bow draw strength

[1v0ry_k1ng]

What would have been the average draw strength for a bow in the medieval period? Im thinking a longbow as used by the west.
A war bow. one that has to be fired twelve times a minute. considering that people were smaller (5ft high) and they had to sustain any effort for a long time. A longbow wouldnt piece armour at 65 pounds, and longbows with bodkin arrows were dangerous to platemailed knights.
this is for a physics project so citing your sources would be helpful.

[Cabbage]

well, longbowmen had staggering draw strenghs. It was required by law that everyone practice with the longbow in england every sunday for a few hours, so many people had hugely oversized draw arms, while their other was really weedy in comparison

[Boirunner]

According to the wikipedia entry on british longbows, they had a draw force of 706├óÔé¼ÔÇ£804
Newton. That's as much force as you need to lift 75 kg, and the guys did it with one arm! Wiki has no sources to go with that, though.

[Snipawolf]

I dunno, but 12 times, 300 yards per shot, boirunner and the wiki he found probably isn't too far off


Edit: I know its 300 yards (or feet, yards did sound kinda... long ranged) per shot because I read one of the best medieval weapon books ever, I did forget its name though >.>

[ralphie]

considering that people were smaller (5ft high)

were pygmies using longbows as well?

[jackalope]

What would have been the average draw strength for a bow in the medieval period? Im thinking a longbow as used by the west.
A war bow. one that has to be fired twelve times a minute. considering that people were smaller (5ft high) and they had to sustain any effort for a long time. A longbow wouldnt piece armour at 65 pounds, and longbows with bodkin arrows were dangerous to platemailed knights.
this is for a physics project so citing your sources would be helpful.

Where did you get that 5ft figure from? I'm pretty sure that is innaccurate. Sure people may have been shorter on average but not that short.

Longbowmen definately had huge draw arms. Archaeologists were able to tell by looking at their skeletons and seeing that the draw arm bone had actually grown as a result of all the exercise and training

[1v0ry_k1ng]

by 5ft i meant 5ftx" not exactly 5ft.

[BigSteve]

Ive actually got a long bow ^^ its about the same height as me, 6ft, 2
The bugger takes some serious arm strength to pull back, but when you let go... that arrow does some serious knots :)

It always brings a smile to my face thinking of the English giving the "posh" french knights the \/ and then devastating their ranks with longbow fire.

If anyone wasnt aware... the 2 fingered salute (\/) was down to the fact that, if the french captured a noble english bowman, they'd cut his two bow drawing fingers off. Owie.
So everytime we went into battle the English would stick up the two draw fingers!
anyway the longbow kicked their asses and they gave up trying to invade us, we were just too hard. ^^

[1v0ry_k1ng]

6000 bowmen anhillated a 50,000 strong french army including most the french nobility, the french king and princes. the longbow needed nerf imo

[Relative]

6000 bowmen anhillated a 50,000 strong french army including most the french nobility, the french king and princes. the longbow needed nerf imo

Nerf (an acronym for Non-Expanding Recreational Foam) is a product originally introduced as an indoor-safe ball by Parker Brothers in 1969. -Wikipedia

A little too early for a nerf Plus I bet they were just using nub tactic like teching to krog.

[Forboding Angel]

the french should been spaeming gater.

[1v0ry_k1ng]

the french are famously bad at wars, they were probably spamming torp bombers on a land map tbh

[BigSteve]

lol ^^

[Snipawolf]

and of course puttin depth charge launchers where a choke point on land was

(But seriously, the French were RETARDED, they let their cavalry RUN OVER their archers.. Wtf!?)

[Boirunner]

the french are famously bad at wars

Oh yeah? Well this guy pwned most of the continent! Damn, he even started with sucky econ, but he had awesome micro.

edit: btw, if you like history you will get a kick out of this:

If World War Two had been an online Real Ttime Strategy game, the chat room traffic would have gone something like this.

