History of the Crossbow
The crossbow is a weapon much like the bow and has something similar as one component. The bow looking part of the crossbow is called a prod and attaches to a stock that looks very similar to today’s rifles. This stock holds a slot for a bolt to lie in, sometimes there will be rings to help the bolt fly straight. The crossbows projectile is called a bolt, a shorter and thicker version of an arrow. The prod’s string is thicker than a regular bow usually being made of whipcord, a specially woven yarn, but hemp or sinew was also used. The prod sits toward the front of the stock being lashed on with whipcord or the bridle as it was called and sticks out to each side. A device of some type would draw the string back to a trigger device. The earliest crossbows used a simple pull lever to pull the string back but better inventions were used such as a push lever similar to a pull lever, a ratchet device or a windlass. Triggers started out as simple affairs like a bone or antler turn buckle and evolved as technology did. Leonardo Da Vince devised a hair trigger that required little finger pressure to fire the crossbow. More complicated triggers were devised as steel started being used and this is where we get the model for today’s triggers on rifles and other firearms.
One of the main differences in the crossbow, or as the Romans called it the arcuballista or arbalest, compared to the longbow is the force it uses for throwing its bolt. The bow that Englishmen are famous for shoots it’s arrow with 60 to 180 foot pounds of force or lbf. The crossbow used against knights for its armor penetration could reach forces of 350 lbf. Another major difference was the ease of use of the crossbow over any other weapon of medieval times. The crossbow was easily aimed and a peasant could be taught its use in a week. Compare this to the years of training those Englishmen would require to become the feared longbow men.
Armor penetration was the major result of this more forcefully thrown bolt. Thicker armor would better protect the wearer from crossbow bolts but not against some of the later heavier versions. The crossbow bolts could penetrate mail and lighter plate armor as well as the kinks or spots between that armor used for movement at joints. Plate mail or a thick breast plate would stop most crossbow bolts but the bearer of the crossbow could easily aim a shot at those vulnerable spots much more easily than a longbow man. To have the crossbow cocked and ready to be fired by pulling the trigger meant you could hold the weapon at the ready and wait for a good shot without tiring the user. This resulted in better placed shots compared to your average longbow shots, and a weapon that was effective against a heavily armored man such as the heavy infantry.
Archaeological evidence dates the crossbow as far back as 2000 BC or almost four thousand years ago in China. Literary or written mention of the crossbow in China is about 500 BC and according to Guinness World Records the earliest reliable record of one is from China in 341 BC. As time moved forward the crossbow improved with better devices to draw the prod or bow of the weapon back and better trigger mechanisms. Other improvements came in the form of a stock held to the shoulder to help steady the weapon while aiming and even a repeating crossbow that used a kind of channel to hold numerous bolts to fire quickly. This repeating crossbow was not as strong or as accurate but could shoot ten bolts in about fifteen seconds before having to reload the bolts.
The repeating crossbow dates back to the Han Dynasty of China at 20-220 AD. This weapon was useful in combat because it was easy to make and cheap but was fired from the hip so was far less accurate. The repeating crossbow called a Chu-ko-nu was simply a crossbow with a channel above the slot for the bolt that would drop an arrow into the slot every time the bow was shot. The bow was fired by pulling the lever back and quickly releasing it. The arrow would fire and the next arrow would fall into place from above when the lever was pulled back again. This firing and cocking action was accomplished by holding the bow against the hip using one arm while firing with the other arm. Improvements such as feathers to slow and time the dropping of the next bolt into the slot were added but with the simple design it was a good weapon for untrained soldiers to use. This smaller repeating crossbow was a common weapon of Chinese and Manchurian soldiers but a larger version was designed by the Greeks that fired bolts a meter long. This type of larger crossbow or ballista was used more as a siege weapon than a personal firearm.
By the 9th Century the crossbow had become a common weapon of war and had largely taken the place of the longbow due to ease of use and armor piercing capabilities. The crossbow became such a feared weapon across Europe and in England that Pope Urban II banned its use against Christians in 1097 as being inhumane and uncivilized. Crossbows leveled the playing field between untrained peasants and trained and armored fighters. A person with a crossbow could anonymously kill someone at a time in history when seeing your enemy’s eyes started the custom of saluting between knights. Knights would raise their visor when meeting to show if they were friend or foe. Crossbow use by assassins became a preferred weapon of their trade as a smaller crossbow could be easily concealed and quickly used. In 1139 Pope Innocent II condemned and forbad their use just as the earlier Pope had, saying they were “deathly and hateful to God and unfit to be used among Christians.” Some nations enacted laws against their use while others banned them from their armies. Richard the First or Richard the Lionheart died from a crossbow in 1199 AD, being shot in the shoulder and gangrene setting in the wound.
In the late 1400’s steel manufacturing had begun and this helped the crossbow become an even better and more powerful weapon. The crossbow again began to loose favor and many English armies once again used the longbow with favorable results in the 15th and 16th centuries. Better advances in metals and mechanisms perfected the crossbow but its use continued to decline. The invention of gunpowder and the firearm heralds the death of the crossbow along with the long bow in fighting. Crossbows were also popular from about the mid 16th century as hunting weapons for the rich that could afford them and became quite popular with women who could use them quite easily. Today the crossbow is a sport weapon and used mainly for target shooting. Around the 16th century the first crossbow was made specifically for target shooting and has been perfected ever since. Today the different devices and things that can be found on modern rifles were tried out and perfected on crossbows at one time or another.
