#welsh longbow

[sapper-in-the-wire-old]

Longbowman's Stance Note

You're probably familiar with this sort of stance:

However, from both written descriptions and period illustrations, this is not the type of stance the English longbowman would use. As opposed to the familiar "drawing" of the bow, that is, to pull the string back; the longbowman was said to have "bent" the bow, that is, to push into the bow itself. The end result was a stance that looked more like this:

Several illustrations attest to this bent over stance:

Bending the body forward assists the bow hand in pushing the bow out, as well as engaging the back muscles more effectively.