost during the Second Schleswig War. The smaller of the two boats, perhaps 19 meters long and made of pine, was hacked up and used as firewood by troops, the National Museum of Denmark resumed excavation of the bog in 1989. During excavation a large quantity of weapons have come to light, in the form of swords, spears, bows and arrows and these finds originate from the Iron Age, in the period between 250 and 550. The sacrifice site was used on different occasions during the years 200–450. The oak boat was the first boat found, and the one still preserved. It has been dated to 310–320. The oak boat is considered the oldest Nordic shipfind and the oldest known clinker built boat and it is 23 m long, c 4 m wide, of clinker type, and built for 15 pairs of oars. The Nydam Boat is the largest and best preserved of the found in Nydam Bog and is now displayed at Gottorf Castle in Schleswig. It once weighed over three tonnes and was rowed by thirty men, interest in the archaeology of Nydam Bog has always been particularly lively in the local area. The Nydam discoveries were and remain a significant theme in the relationship between Danish and German cultures in the border region, on this basis, the Society for Nydam Research – commonly known as the Nydam Society - was formed in 1983. Through its work, this interest group has contributed to the resumption of National Museum of Denmark’s investigation of the bog, today, the site is a green meadow. From here, there is a path to the white house, Nydamhuset
18.
Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
19.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
20.
Hundred Years' War
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Each side drew many allies into the war. It was one of the most notable conflicts of the Middle Ages, the war marked both the height of chivalry and its subsequent decline, and the development of strong national identities in both countries. After the Norman Conquest, the kings of England were vassals of the kings of France for their possessions in France, the French kings had endeavored, over the centuries, to reduce these possessions, to the effect that only Gascony was left to the English. Through his mother, Isabella of France, Edward III of England was the grandson of Philip IV of France and nephew of Charles IV of France, in 1316, a principle was established denying women succession to the French throne. When Charles IV died in 1328, Isabella, unable to claim the French throne for herself, the French rejected the claim, maintaining that Isabella could not transmit a right that she did not possess. Several overwhelming English victories in the war—especially at Crecy, Poitiers, however, the greater resources of the French monarchy precluded a complete conquest. Historians commonly divide the war into three separated by truces, the Edwardian Era War, the Caroline War, and the Lancastrian War. Later historians adopted the term Hundred Years War as a historiography periodization to encompass all of these events, the war owes its historical significance to multiple factors. By its end, feudal armies had been replaced by professional troops. Although primarily a conflict, the war gave impetus to ideas of French. The wider introduction of weapons and tactics supplanted the feudal armies where heavy cavalry had dominated, the war precipitated the creation of the first standing armies in Western Europe since the time of the Western Roman Empire and thus helping to change their role in warfare. With respect to the belligerents, in France, civil wars, deadly epidemics, famines, English political forces over time came to oppose the costly venture. The dissatisfaction of English nobles, resulting from the loss of their continental landholdings, the root causes of the conflict can be found in the demographic, economic and political crises of 14th century Europe. The outbreak of war was motivated by a rise in tension between the Kings of France and England about Guyenne, Flanders and Scotland. The dynastic question, which due to an interruption of the direct male line of the Capetians, was the official pretext. The question of succession to the French throne was raised after the death of Louis X in 1316. Louis X left only a daughter, and his posthumous son John I lived only a few days, Philip, Count of Poitiers, brother of Louis X, asserted that women were ineligible to succeed to the French throne. Through his political sagacity he won over his adversaries and succeeded to the French throne as Philip V of France, by the same law that he procured, his daughters were denied the succession, which passed to his younger brother, Charles IV, in 1322
21.
Battle of Poitiers
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The Battle of Poitiers was a major battle of the Hundred Years War between England and France. The battle occurred on 19 September 1356 near Poitiers, France, preceded by the Battle of Crécy in 1346, and followed by the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, it was the second of the three great English victories of the war. The town and battle were often referred to as Poictiers at the time, Edward, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of King Edward III, began a great chevauchée on 8 August 1356. He conducted many scorched earth raids northwards from the English base in Aquitaine, in an effort to bolster his troops in central France, as well as to raid and ravage the countryside. His forces met little resistance, burning towns to the ground and living off the land. They were unable to take the castle or burn the town due to a heavy downpour and this delay allowed John II, King of France, to attempt to catch Edwards army. There were negotiations before the battle of Poitiers that are recorded in the writings of the life of Sir John Chandos and he records the final moments of a meeting of both sides in an effort to avoid the bloody conflict at Poitiers. Of speech there he made no stint, there they held their parliament, and each one spoke his mind. But their counsel I cannot relate, yet I know well, in truth, as I hear in my record. Sir Thomas Felton fought not only at Poitiers but also at the Battle of Crécy, one of the chief commanders at both Crécy and Poitiers was John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, mentioned above. Another account states that John of Ghistelles perished at the Battle of Crécy so there is ambiguity as to this man. The French army also included a contingent of Scots commanded by Sir William Douglas, Douglas fought in the Kings own Battle, but when the fight seemed over Douglas was dragged by his men from the melee. At the beginning of the battle, the English removed their baggage train leading the French to think they were about to retreat which provoked a hasty charge by the French knights against the archers. According to Froissart, the English attacked the enemy, especially the horses, geoffrey the Baker writes that the French armour was invulnerable to the English arrows, that the arrowheads either skidded off the armour or shattered on impact. Given the following actions of the archers, it seems likely Baker was correct, the armour on the horses was weaker on the sides and back, so the archers moved to the sides of the cavalry and shot the horses in the flanks. This was a method of stopping a cavalry charge, as a falling horse often destroyed the cohesion of the enemys line. The Dauphin attacked Salisbury and pressed his advance in spite of heavy shot by the English archers, green suggests that the Dauphin had thousands of troops with him in this phase of the attack. He advanced to the English lines but ultimately fell back, the French were unable to penetrate the protective hedge the English were using
22.
