I want to examine lesser discussed topics regarding the longbow such as the possibility of Flemish, Burgundian, and French longbowmen in this video, since this bow is made in modern-day Belgium. There are plenty of content regarding English longbowmen, in famous battles like Agincourt, Crecy, and the battle of Poitiers etc. Let’s take a moment to look at other archers in continental western europe during the Hundred Years War.
Of course, Belgium was not a country during this time, but divided among various factions and the territory did change depending on the time period, divided with the holy roman empire, the french + allies, and the English + allies.
We know the English were famous of their use of the longbow, and We know that the French did use longbow as well such as the Franc archers, and of course, this deserves their own videos.
Note that the HRE controlled most of modern-day Wallonia, which is southern belgium today.
Interestingly, even the Holy Roman Empire used the longbow. Now i wasnt able to find if the longbow was specifically used in the Wallonia region however, but prehaps resources of yew could have been extracted in this region to supply yew wood for the french or holy roman empire.
We know the english mostly relied on importing northern europe and baltic states, so they unlikely imported yew from this region.
So we are left with nothern belgium which is mostly flemish, which also had direct contact with english longbowmen. however, most of flemish militia were melee infantry and would not have used longbows in any significant quantity.
they did however provide important textile products for the english during the war.
So that is basically a quick summary of the longbow in the region that is known today as belgium,
of course Belgium didnt become a country until the 19th century, but the people of Belgium did preserve archery traditions,
and the sport popinjay for example is still occasionally being practiced today in belgium as recreational sport, along with other countries.
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I want to examine lesser discussed topics regarding the longbow such as the possibility of Flemish, Burgundian, and French longbowmen in this video, since this bow is made in modern-day Belgium. There are plenty of content regarding English longbowmen, in famous battles like Agincourt, Crecy, and the battle of Poitiers etc. Let’s take a moment to look at other archers in continental western europe during the Hundred Years War.
Of course, Belgium was not a country during this time, but divided among various factions and the territory did change depending on the time period, divided with the holy roman empire, the french + allies, and the English + allies.
We know the English were famous of their use of the longbow, and We know that the French did use longbow as well such as the Franc archers, and of course, this deserves their own videos.
Note that the HRE controlled most of modern-day Wallonia, which is southern belgium today.
Interestingly, even the Holy Roman Empire used the longbow. Now i wasnt able to find if the longbow was specifically used in the Wallonia region however, but prehaps resources of yew could have been extracted in this region to supply yew wood for the french or holy roman empire.
We know the english mostly relied on importing northern europe and baltic states, so they unlikely imported yew from this region.
So we are left with nothern belgium which is mostly flemish, which also had direct contact with english longbowmen. however, most of flemish militia were melee infantry and would not have used longbows in any significant quantity.
they did however provide important textile products for the english during the war.
So that is basically a quick summary of the longbow in the region that is known today as belgium,
of course Belgium didnt become a country until the 19th century, but the people of Belgium did preserve archery traditions,
and the sport popinjay for example is still occasionally being practiced today in belgium as recreational sport, along with other countries.