Crossbows in this period

[WorkMonkey]

I do have a clique! Thorlak, a couple of roleplayers, and a couple of kids are MY clique, and you're not in it so WHATEVER!

[Thorlak]

Sounds Kinky

Roleplayers!

Bunch of wierdos

[Edwin]

Witshire Archeaological and Natural History Journal XXVIII 1894-96
Page 87

Notes on a Roman Cross-bow &c., found at Southgrove farm, Burbage (Wiltshire)
By the Rev. E. H. Goddard

The bits found included the catch and some ring and dot decorated bits of ivory or bone plates.

The catch or nut is an odd shape, quite like the pictish one illustrated by Osprey and the article claims that three similar ones have been found in London. So what date? Maybe Late Roman looking like the Osprey late Roman Infantryman one on plate J.

I have a walrus ivory copy of the nut which I keep meaning to fit into a crossbow but never seem to get round to it.

[dragonskie2000]

Yes, there were crossbows. A friend of mine did the research for them - mostly trawling through manuscripts and wills. Hopefully it will at some point be written up...but it's with someone else at the mo while she goes of searching for her latest interest

oops, I've just pressed the wrong button so hopefully this doesn't show up loads of times....sorry

[egfroth]

Though I know of none in England pre-Conquest, there is a fair bit of evidence for them on the Continent, including an 11th century Spanish picture, a 10th century French one, and the find of quite a decent crossbow remnant at Colletie're in France (most of the stock, quite a bit of the prod, plus a fair bit of the trigger mechanism.

Though they're not shown in the Bayeux Tapestry, at least two of the contemporary chroniclers (one of them William of Poitiers - I'd have to check to find out who the other one was) mention crossbows being used by William of Normandy's army at Hastings.

The Domesday Book (compiled c. 1086) apparently mentions someone called (Odo?) the crossbowman.

[phendriks]

hate to sound spammy but : does anyone know how i can reach robin knight?? his website and email seem to be offline please pm me

[brander]

http://www.arbalistarmoury.co.uk/
Try here

[Wynflaed]

AFAIK Egfroth is right about crossbows at Hastings. The main dictionary of Old English, Bosworth & Toller, has an entry for "gelocen boge" meaning crossbow, but it doesn't say where in the corpus the phrase was recorded. I think the safest bet is to assume they were post-Conquest only.

[randallmoffett]

Or that their use declined or died out for whatever reason and they were later reintroduced or increased usage. It seems likely that the Romans had something crossbowish so it'd be odd if it never made its way to Britannia. Now however long and for whatever purpose from this time to its decline/discontinuance is another possible theory.

Randall

[Medicus Matt]

It seems likely that the Romans had something crossbowish

More than 'likely'; there are two clear depictions of 2nd century crossbows on sculptures found in the Auvergne.