Battle of Agincourt
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The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory in the Hundred Years War. The battle took place on Friday,25 October 1415 in the County of Saint-Pol, Artois, Henry V led his troops into battle and participated in hand-to-hand fighting. The French king of the time, Charles VI, did not command the French army himself as he suffered from severe psychotic illnesses with moderate mental incapacitation, instead, the French were commanded by Constable Charles dAlbret and various prominent French noblemen of the Armagnac party. This battle is notable for the use of the English longbow in very large numbers, the battle is the centrepiece of the play Henry V by William Shakespeare. The Battle of Agincourt is well documented by at least seven contemporary accounts, the approximate location of the battle has never been in dispute and the place remains relatively unaltered even after 600 years. Two of the most frequently cited accounts come from Burgundian sources, one from Jean Le Fèvre de Saint-Remy, who was present at the battle, Henry V invaded France following the failure of negotiations with the French. He initially called a Great Council in the spring of 1414 to discuss going to war with France, Henry would marry Princess Catherine, the young daughter of Charles VI, and receive a dowry of 2 million crowns. The French responded with what they considered the terms of marriage with Princess Catherine, a dowry of 600,000 crowns. By 1415, negotiations had ground to a halt, with the English claiming that the French had mocked their claims and ridiculed Henry himself. In December 1414, the English parliament was persuaded to grant Henry a double subsidy, on 19 April 1415, Henry again asked the Great Council to sanction war with France, and this time they agreed. The siege took longer than expected, the town surrendered on 22 September, and the English army did not leave until 8 October. The campaign season was coming to an end, and the English army had suffered many casualties through disease and he also intended the manoeuvre as a deliberate provocation to battle aimed at the dauphin, who had failed to respond to Henrys personal challenge to combat at Harfleur. The French had raised an army during the siege which assembled around Rouen and this was not strictly a feudal army, but an army paid through a system similar to the English. The French hoped to raise 9,000 troops, but the army was not ready in time to relieve Harfleur, after Henry V marched to the north, the French moved to block them along the River Somme. They were successful for a time, forcing Henry to move south, away from Calais, the English finally crossed the Somme south of Péronne, at Béthencourt and Voyennes and resumed marching north. Without a river obstacle to defend, the French were hesitant to force a battle and they shadowed Henrys army while calling a semonce des nobles, calling on local nobles to join the army. By 24 October, both faced each other for battle, but the French declined, hoping for the arrival of more troops. The two armies spent the night of 24 October on open ground, the English had very little food, had marched 260 miles in two and a half weeks, were suffering from sickness such as dysentery, and faced much larger numbers of well equipped French men at arms
23.
Edward III of England
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Edward III transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. Edward was crowned at age fourteen after his father was deposed by his mother, Isabella of France, at age seventeen he led a successful coup against Mortimer, the de facto ruler of the country, and began his personal reign. After a successful campaign in Scotland he declared himself heir to the French throne in 1337. This started what would become known as the Hundred Years War, following some initial setbacks the war went exceptionally well for England, victories at Crécy and Poitiers led to the highly favourable Treaty of Brétigny. Edwards later years, however, were marked by international failure and domestic strife, largely as a result of his inactivity, Edward III was a temperamental man but capable of unusual clemency. He was in ways a conventional king whose main interest was warfare. Admired in his own time and for centuries after, Edward was denounced as an adventurer by later Whig historians such as William Stubbs. This view has been challenged recently and modern historians credit him with some significant achievements, Edward was born at Windsor Castle on 13 November 1312, and was often referred to as Edward of Windsor in his early years. The reign of his father, Edward II, was a problematic period of English history. One source of contention was the inactivity, and repeated failure. Another controversial issue was the kings patronage of a small group of royal favourites. The birth of an heir in 1312 temporarily improved Edward IIs position in relation to the baronial opposition. To bolster further the independent prestige of the prince, the king had him created Earl of Chester at only twelve days of age. In 1325, Edward II was faced with a demand from his brother-in-law, Charles IV of France, Edward was reluctant to leave the country, as discontent was once again brewing domestically, particularly over his relationship with the favourite Hugh Despenser the Younger. Instead, he had his son Edward created Duke of Aquitaine in his place, the young Edward was accompanied by his mother Isabella, who was the sister of King Charles, and was meant to negotiate a peace treaty with the French. While in France, however, Isabella conspired with the exiled Roger Mortimer to have Edward deposed, to build up diplomatic and military support for the venture, Isabella had Prince Edward engaged to the twelve-year-old Philippa of Hainault. An invasion of England was launched and Edward IIs forces deserted him completely, the king was forced to relinquish the throne to his son on 25 January 1327. The new king was crowned as Edward III on 1 February 1327 and it was not long before the new reign also met with other problems caused by the central position at court of Roger Mortimer, who was now the de facto ruler of England
24.
Fletching
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Fletching is the aerodynamic stabilization of arrows or darts with materials such as feathers, each piece of which is referred to as a fletch. A fletcher is a person who attaches the fletching The word is related to the French word flèche, meaning arrow, as a pronoun, fletching refers collectively to the fins or vanes, each of which individually is known as a fletch. Traditionally, the fletching consists of three matched half-feathers attached near the back of the arrow or darts shaft that are spaced around its circumference. Four fletchings were also used historically, today, modern plastics may be used instead. Fletches were traditionally attached with glue and silk thread, but with modern glue/thread/tape this is no longer necessary, the fletching is used to stabilize the arrow aerodynamically. Feather fletches impart a spin on an arrow due to the rough and smooth sides of a feather. More generally, it can refer to any structures added to a projectile to aerodynamically stabilize its flight, many of which resemble arrows in form, for instance, the feathers at the butt end of a dart are very similar in purpose and construction to those used in arrows. Most of the techniques of fletching were likely adapted from earlier dart-making techniques, the fins used to stabilize rockets work in a similar manner. A Fletcher would be someone who works with and/or makes these, flechette Hane, fletching of the Japanese arrow. Self Arrows in The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume One, human Kinetics ISBN 0-7360-5501-0 Soar Hugh David. A select history of the arrow
25.
Bowyer
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A bowyer is someone who makes bows. Bows are used for hunting and for archery, the development of gunpowder and muskets slowly led to the replacement of bows as weapons of war which decreased the importance of bowyers. Historically, a variety of bows have been produced for food gathering, warfare. Who created these bows depended mainly on the type of bow being produced, by working in groups more could be accomplished. In medieval England, for example, professional bowyers produced thousands of bows required for that country’s military and these bowyers could reportedly make an English longbow in as little as two hours. Wooden selfbows normally take from 5–15 hours of work depending on the skill of the bowyer, modern amateurs find it satisfying to make functional self bows with beginners skills and few tools. Cultures that used composite bows had to rely on skilled craftsmen and these demands required experienced bowyers who were willing to spend a great deal of time crafting their weapons. Cultures such as the Mongols made effective use of powerful composite bows for millennia. In the United States, many bowyers were inspired by Ishi, the last member of the Yahi, Ishi first contacted US citizens in 1911. His friend Saxton Pope learned some of his skills and spread them to bowyers including Howard Hill, Ben Pearson, following the publication of The Traditional Bowyers Bibles in the 1990s, there has been a resurgence of traditional bow making in the United States and other English-speaking countries. Fletcher The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 1, ISBN 1-58574-085-3 The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 2. ISBN 1-58574-086-1 The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 3, ISBN 1-58574-087-X The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 4. ISBN 1-59921-453-9 http, //www. primitivearcher. com/ Ultimate Archery Link List
26.
