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How Did Armies Keep Archers Supplied With Arrows While Fighting?
Slate ^ | July 27, 2015 | By Stephen Tempest

Posted on 07/30/2015 11:19:03 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee

During the Hundred Years' War, England had a centralized, state-controlled organization for manufacturing arrows in bulk. These were then issued as required to the soldiers on campaign.

In June 1413, for example, Henry V appointed Nicholas Mynot to be “keeper of the king's arrows,” based in the Tower of London. Mynot was responsible for making arrows, but the royal fletchers alone could not supply the total need, so additional orders were placed with outside suppliers. In August 1413, for example, London-based fletcher Stephen Seler was paid for 12,000 arrows.

We have some total figures available. In 1418, Henry V's government purchased 150,000 arrows; in 1421, it acquired nearly 500,000. Several years' supply would be stockpiled for a major campaign. Half a century earlier in 1360, Edward III's accounts reveal that 566,400 arrows (and 11,000 bows) were stored in the Tower of London alone.

It's possible some archers brought their own arrows. People who were foresters or hunters (or bandits) in civilian life would be accustomed to supplying their own needs and might prefer arrows whose length and weight was better suited to the draw weight of their bow than the standard government-issue arrows. . .

(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: a2; archery; arms; arrow; arrows; bowandarrow; godsgravesglyphs; henryv; hundredyearswar; longbow; longbowmen; middleages; militaryhistory; nicholasmynot; recycling; renaissance
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To: IncPen

ping


81 posted on 07/30/2015 9:36:51 PM PDT by Nailbiter
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To: blueunicorn6

The French managed to raise a battalion of archers just as good as the English. Problem was, when the Serfs became armed they no longer considered themselves serfs but FREE MEN. When the wars were over, they resisted returning to serfdom.

So, turning serfs into archers was frowned upon.


82 posted on 07/31/2015 8:38:19 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (4TH Battalion (Love"s) Alabama Cavalry, attached to Phillip"s Legion. 1863.)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

So they tried to implement Bow Control so they could make them serfs again.

Some things never change.


83 posted on 07/31/2015 8:48:34 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Nailbiter

Recalling my own experiences with an arrow and a length of fishing line...


84 posted on 07/31/2015 8:27:14 PM PDT by IncPen (Not one single patriot in Washington, DC.)
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To: IncPen

makes you appreciate the skill all the more


85 posted on 08/03/2015 3:14:49 PM PDT by Nailbiter
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
Note: this topic is from 7/30/2015. Thanks Brad from Tennessee.

86 posted on 04/19/2019 12:23:29 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: rfreedom4u

>> I read that they archers there would go among the French dead and gather their previously fired arrows after each French fallback.

When I saw the headline I assumed that there would be some young gatherers sent out to pick up some replacements by going out into the battlefield afterwards. Not much different than the young workers sent out to pick up golfballs on a driving range.


87 posted on 04/19/2019 2:40:57 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Denounce DUAC - The Democrats Un-American Activists Committee)
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To: TigersEye

>>And where did they get the rubber tomahawks?

Medical supply store


88 posted on 04/19/2019 2:42:38 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Denounce DUAC - The Democrats Un-American Activists Committee)
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To: SoCal Pubbie
The Romans weren’t big on cavalry either. I believe many of their horsemen were auxiliaries also. Heavy infantry was their forte.

The stirrup and girdle for saddles hadn't been invented yet.

The Huns brought that key technology to the West.

89 posted on 04/19/2019 5:04:20 AM PDT by DCBryan1 (Quit calling them liberals, progs, socialists, or democrats. Call them what they are: COMMUNISTS!!!!)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

If you’re a fan of Three Kingdoms, then you simply borrow the enemies arrows using your own boats of straw as targets.


90 posted on 04/19/2019 5:19:50 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (“Individual liberty and freedom are not outmoded concepts.”)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

One researcher I remember reading calculated the English were putting a thousand arrows a second into the air at Agincourt.

I think I recall Henry’s army was about 6,000 men, how many were archers I don’t know.


91 posted on 04/19/2019 7:13:11 AM PDT by skepsel
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To: Red Badger
I’ve often wondered where the American Indians got all their arrows.................

Casino gift shops.

92 posted on 04/19/2019 7:42:48 AM PDT by ElkGroveDan (My tagline is in the shop.)
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To: SunkenCiv
Producing hundreds of thousands of arrows?

Obviously, they needed "common sense arrow control."

93 posted on 04/19/2019 10:56:16 AM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: skepsel
Thank you for reminding me of this thread.

Wiki has a fun discussion on Agincourt numbers.
NB: My son the history guy says "automatic 'F'"if wiki is the sole source cited in his class.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt#Numbers_at_Agincourt

That said,6,000, a good number.
6,000 archers =1,000 arrows/ 1 second
6 archers= 1 arrow/ 1 sec
1 archer= 1 arrow/ 6 sec QUICK!

Guessing they are responding to wave assaults, also the mud was a HUGE factor slowing the French.

Do not overlook the supply train problem, that caused the death of the many a French Nobleman. (Fr. claims a war crime)And a huge loss of ransom$$$.

On campaign, arrows were bulk-packed in barrels and transported in wagons. Longbowmen might be issued with three sheaves of 24 arrows each to carry into combat, and during a long battle runners would be sent to bring more arrows from the wagons.

Yes, I confess, twas I that cribbed a few lines,"The fewer men, the greater share of honor." , to inspire my team to finish the damn job on time! And it was St Crispin's Day!(25 Oct) Without the bread & circus thing, they might fall asleep.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt#Numbers_at_Agincourt

John Keegan argues that the longbows' main influence on the battle at this point was injuries to horses: armoured only on the head, many horses would have become dangerously out of control when struck in the back or flank from the high-elevation long range shots used as the charge started

The English account in the Gesta Henrici says: "For when some of them, killed when battle was first joined, fall at the front, so great was the undisciplined violence and pressure of the mass of men behind them that the living fell on top of the dead, and others falling on top of the living were killed as well.

A very bad for French Grunts.

94 posted on 04/19/2019 12:36:39 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!")
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To: colorado tanker

:^)

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/larsandersen/index


95 posted on 04/20/2019 4:13:57 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: zek157

60,000 years?


96 posted on 04/20/2019 7:05:38 PM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: lepton

Yeah, that would be years not centuries.


97 posted on 04/25/2019 6:14:38 PM PDT by zek157
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This topic was posted 7/30/2015, thanks again Brad from Tennessee.
A re-ping -- the anniversary of Agincourt just tiptoed by, by the way.
The Battle Of Agincourt may well be the most famous battle of the entire Middle Ages. During the Hundred Years’ War between England and France, Henry V, the young king of England, lead his forces to victory on the plains of Azincourt in northern France. For the French, it was a catastrophe. Despite outnumbering the English by far, they lost over 6,000 men, in comparison to 400 on the English side. How did this young king secure one of the greatest military victories of all time? And what can archaeologists at the burial sites at Agincourt find to tell us about this grisly moment of medieval history?
1415: The French Disaster Of Agincourt | Medieval Dead | September 25, 2021 | Chronicle - Medieval History Documentaries
1415: The French Disaster Of Agincourt | Medieval Dead | September 25, 2021 | Chronicle - Medieval History Documentaries

98 posted on 10/31/2021 1:21:21 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Ransomed
I recall reading Greek and Roman slingers used to carve insults on their lead sling bullets.

"Yo momma so dumb, she thought Rome was built in a day."

99 posted on 10/31/2021 1:35:24 PM PDT by GreenHornet
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