*Hitler[AoE] has joined the game.*
*Eisenhower has joined the game.*
*paTTon has joined the game.*
*Churchill has joined the game.*
*benny-tow has joined the game.*
*T0J0 has joined the game.*
*Roosevelt has joined the game.*
*Stalin has joined the game.*
*deGaulle has joined the game.*
Roosevelt: hey sup
T0J0: y0
Stalin: hi
Churchill: hi
Hitler[AoE]: cool, i start with panzer tanks!
paTTon: lol more like panzy tanks
T0JO: lol
Roosevelt: o this fockin sucks i got a depression!
benny-tow: haha america sux
Stalin: hey hitler you dont fight me i dont fight u, cool?
Hitler[AoE]; sure whatever
Stalin: cool
deGaulle: **** Hitler rushed some1 help
Hitler[AoE]: lol byebye frenchy
Roosevelt: i dont got **** to help, sry
Churchill: wtf the luftwaffle is attacking me
Roosevelt: get antiair guns
Churchill: i cant afford them
benny-tow: u n00bs know what team talk is?
paTTon: stfu
Roosevelt: o yah hit the navajo button guys
deGaulle: eisenhower ur worthless come help me quick
Eisenhower: i cant do **** til rosevelt gives me an army
paTTon: yah hurry the fock up
Churchill: d00d im gettin pounded
deGaulle: this is fockin weak u guys suck
*deGaulle has left the game.*
Roosevelt: im gonna attack the axis k?
benny-tow: with what? ur wheelchair?
benny-tow: lol did u mess up ur legs AND ur head?
Hitler[AoE]: ROFLMAO
T0J0: lol o no america im comin 4 u
Roosevelt: wtf! thats bullsh1t u fags im gunna kick ur asses
T0JO: not without ur harbors u wont! lol
Roosevelt: u little biotch ill get u
Hitler[AoE]: wtf
Hitler[AoE]: america hax, u had depression and now u got a huge fockin army
Hitler[AoE]: thats bullsh1t u hacker
Churchill: lol no more france for u hitler
Hitler[AoE]: tojo help me!
T0J0: wtf u want me to do, im on the other side of the world retard
Hitler[AoE]: fine ill clear you a path
Stalin: WTF u arsshoel! WE HAD A FoCKIN TRUCE
Hitler[AoE]: i changed my mind lol
benny-tow: haha
benny-tow: hey ur losing ur guys in africa im gonna need help in italy soon sum1
T0J0: o **** i cant help u i got my hands full
Hitler[AoE]: im 2 busy 2 help
Roosevelt: yah thats right ***** im comin for ya
Stalin: church help me
Churchill: like u helped me before? sure ill just sit here
Stalin: dont be an arss
Churchill: dont be a commie. oops too late
Eisenhower: LOL
benny-tow: hahahh oh sh1t help
Hitler: o man ur focked
paTTon: oh what now biotch
Roosevelt: whos the cripple now lol
*benny-tow has been eliminated.*
benny-tow: lame
Roosevelt: gj patton
paTTon: thnx
Hitler[AoE]: WTF eisenhower hax hes killing all my sh1t
Hitler[AoE]: quit u hacker so u dont ruin my record
Eisenhower: Nuts!
benny~tow: wtf that mean?
Eisenhower: meant to say nutsack lol finger slipped
paTTon: coming to get u hitler u paper hanging hun cocksocker
Stalin: rofl
T0J0: HAHAHHAA
Hitler[AoE]: u guys are fockin gay
Hitler[AoE]: ur never getting in my city
*Hitler[AoE] has been eliminated.*
benny~tow: OMG u noob you killed yourself
Eisenhower: ROFLOLOLOL
Stalin: OMG LMAO!
Hitler[AoE]: WTF i didnt click there omg this game blows
*Hitler[AoE] has left the game*
paTTon: hahahhah
T0J0: WTF my teammates are n00bs
benny~tow: shut up noob
Roosevelt: haha wut a moron
paTTon: wtf am i gunna do now?
Eisenhower: yah me too
T0J0: why dont u attack me o thats right u dont got no ships lololol
Eisenhower: fock u
paTTon: lemme go thru ur base commie
Stalin: go to hell lol
paTTon: fock this sh1t im goin afk
Eisenhower: yah this is gay
*Roosevelt has left the game.*
Hitler[AoE]: wtf?
Eisenhower: sh1t now we need some1 to join
*tru_m4n has joined the game.*
tru_m4n: hi all
T0J0: hey
Stalin: sup
Churchill: hi
tru_m4n: OMG OMG OMG i got all his stuff!
tru_m4n: NUKES! HOLY **** I GOT NUKES
Stalin: d00d gimmie some plz
tru_m4n: no way i only got like a couple
Stalin: omg dont be gay gimmie nuculer secrets
T0J0: wtf is nukes?
T0J0: holy ****holy****hoyl****!
*T0J0 has been eliminated.*
*The Allied team has won the game!*
Eisenhower: awesome!
Churchill: gg noobs no re
T0J0: thats bull**** u fockin suck
*T0J0 has left the game.*
*Eisenhower has left the game.*
Stalin: next game im not going to be on ur team, u guys didnt help me for ****
Churchill: wutever, we didnt need ur help neway dumbarss
tru_m4n: l8r all
benny~tow: bye
Churchill: l8r
Stalin: fock u all
tru_m4n: shut up commie lol
*tru_m4n has left the game.*
benny~tow: lololol u commie
Churchill: ROFL
Churchill: bye commie
*Churchill has left the game.*
*benny~tow has left the game.*
Stalin: i hate u all fags
*Stalin has left the game.*
paTTon: lol no1 is left
paTTon: weeeee i got a jeep
*paTTon has been eliminated.*
paTTon: o sh1t!
*paTTon has left the game.*

[1v0ry_k1ng]

for some reason this makes me want to play spring 1944 again. panzy tanks ftw

[Relative]

Nukes are bull, I feel for T0J0

[bwansy]

<offtopic>I suppose this is what people call Spring overdose.</offtopic>
Well... this is "off topic discusion" anyway.

[Decimator]

That was hilarious!

[Muzic]

My god to pull something that weighs nearly 100lbs 12x in one minute.