Impressment
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Impressment, colloquially, the press or the press gang, refers to the act of taking men into a military or naval force by compulsion, with or without notice. Navies of several nations used forced recruitment by various means, the large size of the British Royal Navy in the Age of Sail meant impressment was most commonly associated with Britain. The Royal Navy impressed many merchant sailors, as well as some sailors from other nations, people liable to impressment were eligible men of seafaring habits between the ages of 18 and 55 years. Non-seamen were impressed as well, though rarely, though the public opposed conscription in general, impressment was repeatedly upheld by the courts, as it was deemed vital to the strength of the navy and, by extension, to the survival of the realm. Impressment was essentially a Royal Navy practice, reflecting the size of the British fleet, Continental Navy did however apply a form of impressment during the American War of Independence. The impressment of seamen from American ships caused serious tensions between Britain and the United States in the leading up to the War of 1812. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, Britain ended the practice, later conscription was not limited to the Royal Navy, working and living conditions for the average sailor in the Royal Navy in the 18th century were harsh by modern standards. Naval pay was attractive in the 1750s, but towards the end of the century its value had been eroded by rising prices, sailors pay on merchant ships was somewhat higher during peacetime, and could increase to double naval pay during wartime. Until 19th century reforms improved conditions, the Royal Navy was additionally known to pay wages up to two years in arrears, and it always withheld six months pay to discourage desertion. Naval wages had been set in 1653, and were not increased until April 1797 after sailors on 80 ships of the Channel Fleet based at Spithead mutinied, despite this, there were many volunteers for naval service. Also the food supplied by the Navy was plentiful and good by the standards of the day. The main problem with recruitment, though, was a shortage of qualified seamen during wartime, privateers, the Royal Navy, and the Merchant Navy all competed for a small pool of ordinary and able seamen in wartime, and all three groups were usually short-handed. Volunteering also protected the sailor from creditors, as the law forbade collecting debts accrued before enlistment, the main disadvantage was that enlisted deserters who were recaptured would be hanged, whereas pressed men would simply be returned to service. Other records confirm similar percentages throughout the 18th century, average annual recruitment 1736–1783 All three groups also suffered high levels of desertion. In the 18th century, British desertion rates on naval ships averaged 25% annually, if a naval ship had taken a prize, a deserting seaman would also forfeit his share of the prize money. In a report on proposed changes to the RN written by Admiral Nelson in 1803, the Impress Service was formed to force sailors to serve on naval vessels. There was no concept of joining the navy as a fixed career-path for non-officers at the time since seamen remained attached to a ship only for the duration of its commission. They were encouraged to stay in the Navy after the commission, Impressment relied on the legal power of the King to call men to military service, as well as to recruit volunteers
27.
Cannon
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A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile, which may or may not be explosive. The word cannon is derived from languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as tube, cane. The Greeks invented the first type—a steam cannon—designed by Archimedes during the Siege of Syracuse, ctesibius built a steam cannon in Alexandria and in the fifteenth century Leonardo da Vinci designed another, the Architonnerre, based on Archimedes work. The earliest form of artillery was developed in Song China, over time replacing siege engines. In the Middle East, the first use of the cannon is argued to be during the 1260 Battle of Ain Jalut between the Mamluk Sultanate and Mongol Empire. The first cannon in Europe were in use in the Iberian Peninsula by the mid-13th century and it was during this period, the Middle Ages, that cannon became standardised, and more effective in both the anti-infantry and siege roles. After the Middle Ages most large cannon were abandoned in favour of greater numbers of lighter, Cannon also transformed naval warfare in the early modern period, as European navies took advantage of their firepower. In World War I, the majority of fatalities were caused by artillery. Most modern cannon are similar to those used in the Second World War, Cannon was widely known as the earliest form of a gun and artillery, before early firearms were invented. The word has been used to refer to a gun since 1326 in Italy, both Cannons and Cannon are correct and in common usage, with one or the other having preference in different parts of the English-speaking world. Cannons is more common in North America and Australia, while cannon as plural is more common in the United Kingdom, Cannon in general have the form of a truncated cone with an internal cylindrical bore for holding an explosive charge and a projectile. The thickest, strongest, and closed part of the cone is located near the explosive charge, as any explosive charge will dissipate in all directions equally, the thickest portion of the cannon is useful for containing and directing this force. Field artillery cannon in Europe and the Americas were initially made most often of bronze, though later forms were constructed of cast iron and eventually steel. However, cast iron cannon have a tendency to burst without having any previous weakness or wear. The following terms refer to the components or aspects of a classical western cannon as illustrated here. In what follows, the words near, close, and behind will refer to those parts towards the thick, closed end of the piece, and far, front, in front of, and before to the thinner, open end. Bore, The hollow cylinder bored down the centre of the cannon, including the base of the bore or bottom of the bore, the diameter of the bore represents the cannons calibre. Chamber, The cylindrical, conical, or spherical recess at the nearest end of the bottom of the bore into which the gunpowder is packed
28.
Battle of Formigny
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The Battle of Formigny, fought on 15 April 1450, was a major battle of the Hundred Years War between England and France. The destruction of Englands last army in Normandy in the battle, the French, under Charles VII, had taken the time offered by the Treaty of Tours in 1444 to reorganize and reinvigorate their armies. The English, without clear leadership from the weak Henry VI, were scattered, when the French broke the truce in June 1449 they were in a much improved position. Pont-Audemer, Pont-LEvêque and Lisieux fell in August and much of Normandy was retaken by October, cutting north and east the Bureau brothers oversaw the capture of Rouen, Harfleur, Honfleur and Fresnoy, before moving on to invade Caen. The English had gathered an army during the winter of 1449. Numbering around 3,400 men, it was dispatched from Portsmouth to Cherbourg under the command of Sir Thomas Kyriell, Kyriell advanced south, laying siege to Valognes, which blocked Cherbourg from the rest of the Cotentin peninsula. Valognes fell on 27 March after a siege and Kyriell continued his advance toward French-held Carentan. When the English army circled Carentan on 12 April, the French declined to sally although there were a number of smaller skirmishes, Kyriell turned east towards Bayeux, reaching the village of Formigny on 14 April. A French army of 3,000 men under Charles I de Bourbon, on the same day a force of 1, 200–2,000 Breton cavalry, under Arthur de Richemont, had reached Saint-Lô from the south. On 15 April, Clermonts forces were sighted by the English, the armies faced each other on the Carentan-Bayeux road, near a small tributary of the Aure, the English with their backs to the stream. The English formation was 4, 000–5,000 strong and gathered in a line behind a thicket of stakes. In the afternoon, the French opened the engagement with an assault on the English position with their dismounted men-at-arms. French cavalry charges on the English flanks were also defeated, clermont then deployed two culverins to open fire on the English defenders. Unable to withstand the fire, the English attacked and captured the guns, the French army was now in disarray. At this moment the Breton cavalry force under Richemont arrived from the south, having crossed the Aure, as his men were carrying off the French guns, Kyriell shifted forces to the left to face the new threat. Having abandoned their position, the English force was charged upon by Richemonts Breton cavalry. Kyriell was captured and his army destroyed, a small force under Sir Matthew Gough was able to escape. Kyriells army had ceased to exist, with 2, 000–3,754 killed and 900–1,400 taken prisoner, while French, with no other significant English forces in Normandy, the whole region quickly fell to the victorious French
29.
