Saga Brief 14 - Medieval Archery with Patricia Gonsalves and Stephen Fox

In this special episode of Saga Briefs, our side project here at Saga Thing, John and Andy sit down with Patricia Gonsalves and Stephen Fox for a chat about archery in the Viking world. But the conversation isn't limited to medieval Scandinavia. Patricia and Stephen, both experts in archery and its history, have travelled the world learning everything they can about the subject. We take full advantage of their expertise as we cover everything from Gunnar Hamundarson's request for a lock of hair to make a bowstring to cinema's best archers. Along the way, we learn about fletch mites and the last official kill by a longbow in wartime (hint: it involves dead Nazis). This is our longest interview yet, but it's an informative and fun one from beginning to end. We hope you enjoy Patricia and Stephen as much as we do.

Patricia currently works as the archery consultant for the popular television series Arrow and The Flash, among other shows. While she works behind the scenes, you'll have seen her work in the skilled and realistic approach to archery she's trained into every actor who draws an arrow on the shows. Patricia grew up imagining herself in the shoes of literature's most famous archer, Robin Hood. Today, she not only gets to play with bows and arrows every day, she gets to help make television's Robin Hood look cool. You can follow Patricia's adventures on her Facebook page, TheEpicArcher.

Stephen Fox studied Experimental Archaeology and Viking Archery at University College Dublin. If you want to know anything about how bows are made, Stephen is your guy. He's toured the world studying archery, working at excavation sites and Viking museums. An expert in Viking bow-making, Stephen spent two seasons working at the Lofotr Viking Museum in Norway, where he built his own workshop in the chieftain's longhouse and crafted bows from scratch. Stephen currently works with Patricia as an archery technician for Arrow.

If you're interested in getting some hands-on training in historical or traditional archery, you're in luck. Patricia is the founder and lead instructor at Lykopis Archery, located in Vancouver, Canada. Stephen also works there as an instructor and administrator. In addition to teaching introductory archery classes to youths and adults, Lykopis offers detailed instruction in the Four Disciplines of Archery, including:

The Lithics Discipline: This discipline concentrates on bows and arrows that were used in the Stone Age and throughout prehistory.

The Asiatic Composite Bow: Examines the composites of the Steppe, Eastern Asian bows and the styles used in Mounted Horseback Archery.

The Longbow: Studies the theory and application Viking Longbow and the Tudor/Welsh Warbow and and the heavy draw technique that allowed warriors to pull up to 100 lbs in draw weight.

The Flatbow: Focuses on First Nations and Native American bows, flatbows of the 20th Century and techniques applicable for stealth and for hunting.

Follow Lykopis Archery on Facebook for news and updates on programming.