30YearsWar: 17th Century Warfare Episode 2

In my time my poor father was as diligent to teach me to shoot, as to learn me any other thing; and so I think other men did their children: he taught me how to draw, how to lay my body in my bow, and not to draw from strength of the body: I had my bows bought me, according to my age and strength; as I increased in them, so my bows were made bigger and bigger; for men shall never shoot well, except they be brought up in it…But now, we have taken up whoring in towns, instead of shooting in fields.

These were the words of Hugh Lattimer when talking of the decline of English training standards with the longbow - an important theme in this episode. Trust me history friends, this is a good one! Herein we ask that important question - why did England swap its longbows for muskets over the 16th to 17th centuries, what did this process look like, and why did it take so flaming long?

We trace the longbow’s dominance of English military thinking, and ask how it was that England swapped the longbow for the musket, when the musket was less reliable, more expensive and overall less effective. Did you know that longbows were only fully removed from English armies in 1595? Factoids such as these abound in this fascinating installment of our 17th century warfare series. It’s a long episode for sure, but I don’t doubt that you will enjoy every minute of it if even the idea of English longbowmen interests you.

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