Battle of Castillon
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The Battle of Castillon was a battle fought on 17 July 1453 in Gascony near the town of Castillon-sur-Dordogne. A decisive French victory, it is considered to mark the end of the Hundred Years War, as a result of the battle, the English lost all landholdings in France, except Calais. The term Hundred Years War is misleading, as the fighting between the English and the French during the period of 1337 to 1453 was more a series of conflicts than a prolonged war. Thus, the conflict can be examined from the point of various stages. The breakdown of the 1420 Treaty of Troyes began the stage of the Hundred Years War. This period from 1420 to 1453 is characterized by Anne Curry as the “wars of the Treaty of Troyes” for control of the crown of France, after the 1451 French capture of Bordeaux by the armies of Charles VII, the Hundred Years War appeared to be at an end. The English primarily focused on reinforcing their only remaining possession, Calais, on 17 October 1452, John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury landed near Bordeaux with a force of 3,000 men. A feared and famous military leader, Talbot was rumored to be seventy-five or eighty years old, with the cooperation of the townspeople, Talbot easily took the city on October 23. The English subsequently took control over most of Western Gascony by the end of the year, the French knew an expedition was coming, but had expected it to come through Normandy. After this surprise, Charles VII prepared his forces over the winter, Charles invaded Guyenne with three separate armies, all headed for Bordeaux. Talbot received 3,000 additional reinforcements from his fourth and favorite son, the French laid siege to Castillon on July 8. Talbot acceded to the pleas of the commanders, abandoning his original plan to wait for reinforcements at Bordeaux. The French army was commanded by committee, however, it was Charles VIIs ordnance officer, in a defensive setup, Bureaus forces built an artillery park out of range from Castillons guns. The park included up to 300 guns of various sizes, and was protected by a ditch, Talbot left Bordeaux on July 16. He outdistanced a majority of his forces, arriving at Libourne by sunset with only 500 men-at-arms and 800 mounted archers, the following day, this force defeated a small French detachment of archers stationed at a priory near Castillon. Despite earlier plans to wait for reinforcements, Talbot pressed his men onward to the French camp, along with the morale boost of victory at the priory, Talbot also pushed forward because of reports that the French were retreating. However, the cloud of dust leaving the camp which the townsmen indicated as a retreat was created by camp followers leaving before the upcoming battle, the English advanced, but they ran into the full force of the French army. Despite being outnumbered and in a position, Talbot ordered them to continue the fighting
30.
Wars of the Roses
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The conflict lasted through many sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1487, however, there was fighting before and after this period between the houses. With the Duke of Yorks passing, the transferred to his heir, Edward. His son reigned for 86 days as Edward V, but Parliament then decided that Edward and his brother Richard were illegitimate and offered the crown to Edward IVs younger brother, the two young princes disappeared within the confines of the Tower of London. The final victory went to a claimant of the Lancastrian party, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, after assuming the throne as Henry VII, he married Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter and heir of Edward IV, thereby uniting the two claims. The House of Tudor ruled the Kingdom of England until 1603, with the death of Elizabeth I, granddaughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. The name Wars of the Roses refers to the badges associated with the two royal houses, the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster. Wars of the Roses came into use in the nineteenth century. Badges were not always distinct, at the Battle of Barnet, Edwards sun was very similar to the Earl of Oxfords Vere star, which caused fateful confusion. Another example, Henry Tudors forces at Bosworth fought under the banner of a red dragon, although the names of the rival houses derive from the cities of York and Lancaster, the corresponding duchies had little to do with these cities. Although minor armed clashes had occurred previously between supporters of York and Lancaster, the first open fighting broke out in 1455 at the First Battle of St Albans, several prominent Lancastrians died at the hands of the Yorkists. Although peace was restored, the Lancastrians were inspired by Margaret of Anjou to contest Yorks influence. Fighting resumed more violently in 1459, York and his supporters were forced to flee the country, but one of his most prominent supporters, the Earl of Warwick, invaded England from Calais and captured Henry VI at the Battle of Northampton. York returned to the country and became Protector of England, but was dissuaded from claiming the throne, Margaret and the remaining Lancastrian nobles gathered their army in the north of England. When York moved north to engage them, he and his second son Edmund were killed at the Battle of Wakefield in December 1460. The Lancastrian army advanced south and released Henry at the Second Battle of St Albans, but failed to occupy London, Yorks eldest son, Edward, Earl of March, was proclaimed King Edward IV. He gathered the Yorkist armies and won a victory at the Battle of Towton in March 1461. After Lancastrian revolts in the north were suppressed in 1464 and Henry was captured once again, Edward fell out with his chief supporter and adviser, the Earl of Warwick after Edwards unpopular and secretly conducted marriage with the widow of a Lancastrian supporter, Elizabeth Woodville. Within a few years, it clear that Edward was favoring his wifes family
31.
