ARROWS vs ARMOUR - Medieval Myth Busting
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN considers it the key experimental evidence on how effective longbows really were against armour.
What it is
Tod's Workshop fires full-weight medieval arrows from a 160lb English warbow at reproduced medieval armour. Armour curator Dr Tobias Capwell, an archer and bowyer give historical context and discuss the results.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2020 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec gota · 2025-05 · on “Why Archers Didn't Volley Fire”
From the same author: [LINK] [LINK] If you're not yet aware of it (unlikely as it made it 'big' in the overall internet), I believe the video from Tod's Workshop with actual experimentation is a must see: [this video] There is a sequel and many other related videos, but this one is the source for a very famous clip (at 20:50 - [this video] )
Recommends catalogia · 2020-07 · on “Discovery of oldest bow and arrow technology in Eurasia”
The youtube channel Todd's Workshop did an interesting video with Tobias Capwell and a few others examining the effectiveness of English longbows against plate armor that I found interesting in a number of respects. In the video they had archer Joe Gibbs shooting a 160lb longbow. For this, he uses a posture that looks unusual by modern archery standards but which is evidently supported by contemporary illustrations of English longbowmen. Apparently this unusual posture is the only way he can manage to draw bows like this at all (he can draw up to 200lb bows like this.) He seems to be able to hold the bow drawn for a moment or two, but it's a far cry from what movies generally depict. [this video]
Cites b0rsuk · 2020-11 · on “Could a Peasant Defeat a Knight in Battle?”
A crossbow has several advantages, but it's main advantage is NOT power or armor piercing ability. That is likely a myth perpetuated by armchair historians with poor grasp of physics. The main advantage of a crossbow is that it's easy to use. Richard Lionheart, the English king, was famously killed by a boy wielding a crossbow. You need no more than 2 weeks to be proficient with a crossbow. To do that with an English longbow you'd need 7 years. There are various methods of drawing a crossbow that don't require great strength. Here's a (not exhaustive! Missing is for example latchet crossbow.) list of 9 ways to draw a crossbow: Tod's Workshop 9 MEDIEVAL CROSSBOW DEVICES - How do they work? --