![]() ![]() Hunters continued to carry crossbows for another 150 years due to its silence. During the 16th century AD, military crossbows in Europe were superseded by gunpowder weaponry such as cannons and muskets. From the 11th century AD onward, crossbows and crossbowmen occupied a position of high status in medieval European militaries, with the exception of the English and their continued use of the longbow. Crossbows are not mentioned in European sources again until 947 AD, as a French weapon during the siege of Senlis. An assortment of other ancient European bolt throwers exist such as the ballista, but these were torsion engines and are not considered crossbows. The small body of evidence and the context they provide point to the fact that the ancient European crossbow was primarily a hunting tool or minor siege weapon. It's not clear how widespread crossbows were in Europe prior to the medieval period or if they were even used for warfare. Pictish imagery from medieval Scotland dated between the 6th and 9th centuries AD do show what appear to be crossbows, but only for hunting, and not military usage. ![]() Other than the gastraphetes, the only other evidence of crossbows in ancient Europe are two stone relief carvings from a Roman grave in Gaul and some vague references by Vegetius. He believed it was the forerunner of the catapult, which places its appearance sometime prior to the 4th century BC during the Classical period. In the Western world a crossbow known as the gastraphetes was described by the Greco-Roman scientist Heron of Alexandria in the 1st century AD. Even as late as the 17th century AD, military theorists were still recommending it for wider military adoption, but production had already shifted in favour of firearms and traditional composite bows. Although the crossbow never regained the prominence it once had under the Han, it was never completely phased out either. The crossbow countermarch technique was further refined in the Song dynasty, but crossbow usage in the military continued to decline after the Mongol conquest of China. ![]() One Tang dynasty source recommends a bow to crossbow ratio of five to one as well as the utilization of the countermarch to make up for the crossbow's lack of speed. The crossbow lost much of its popularity after the fall of the Han dynasty, likely due to the rise of the more resilient heavy cavalry during the Six Dynasties. In China the crossbow was one of the primary military weapons from the Warring States period until the end of the Han dynasty, when armies were composed of up to 30 to 50 percent crossbowmen. Then design a stock that folds and or extends to fuller dimensions.It is not clear where and when the crossbow originated, but it is believed to have appeared in China and Europe around the 7th to 5th centuries BC. I would think that a pistol sized prod with perhaps heavier draw weight, would be a good place to start. Is that acceptable? Or do you want to go from compact to firing in under a minute for example? But it will take 15 minutes to assemble to use. Adding an extension to make a shoulder stock would be a snap. You need to establish some design criteria - draw weight and folded dimensions for starters.Īlso method of conversion from compact to full size - unfold, extend, assemble separate pieces or some combination thereof? My pistol bow with the prod detached and laid alongside the stock is pretty darn compact, and its 80 lb draw will kill anything I need to in a survival situation. Compacting the prod by folding, or cams or whatever is another thing entirely. What part or parts do you want to "compact" Kale? If it's just the stock, then adding a detachable or extendable shoulder stock of some sort to a pistol (and here a pistol bow) is an old technique, as is folding the stock sideways for storage. » need help contacting le musee Dauphinois Grenoble » Skane/Lillohus lockbow information needed » 400lb Windlass crossbow bolts weight and accuracy shooting high. » prod angle, and lever trigger for sale anyone? » Questions around heavy crossbow lath buildin » Colletiere a Charavines continuing experiment » 12th Century Chinese Crossbow Chronographed ![]()
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