Mary Rose
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The Mary Rose is a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. After serving for 33 years in wars against France, Scotland. While leading the attack on the galleys of a French invasion fleet, she sank in the Solent, the wreck of the Mary Rose was rediscovered in 1971. It was raised in 1982 by the Mary Rose Trust, in one of the most complex, the surviving section of the ship and thousands of recovered artefacts are of immeasurable value as a Tudor-era time capsule. The finds include weapons, sailing equipment, naval supplies and an array of objects used by the crew. Many of the artefacts are unique to the Mary Rose and have provided insights into topics ranging from naval warfare to the history of musical instruments, since the mid-1980s, while undergoing conservation, the remains of the hull have been on display at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. An extensive collection of well-preserved artefacts is on display at the nearby Mary Rose Museum, built to display the reconstructed ship and its artefacts. The Mary Rose was one of the largest ships in the English navy through more than three decades of intermittent war and was one of the earliest examples of a sailing warship. She was armed with new types of guns that could fire through the recently invented gun-ports. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she was one of the earliest ships that could fire a broadside. Several theories have sought to explain the demise of the Mary Rose, based on records, knowledge of 16th-century shipbuilding. The precise cause of her sinking is unclear, because of conflicting testimonies. In the late 15th century, England was a relatively insignificant state on the periphery of Europe. The great victories against France in the Hundred Years War were in the past, the War of the Roses—the civil war between the houses of York and Lancaster—had ended with Henry VIIs establishment of the House of Tudor, the new ruling dynasty of England. The ambitious naval policies of Henry V were not continued by his successors, the marriage alliance between Anne of Brittany and Charles VIII of France in 1491, and his successor Louis XII in 1499, left England with a weakened strategic position on its southern flank. Despite this, Henry VII managed to maintain a long period of peace. At the onset of the modern period, the great European powers were France. All three became involved in the War of the League of Cambrai in 1508, the conflict was initially aimed at the Republic of Venice but eventually turned against France
32.
Militia (English)
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The obligation to serve in the militia in England derives from a common law tradition, and dates back to Anglo-Saxon times. The tradition was that all able-bodied males were liable to be called out to serve in one of two organisations, the latter developed into the militia, and was usually embodied by a royal warrant. Obviously, service in each organisation involved different levels of preparedness, with the decay of the feudal system and the military revolution of the sixteenth century, the militia began to become an important institution in English life. It was organized on the basis of the county, and was one of the responsibilities of the Lord Lieutenant. Each of the county hundreds was likewise the responsibility of a Deputy Lieutenant, every parish furnished a quota of eligible men, whose names were recorded on muster rolls. Likewise, each household was assessed for the purpose of finding weapons, armour, horses, or their financial equivalent, the militia was supposed to be mustered for training purposes from time to time, but this was rarely done. The militia regiments were consequently ill-prepared for an emergency, and could not be relied upon to serve outside their own counties and this state of affairs concerned many people. Consequently, a force was created, composed of members of the militia who were prepared to meet regularly for military training. These were formed into trained band regiments, particularly in the City of London, the trained bands performed an important role in the English Civil War on the side of parliament, in marching to raise the siege of Gloucester. Except for the London trained bands, both sides in the Civil War made little use of the militia, preferring to recruit their armies by other means, the settlers also had to contend with frequently hostile native populations. It was immediately necessary to raise militia amongst the settlers, the militia in Jamestown saw constant action against the Powhatan Federation and other native polities. In the Virginia Companys other outpost, Bermuda, settled officially in 1612, a Spanish attack in 1614 was repulsed by two shots fired from the incomplete Castle Islands Fortifications manned by Bermudian Militiamen. In the 17th Century, however, Bermudas defence was left entirely in the hands of the Militia and this standing body was created by recruiting volunteers, and by sentencing criminals to serve as punishment. The Bermudian militiamen were called out on occasions of war. In 1710, four years after Spanish and French forces seized the Turks Islands from Bermudian salt producers in 1706, although the Bermudian force operated under a Letter of Marque, its members, as with all military age Bermudian males, were members of the militia. By this time, the 1707 Acts of Union had made Bermudian, up until the Glorious Revolution in 1688, the Crown and Parliament were in strong disagreement. The English Civil War left an unusual military legacy. Both Whigs and Tories distrusted the creation of a standing army not under civilian control
33.
Spanish Armada
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The Armada finally dropped anchor off Calais. While awaiting communications from the Duke of Parmas army the Armada was scattered by an English fireship attack, in the ensuing Battle of Gravelines the Spanish fleet was damaged and forced to abandon its rendezvous with Parmas army, who were blockaded in harbour by Dutch flyboats. The Armada managed to regroup and, driven by southwest winds, the commander ordered a return to Spain, but the Armada was disrupted during severe storms in the North Atlantic and a large number of the vessels were wrecked on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. Of the initial 130 ships over a third failed to return, the expedition was the largest engagement of the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War. The word armada is from the Spanish armada, which is a cognate with English army, originally from the Latin armāta, the past participle of armāre to arm, used in Romance languages as a noun, for armed force, army, navy, fleet. Armada Española is still the Spanish term for the modern Spanish Navy, Armada was also the Portuguese traditional term of the Portuguese Navy. Henry VIII began the English Reformation as a political exercise over his desire to divorce his first wife, a devout Catholic, Mary began to reassert Roman influence over church affairs. Her attempts led to over 260 people being burned at the stake, marys death in 1558 led to her half-sister, Elizabeth I, taking the throne. Unlike Mary, Elizabeth was firmly in the reformist camp, Philip, no longer co-monarch, deemed Elizabeth a heretic and illegitimate ruler of England. Under Roman law, Henry had never officially divorced Catherine, making Elizabeth illegitimate, Elizabeth retaliated against Philip by supporting the Dutch revolt against Spain, as well as funding privateers to raid Spanish ships across the Atlantic. In retaliation, Philip planned an expedition to invade England in order to overthrow Elizabeth, the King was supported by Pope Sixtus V, who treated the invasion as a crusade, with the promise of a subsidy should the Armada make land. A raid on Cadiz, led by Francis Drake in April 1587, had captured or destroyed some thirty ships and great quantities of supplies, the Duke of Parma would then follow with a large army from the Low Countries crossing the English Channel. Parma was uneasy about mounting such an invasion without any possibility of surprise and he was also alarmed by the costs that would be incurred, and advised Philip to postpone or abandon it. The Armadas appointed commander was the highly experienced Álvaro de Bazán, Marquis of Santa Cruz, but he died in February 1588, and the Duke of Medina Sidonia, while a competent soldier and distinguished administrator, Medina Sidonia had no naval experience. He wrote to Philip expressing grave doubts about the planned campaign, prior to the undertaking, Pope Sixtus V allowed Philip II of Spain to collect crusade taxes and granted his men indulgences. The blessing of the Armadas banner on 25 April 1588, was similar to the ceremony used prior to the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, on 28 May 1588, the Armada set sail from Lisbon and headed for the English Channel. The fleet was composed of 130 ships,8,000 sailors and 18,000 soldiers, the full body of the fleet took two days to leave port. It included twenty eight purpose-built warships, of twenty were galleons, four galleys
34.
Kent
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Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west, the county also shares borders with Essex via the Dartford Crossing and the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. France can be clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county, because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as The Garden of England. The title was defended in 2006 when a survey of counties by the UKTV Style Gardens channel put Kent in fifth place, behind North Yorkshire, Devon. Haulage, logistics, and tourism are industries, major industries in north-west Kent include aggregate building materials, printing. Coal mining has played its part in Kents industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Downs and The High Weald, the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era, There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley. The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning rim or border and this describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC, the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730, the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital, in 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity, the Diocese of Canterbury became Britains first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained Englands centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral, in the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning undefeated. This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy, the Kent peoples continued resistance against the Normans led to Kents designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of Williams half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales
35.
