The necessity was the one that created this weapon because the war demanded a more powerful bow, able to perforate the ever better metallic protections of the knights. The solutions passed through the compound bow or English longbow but the technical difficulties of construction of the first and the ten or fifteen years necessary to train a competent goalkeeper for the second, favored the search for an alternative. Thus, the solution was the crossbow.
Physical and written evidence suggests that the crossbow was discovered in China during the fourth century BC, while a type of crossbow called gastrafetes was invented independently in Greece at around the same time.
The introduction of the crossbow in medieval Europe was based on the need to create some kind of mechanism that allowed them to use the most powerful weapon at that moment (the bow) to launch their projectiles (arrows) at that known distance or even greater But with less effort and dexterity. If we thought about it, what we were looking for would be to keep the arch in its tightened position for as long as possible (even for minutes) to aim and that it did not carry painful results in the arms of those who handled it as in the case of an arch.
When this system was perfected, over several centuries, other advantages were found, among them that the servants of this weapon did not need a training as prolonged as the archers to obtain to the target, as already mentioned before ( Laws were enacted that forced to practice the archery to all the men of the state given its military utility at the time of the recruits or cams. This difference of time to obtain acceptable results in the aim would become its original sin when talking about the nobility of this weapon or its use in sports against the bow.
With the crossbow that achieved good reaches (150 meters effective, but not precise) and the diversity of projectiles that could be used was quite numerous (short, medium, long, metal, wood, tipped wood, metal, Feathers, without feathers, shaped like balls, and even stones.
On the other hand, the crossbow was considered an artifact for cowards. The contempt of the aristocracy for the remotely-driven weapon goes back to the Renaissance and although the Church Empire tried to prohibit its use in the Second Lateran Council, except its use against the infidels for what was used in the Crusades and widely In Spain in the reconquest. Its power and easy handling made it spread throughout Europe in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, disobeying the prohibition of its use against Christians.
In this way, it should be noted that the crossbow was normally used by mercenaries, often of Italian origin, from whence came that was considered the most appropriate for the construction of the arches, although up to five types of Wood for its construction. Returning to the above, for the Christian nobility and for the Church of Rome the crossbow was a weapon despised when not cursed, not in vain one of its oldest representations in the iconography was in the hands of a devil. Indeed, for a noble trained from childhood in the art of war, protected with a very expensive defensive weaponry, It was intolerable the possibility of being defeated or killed not by an equal but by a barely trained commoner, coward by definition and from a distance such that mere defense was impossible.
In fact, while a captured knight was usually respected by his peers, out of class solidarity and to obtain a ransom, archers and crossbowmen were massacred as a matter of routine and even the nobles of an army could crush with the hooves of their horse to his own crossbowmen if they stood in his way.
Obviously it was not the perfect weapon, and had some hits like any weapon that was used, the main drawbacks of this weapon are:
The crossbows have little accuracy at long range, but they are efficient at close range, in a skirmish in the middle of a battle the use of a long bow was unthinkable, but a crossbow itself. The lack of precision at long distance is mainly due to the fact that the bollards are short, very heavy and almost always if feathered or feathered with rigid materials, leather, and wood.
The slow loading of the crossbow. This led to the creation of auxiliaries who wore large shields to protect themselves and protect the crossbowmen in the process of loading them.
The problems of the strings in the crossbows when being always mounted and their difficult change towards that by humidity or when they wet lost the tension and its power (battle of Crezy).
When increasing the power of these to tension the rope was necessary to create auxiliary accessories for its load or mounted. The “stirrup”, the “gauntlets”, the “belt hook”, the “goat leg”, the “cranequín or cric”, etc. Which still slowed its load more.
The advantages of this weapon have already been discussed above.
The Evolution of the Crossbows
The crossbows evolved over the centuries in several aspects: The material of their poles, the trigger, and the shape or elements of load.
Materials of the blades or Verga
If we now comment on the material of his shovels in the first centuries X and XI these were of wood just like the arches. Its low performance for its short length causes it to create composite blades. These were different layers of wood, reinforcements of leather, horn and some other element to give greater power like the oriental bows. Later XII century end of the XI, incorporated the blades or bars of metal arriving thus to its splendor and maximum power with the steel blades that has been maintained until the end of the operative life of this weapon.
Another point of evolution was the system or mechanism of firing of this weapon, the firing system in the first era when it was introduced or used by the Normans in England, was a simple lever that freed the rope, evolved to another type say bolt, To pass to the system of walnut that has become characteristic of the crossbows.
The bolt system consisted basically of a piece that pushed / released the rope when the firing lever was pressed. The nut is a piece or wheel with two notches one of them hooks / releases the rope and the other notch interlocks the trigger lever when tightening releases the nut and this rotates by the pull of the rope, the nut used to be horn, bone The metal.
The system of load of the crossbows, was adapting with the passage of the years to the increase of power. In the early years given the low power of the wood poles it was enough to step on the feet with the shovels and pull the rope with the hands.
The first aid was the stirrup as the stirrup of cavalry but in our case placed in front of the tip of the body or box of the crossbow, allows to introduce a foot holding the body and pull the rope either with the hands or a hook Attached to the belt of the crossbowman.
The gauntlets were gauntlets of thick leather, to be able to pull the rope without undoing the hands after 20 or 30 loads.
Subsequently the “goat foot” was used consisting of a lever that was anchored in special pivots of the body of the crossbow and held the rope, pulling the lever the rope was stretched until reaching its anchor point.
There were also used small lathes (Windlass) that anchored in the gunwale of the crossbow and rolled a rope to an axis this rope had hooks that tightened the rope to its position of anchorage for the shot. The power of some of the crossbows that were used for sieges and to assault ships, without being site artifacts, became overwhelming, in some cases they went from 700 and 800lb, with the difficulties that this had, but we think that it could be To delay them again as much as to load a cannon and that in the case of the guns of the ships, they were seldom used more than once. On most occasions what was intended was to cause a fire, we do not speak of the Roman ballistas,
Before the use of muskets and fire guns was normalized, it was customary for ships to carry yew crossbows to shoot the deck of the enemy’s ship before it struck.
In the middle Ages the countries that had the most tradition in the use of this weapon apart from Spain on the theme of the reconquest were the Germanic zone and Italy that fed the French crossbowmen with mercenaries. Currently the tradition of medieval shooting continues in many places in Italy.
