Extracted from another thread-- at the battle of Najera in 1367, in Spain, Spanish slingers faced English longbowmen. The Spanish slingers slung big stones, and did a lot of damage, including to armoured fighters. The English longbowmen shot their usual yard long arrows, and routed the slingers.

The two main rival man-powered ways of delivering ordinance thus did face off in a pre-gunpowder battle. Sling 0, bow 1.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nájera

http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/books/froissart/index.cfm?page=0175

http://books.google.com/books?id=tSBEAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA372&lpg=PA372&dq=froissart+sl...

Aussi of the reach is not of the Longbow consider. Also not from the effect.
In Najera there was a big unbalance.
However, the specialisation went more and more richtung Longbow

Hallo, Thearos!
Should it help you, we once made the replica of an English longbow, but it was not an exact one, for its power was of about 65 lbs, while it seems that original ones had powers of 100 and more.
By the way, the maximum distance that bow allowed us to reach, was 183 meters, using a 92-centimeters long arrow, weighted with a self-made iron pyramidal arrowhead, 7 centimeters long.

(funny thing is, that Mongolian and Hungarian replicas, the most powerful of which was 55 lbs, reached a minimum of 172 meters, and a maximum of 180, pretty much the same of our - underpowered - English longbow).

Greetings,
Mauro.

The English warbow shooters on Primitive Archer keep stating that they shoot just over or under 200 meters, depending on what type of arrow they are shooting.  They are shooting 100 to about 160 pounds at 32 inches.  Some of the lighter bows shoot the same arrow further than some of the heavier bows.  With self bows, a bow made from one piece of wood, the tiller of the bow can increase or decrease the range of the bow by around 15%.  Bill

I myself shoot different types.

My Hungarian (65lbs) shoots clearly wide as my English Longbow. (102lbs)

The explanation is quite easy.
The Longbow shoots substantially heavier arrows. And exactly therefore it goes. By heavy arrows also rises the carbon copy strength. Not the reach.

It does sound like the English warbow, used by elite archers, i.e. those taken by Edward on his overseas expeditions, could outshoot the sling-- I don't think the Spanish slingers could shoot 270 m.

Of course, these are still "drop ranges", i.e. the distance when the arrow finally hits the ground. What is the relation between those ranges and co,bat ranges, i.e. those at which the archers or slingers create a beaten zone where people standing up get hit between head and shin ?

To him is not in such a way. A higher tractive power requires heavier and more stiff arrow.

Thearos: Why should a Balearic Slinger be able to throw none to 270 far?? I have seen this not only same, but have done it also myself.

The advantage of the Slingers. He has caused one more Shild with he to himself protection is able.

This is how I understand the engagement at Najera

The Spanish slingers moved to engage with warslings, slinging at say 200m distance. I assume this represents nearly extreme distance for slingers with large stones. Their first shot landed among the English, and harmed bowmen and men at arms.

The English bowmen replied: their very first volley broke the Spanish slinging line, because of volume of shot (the longbowmen not only outnumbered the slingers, but could be packed more densely) and because of speed.

As the slingers withdrew, the English bowmen could pursue with with arrow shot, since the longbow is effective over a longer distance (300m ?) than the warsling (200m)-- they bracketed the retreating Spanish slingers with volleys or continuous shots over 100m. This prevented the slingers from rallying, and probably killed or incapacitated a good deal of them.