Toxophilus
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Toxophilus is a book about longbow archery by Roger Ascham, first published in London in 1545. Dedicated to King Henry VIII, it is the first book on archery written in English, Toxophilus is written in the form of a dialogue between two characters, Philologus and Toxophilus, who is also a scholar and defends archery as a noble pastime. Ascham prefixed his work with a dedication to Henry VIII, who approved of the book and granted Ascham a pension of £10 a year. Some of the passages describing the environment were vivid and at the time unparalleled in English writing, the word Toxophilus was invented by Ascham. The noun toxophilite, meaning a lover or devotee of archery, the next major work on archery in English was The Art of Archerie by Gervase Markham, published in London in 1634. Toxophilus has served as a book for many subsequent works on the history of archery. Ascham, Roger, ed. Wright, William Aldis, English Works, Toxophilus, Report of the Affaires and State of Germany, The Scholemaster. 16th century in literature Hardy, Robert, longbow, A Social and Military History. Toxophilus - online text at the Archery Library Society of Archer-Antiquaries
36.
Roger Ascham
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Roger Ascham was an English scholar and didactic writer, famous for his prose style, his promotion of the vernacular, and his theories of education. He acted as Princess Elizabeths tutor in Greek and Latin between 1548 and 1550, and served in the administrations of Edward VI, Mary I, the name Ascham could be more properly spelt Askham, being derived from Askham near York. He was born at Kirby Wiske, a village in the North Riding of Yorkshire, near Northallerton and his mother, Margaret, is said to have come from the Conyers family, but this is speculation. Thomas and John were Rogers two older brothers, while Anthony Ascham was the youngest son of the Ascham family, Ascham was educated at the house of Sir Humphrey Wingfield, a barrister, Ascham tells us, in the Toxophilus under a tutor named R. Bond. His preferred sport was archery, and Sir Humphrey would at times bring down from London both bows and shafts and go with them himself to see them shoot. Through Toxophilus, Ascham sought to teach the art of shooting and he criticized other English authors of sprinkling foreign terms into their works. Prior to Toxophilus’ publication, the bow had been forgotten by the English people with firearms evolving as the weapons of choice. The book sparked renewed interest in the practice of archery and Ascham was able to present it as an innocent, salutary, useful, many recognize the use of the bow as a disciplined skill, requiring more practice than any other instrument of offence. Equipped with a knowledge of the Greek language, Ascham went on to read lectures. He believed that the best way to learn a language was by teaching it, Ascham was applauded for his encouragement of Greek learning in the University. In particular, Robert Pember, a student, praised Ascham’s lectures. In a letter to Ascham, Pember stated that “he would gain knowledge by explaining one of Aesop’s Fables to a boy, than by hearing one of Homer’s poems explained by another. ”Ascham was then appointed by the University to read Greek at open schools. This was monumental for Ascham because at the time, there was no established lecturer of Greek at the University, here he fell under the influence of Sir John Cheke, who was admitted a fellow in Aschams first year, and Sir Thomas Smith. John Cheke in turn was friendly with Anthony Denny, who was brother-in-law to Kat Ashley and his guide and friend was Robert Pember, a man of the greatest learning and with an admirable ability in the Greek tongue. He became B. A. in 1533/4, and was nominated to a fellowship at St Johns and he procured Aschams election to a fellowship, though being a new bachelor of arts, I chanced among my companions to speak against the Pope. After serious rebuke and some punishment, open warning was given to all the fellows, none to be so hardy, as to give me his voice at election. The day of election Ascham regarded as his birthday, and the foundation of the poor learning I have. He took his M. A. degree on 3 July 1537 and he stayed for some time at Cambridge taking pupils, among whom was William Grindal, who in 1544 became tutor to Princess Elizabeth
37.
Henry VIII of England
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Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. Henry was the second Tudor monarch, succeeding his father, Henry VII, Henry is best known for his six marriages and, in particular, his efforts to have his first marriage, to Catherine of Aragon, annulled. Despite his resulting excommunication, Henry remained a believer in core Catholic theological teachings, domestically, Henry is known for his radical changes to the English Constitution, ushering in the theory of the divine right of kings to England. Besides asserting the supremacy over the Church of England, he greatly expanded royal power during his reign. Charges of treason and heresy were commonly used to quash dissent, and he achieved many of his political aims through the work of his chief ministers, some of whom were banished or executed when they fell out of his favour. Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Richard Rich and his contemporaries considered Henry in his prime to be an attractive, educated, and accomplished king, and he has been described as one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne. He was an author and composer, as he aged, Henry became severely obese and his health suffered, contributing to his death in 1547. He is frequently characterised in his life as a lustful, egotistical, harsh. He was succeeded by his son Edward VI, born 28 June 1491 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London, Henry Tudor was the third child and second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Of the young Henrys six siblings, only three – Arthur, Prince of Wales, Margaret, and Mary – survived infancy and he was baptised by Richard Fox, the Bishop of Exeter, at a church of the Observant Franciscans close to the palace. In 1493, at the age of two, Henry was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He was subsequently appointed Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at age three, and was inducted into the Order of the Bath soon after. The day after the ceremony he was created Duke of York, in May 1495, he was appointed to the Order of the Garter. Henry was given an education from leading tutors, becoming fluent in Latin and French. Not much is known about his early life – save for his appointments – because he was not expected to become king, as Duke of York, Henry used the arms of his father as king, differenced by a label of three points ermine. In 1502, Arthur died at the age of 15 of sweating sickness, Arthurs death thrust all his duties upon his younger brother, the 10-year-old Henry. After a little debate, Henry became the new Duke of Cornwall in October 1502, Henry VII gave the boy few tasks. Young Henry was strictly supervised and did not appear in public, as a result, the young Henry would later ascend the throne untrained in the exacting art of kingship
38.
