The History Of Crossbows

Warfare is an endeavor that has always paved the way for human innovations. Some of these innovations were useful not only during wartime but during peacetime as well but some were purely made for war and for hunting. Take for example the crossbow, a weapon used to throw wooden projectiles into the air to pierce thru flesh, wood, steel and even stone. This article will discuss the history of crossbow hunting in Europe, which is basically a history of warfare.

5th Century BC

The gastraphetes is widely regarded as the earliest form of the crossbow in Europe, which is believed to be the forerunner of the catapult. Its invention and use in Europe dates back some time before 420 BC. The gastraphetes was used as an artillery weapon and was made up of three parts:

1. Lower section: comprises of the case and affixed to the bow much like a horizontally placed crossbow.
2. Upper section: made up of the slider and its mechanism which was made to be the same size and dimension as the case

The effectiveness and the efficiency of the gastraphetes were improved further thru the introduction of the ballista, which allowed the crossbow to fire larger projectiles at a faster rate. Due to the success of the crossbow ballista combination the crossbow became more varied both in size and in use. Incidentally the smaller type of crossbow hunting weaponry was named Scorpio.

Medieval Warfare

The crossbow emerged around 1525 AD in the battle of Hastings. Back then the longbow was the projectile weapon of choice mainly because it was easier to produce, not to mention the fact that it needed only one operator and was more accurate than a crossbow. Some even said the longbow was more elegant than the crossbow, which looked like a block of wood with a lopsided bow. The popularity of the crossbow was mainly due to three factors:

1. Easier operation
2. Longer range
3. Greater piercing capability

These three factors paved the way for the development of a crossbow unit that were either used in conjunction with the longbow or where used for special operations to guard, to attack in open warfare or in siege operations as well.

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