Medieval Archers

The medieval period was stretched from 350 A.D to around 1450. The medieval times are also known as middle ages. Technology started progressing and the way people lived was altered due to this changing aspect of their lives. The medieval ages were a good era for Christianity and Christianity spread a lot in this time.

Many significant wars took place in the medieval times and this was an age of strong castles and determined armies. Unlike the weak common structures which included houses of common people the castles were built very strong. The castle walls were as thick as 30 feet in some places. Castles like Carisbrooke castle also had some traps to trick the attacking armies. These castles were built strong using sand and limestone.

When an army attacked a castle they were required to beat all the obstacles in forty days as it was the required length of the military service. Archers of medieval times accompanied by knights, sergeants and commoners were the main constituents of an army. In the medieval period the Yeomen proved to be an effective component of the army. These were originally farmers but at the time of war they transformed into medieval archers (yeomen) and fought for the king. Their main weapon was the longbow.

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Life of the medieval archer was like that of a simple farmer during times of peace. The yeomen had land of their own and were cultivators. During the time of peace they trained to sharpen their skills so that they could help fight wars for the king whenever the empire was attacked. In the medieval times over 80% of the king’s army constituted of yeomen and the rest were knights and sergeants.

Archers of medieval times or the yeomen were multi talented they knew how to ride horses and carried swords for fights as well but the longbow was their specialty. Due to such diverse skills a yeoman was valued by the king greatly and was paid to practice his skills during peace time. As a longbow requires years to master the yeomen needed to be trained for along time and were an asset for the army.

Life as a medieval archer was spent in luxury as his skills were highly valued. He was paid in peace time to practice and fined by the king if he did not practice. However, at war he was paid a good handsome salary to keep the yeomen motivated at war. Archers of medieval times learned how to fire arrows individually and in groups. When these archers fired in groups they caused huge damages to the opposing army.

The master of archers was the yeoman who controlled a group and kept an ye on the enemy so that he could direct his group where to fight the rest of the yeoman just followed orders and it was due to practice in peace time that their arrows landed at just the right place every time.

When at war the armor for the medieval archer was usually very light as they kept at distance from the enemy.

As yeomen attacked in larger groups or in group of two at the minimum, they could easily takeover the enemy soldier. Casualties in medieval archers were very rare even when the armor for the medieval archer was light and clothes of a medieval archer were simple. At the time of attacks on castles medieval archers were posted on the castle walls, the inner court and the outer courtyard to cover these areas from attacks.