Firearm
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A firearm is a portable gun - a barreled weapon that launches one or more projectiles, often driven by the action of an explosive force. The first primitive firearms originated in 13th-century China when the fire lance was combined with projectiles. The technology gradually spread through the rest of East Asia, South Asia, older firearms typically used black powder as a propellant, but modern firearms use smokeless powder or other propellants. Most modern firearms have rifled barrels to impart spin to the projectile for improved flight stability, modern firearms can be described by their caliber or in the case of shotguns their gauge, by the type of action employed together with the usual means of deportment. The word firearms usually is used in a sense restricted to small arms, shooters aim firearms at their targets with hand-eye co-ordination, using either iron sights or optical sights. The accurate range of pistols generally does not exceed 100 yards, while most rifles are accurate to 550 yards using iron sights, some purpose-built sniper rifles are accurate to ranges of more than 2,200 yards. The smallest of all firearms is the handgun, there are three common types of handguns, single-shot pistols, revolvers, and semi-automatic pistols. Revolvers have a number of firing chambers or charge holes in a revolving cylinder, semi-automatic pistols have a single fixed firing chamber machined into the rear of the barrel, and a magazine so they can be used to fire more than one round. Each press of the fires a cartridge, using the energy of the cartridge to activate the mechanism so that the next cartridge may be fired immediately. This is opposed to double-action revolvers which accomplish the end using a mechanical action linked to the trigger pull. Prior to the 19th century, virtually all handguns were single-shot muzzleloaders, with the invention of the revolver in 1818, handguns capable of holding multiple rounds became popular. Certain designs of auto-loading pistol appeared beginning in the 1870s and had largely supplanted revolvers in military applications by the end of World War I. By the end of the 20th century, most handguns carried regularly by military, police and civilians were semi-automatic, both designs are common among civilian gun owners, depending on the owners intention. A long gun is any firearm that is larger than a handgun and is designed to be held. Early long arms, from the Renaissance up to the century, were generally smoothbore firearms that fired one or more ball shot. Most modern long guns are either rifles or shotguns, both are the successors of the musket, diverging from their parent weapon in distinct ways. A rifle is so named for the spiral fluting machined into the surface of its barrel. Shotguns are predominantly smoothbore firearms designed to fire a number of shot, shotguns are also capable of firing single slugs, or specialty rounds such as bean bags, tear gas or breaching rounds
39.
Fiberglass
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Fiberglass is a type of fiber-reinforced plastic where the reinforcement fiber is specifically glass fiber. The glass fiber may be arranged, flattened into a sheet. The plastic matrix may be a polymer matrix – most often based on thermosetting polymers such as epoxy, polyester resin. The glass fibers are made of various types of glass depending upon the fiberglass use and these glasses all contain silica or silicate, with varying amounts of oxides of calcium, magnesium, and sometimes boron. To be used in fiberglass, glass fibers have to be made very low levels of defects. Fiberglass is a lightweight material and is used for many products. Although it is not as strong and stiff as composites based on fiber, it is less brittle. Its bulk strength and weight are also better than many metals, other common names for fiberglass are glass-reinforced plastic, glass-fiber reinforced plastic or GFK. Because glass fiber itself is referred to as fiberglass, the composite is also called fiberglass reinforced plastic. This article will adopt the convention that fiberglass refers to the glass fiber reinforced composite material. A patent for this method of producing glass wool was first applied for in 1933, Owens joined with the Corning company in 1935 and the method was adapted by Owens Corning to produce its patented fibreglas in 1936. Originally, fibreglas was a wool with fibers entrapping a great deal of gas, making it useful as an insulator. A suitable resin for combining the fibreglass with a plastic to produce a material was developed in 1936 by du Pont. The first ancestor of modern polyester resins is Cyanamids resin of 1942, peroxide curing systems were used by then. With the combination of fiberglass and resin the gas content of the material was replaced by plastic and this reduced the insulation properties to values typical of the plastic, but now for the first time the composite showed great strength and promise as a structural and building material. Confusingly, many glass fiber composites continued to be called fiberglass, ray Greene of Owens Corning is credited with producing the first composite boat in 1937, but did not proceed further at the time due to the brittle nature of the plastic used. In 1939 Russia was reported to have constructed a boat of plastic materials. The first car to have a body was a 1946 prototype of the Stout Scarab
40.
Recurve bow
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A recurve bow is a bow with limbs that curve away from the archer when unstrung. A recurve bow stores more energy and delivers energy more efficiently than the equivalent straight-limbed bow, giving an amount of energy. Recurved limbs also put strain on the materials used to make the bow. Extreme recurves make the bow unstable when being strung, perhaps the most ancient written record of the use of recurved bows is found Psalm 78,57, which is dated by most scholars to the eighth century BC. And sometimes I have known it, when bent, to start aside, - regain its quiescent position, to my no small danger. this is precisely the kind of bow mentioned by Homer, Odyss. Xxi, which none of Penelopes suitors could bend, called καμπυλα τοξα in the state of rest, but τοξον παλιντονον, the recurved bow when prepared for use. Recurve bows made out of materials were used by, among other groups, the Persians, Scythians, Dacians, Cumans, Hyksos, Magyars, Huns, Greeks, Turks, Mongols. The recurve bow spread to Egypt and much of Asia in the second millennium BC, during the Middle Ages composite recurve bows were used in the drier European countries, the all-wooden straight longbow was the normal form in wetter areas. Recurve bows depicted in the British Isles may have been composite weapons, or wooden bows with ends recurved by heat and force, many North American bows were recurved, especially West Coast bows. Recurve bows went out of use, for war, with the availability of effective firearms. Self bows, composite bows, and laminated bows using the form are still made and used by bowyers and amateurs. The unqualified phrase recurve bow or just a recurve in modern archery circles usually refers to a modern recurve bow, as used by archers in the Olympics. It employs advanced technologies and materials, the limbs are usually made from multiple layers of fiberglass, carbon and/or wood on a core of carbon foam or wood. The riser is generally separate and is constructed from wood, carbon, the term riser is used because, in a one-piece bow, the centre section rises from the limbs in a taper to spread the stress. Several manufacturers produce risers made of fibre or aluminium with carbon fibre. Risers for beginners are usually made of wood or plastic, the synthetic materials allow economic, predictable manufacture for consistent performance. The greater mass of a bow is in itself an aid to stability. It should be remembered, however, that accuracy is also related to a draw weight
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Compound bow
