longbow vs. crossbow

[lepers]

which is better? o said the longbow my mate thinks otherwise hmmmmm

ne ideas?

[Space]

longbow is much quicker to rearm.
Crossbow has a much better accuracy I suppose...

[jake-the-peg]

Difficult to say we actually have no surviving examples of medevil longbows to study.

However it did take much greater skill to use a longbow.

here's a good summary:

http://www.thebeckoning.com/medieval/crossbow/cross_l_v_c.html

[secretsquiz]

i recently saw a top ten programme on channel five - top ten deadliest weapons.

put together by a variety of weapons experts from around the world and longbow was there, but crossbow wasn't.

[LordyGeordie]

Up until the advent of gunpowder english longbowmen were the most feared soldiers in europe. nobody really knows why it was only the english who were so good with a longbow (although the welsh weren't too bad either). but many people think it is because from a young age boys were taught to use a longbow. in fact there were laws which made sure peasants spent time practicing with a longbow.

a group of longbowmen could make a bit of cash as mercenaries. while crossbows had a greater range and were more accurate, a trained longbowman could loose a lot more arrows in the time it took to load a second crossbow bolt.

it is said at the battle of agincourt after loosing one arrow, an english bowman could get another four arrows in the air before the first one hit the ground. that sort of fire power was incredibly devastating. the only thing was it took years of training to get that good with a bow.

so the answer probably is if you're a novice you're weapon of choice should probably be a crossbow, but if you're prepared to put some graft in, longbow wins every time.