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A compound bow is a modern bow that uses a levering system, usually of cables and pulleys, to bend the limbs. The pulley/cam system grants the user an advantage, and so the limbs of a compound bow are much stiffer than those of a recurve bow or longbow. This rigidity makes the compound bow more energy-efficient than other bows, the higher-rigidity, higher-technology construction also improves accuracy by reducing the bows sensitivity to changes in temperature and humidity. The pulley/cam system also confers a benefit called let-off, as the string is drawn back, the pulleys rotate. The pulleys are eccentric rather than round, and so their effective radius changes as they rotate, the pulleys feature two cam tracks. An inner cam track which connects mechanically to the limbs or opposite cam, as the bow is drawn the ratio of bowstring pay-out and bowstring take-up relative to limb-weight and leverage of the cams changes. By manipulation of the shapes of these cam tracks, different draw-stroke profiles can be created, a compound bow can be soft-drawing with a slow build-up to peak weight and a gradual let-off with a long valley at the end. It can also be hard-drawing with a very fast build-up to peak draw-weight, a plateau where weight is maintained. The let-off itself is the result of the cam profiles having passed center, in fact some compound bows, if the draw-stops or draw-length modules are removed, will self-lock at full draw and require professional equipment to unlock safely. The compound bow was first developed in 1966 by Holless Wilbur Allen in Billings, Missouri, the compound bow has become increasingly popular. In the United States, the compound is the dominant form of bow, in literature of the early 20th century, before the invention of compound bows, composite bows were described as compound. A bows central mount for other such as the limbs, sights. Risers are designed to be as rigid as possible, the central riser of a compound bow is usually made of aluminium, magnesium alloy, or carbon fiber and many are made of 7075 aluminium alloy. Limbs are made of materials and are capable of taking high tensile. The limbs store all the energy of the bow – no energy is stored in the pulleys and cables. A draw weight generally falls between 10 and 100 pounds enabling arrow speeds of 150 to 370 feet per second In the most common configuration, the shape of the cam may vary somewhat between different bow designs. There are several different concepts of using the cams to store energy in the limbs, the four most common types of bow eccentrics are Single Cam, Hybrid Cam, Dual Cam and Binary Cam. However, there are other less common designs, like the Quad Cam
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Battle of Flodden
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The Battle of Flodden or Flodden Field, or occasionally Battle of Branxton, was part of a conflict between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. It was a decisive English victory, in terms of troop numbers, it was the largest battle fought between the two Kingdoms. James IV was killed in the battle, becoming the last monarch from the island of Britain to suffer such a death, Henry VIII had also opened old wounds by claiming to be the overlord of Scotland, which angered the Scots and their King. At this time England was involved as a member of the Catholic League in the War of the League of Cambrai—defending Italy, James also summoned sailors and sent the Scottish navy, including the Great Michael, to join the ships of Louis XII of France. Henry was in France with the Emperor Maximilian at the siege of Thérouanne, the Scottish Lyon King of Arms brought James IVs letter of 26 July to him. James asked him to desist from attacking France in breach of their treaty, henrys exchange with Islay Herald or the Lyon King on 11 August at his tent at the siege was recorded. The Herald declared that Henry should abandon his efforts against the town, moreover, fellow, I care for nothing but for misentreating of my sister, that would God she were in England on a condition she cost the Schottes King not a penny. Henry also replied by letter on 12 August that James was mistaken, however, both sides had been making lengthy preparations for this conflict. Henry VIII had already organised an army and artillery in the north of England to counter the expected invasion, some of the guns had been returned to use against the Scots by Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy. A year earlier, Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, had been appointed Lieutenant-General of the army of the north and was issued with banners of the Cross of St George, only a small number of the light horsemen of the Scottish border had been sent to France. A northern army was maintained with artillery and its expense account starts on 21 July 1513, the first captains were recruited in Lambeth. Many of these soldiers wore green and white Tudor colours, Surrey marched to Doncaster in July and then Pontefract. Where he assembled more troops from Northern England, on 18 August, five cannon brought down from Edinburgh Castle to the Netherbow Gate at St Marys Wynd for the invasion set off towards England dragged by borrowed oxen. On 19 August two gross culverins, four culverins pickmoyance and six culverins moyane followed with the gunner Robert Borthwick, the King himself set off that night with two hastily prepared standards of St Margaret and St Andrew. Catherine of Aragon was Regent in England and on 27 August she issued warrants for the property of all Scotsmen in England to be seized, on hearing of the invasion on 3 September she ordered Thomas Lovell to raise an army in the Midland counties. In keeping with his understanding of the code of chivalry, King James sent notice to the English, one month in advance. After a muster on the Burgh Muir of Edinburgh, the Scottish host moved to Ellemford, to the north of Duns, the Scottish army then crossed the River Tweed near Coldstream. On 24 August James IV held a council or parliament at Twiselhaugh, by 29 August Norham Castle was taken and partly demolished
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Jack Churchill
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Nicknamed Fighting Jack Churchill and Mad Jack, he is known for the motto, Any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed. Churchill was born in Hong Kong, both his father, Alec Fleming Churchill, and grandfather, John Fleming Churchill, served in the Ceylon Civil Service. Soon after Churchills birth, the returned to Surrey, where his younger brother. In 1910, the Churchills moved to Hong Kong when Alec Fleming Churchill was appointed as Director of Public Works in Hong Kong, the Churchills third and youngest son, Robert Alec Farquar Churchill, was born in Hong Kong in 1911. The family returned to England in 1917, John Jack Churchill was educated at King Williams College on the Isle of Man. Churchill graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in 1926 and he enjoyed riding a motorbike while in Burma. He left the army in 1936 and worked as an editor in Nairobi, Kenya. He used his archery and bagpipe talents to play a role in the 1924 film The Thief of Bagdad. He took second place in the 1938 military piping competition at the Aldershot Tattoo, in 1939 Jack Churchill represented Great Britain at the World Archery Championships in Oslo. Churchill resumed his commission after Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, as part of the British Expeditionary Force to France, in May 1940 Churchill and his unit, the Manchester Regiment, ambushed a German patrol near LÉpinette, France. Churchill gave the signal to attack by cutting down the enemy Feldwebel with a barbed arrow, becoming the only British soldier known to have felled an enemy with a longbow in the war. According to his son Malcolm, He and his section were in a tower and as the Germans approached he said I will shoot that first German with an arrow, after fighting at Dunkirk, he volunteered for the Commandos. Jacks younger brother, Thomas Tom Churchill also served with and led a Commando brigade during the war, after the war Thomas wrote a book, Commando Crusade, that details some of the brothers experiences during the war. Their youngest brother, Robert, also known as Buster, served in the Royal Navy and was killed in action in 1942. Jack Churchill was second in command of No.3 Commando in Operation Archery, a raid on the German garrison at Vågsøy, Norway, on 27 December 1941. As the ramps fell on the first landing craft, Churchill leapt forward from his position playing March of the Cameron Men on his bagpipes, before throwing a grenade, for his actions at Dunkirk and Vågsøy, Churchill received the Military Cross and Bar. Leading 2 Commando, Churchill was ordered to capture a German observation post outside of the town of Molina, with the help of a corporal, he infiltrated the town and captured the post, taking 42 prisoners including a mortar squad. Churchill led the men and prisoners back down the pass, with the wounded being carried on carts pushed by German prisoners and he commented that it was an image from the Napoleonic Wars
