A very special 'tulwar'

[TVV]

Originally Posted by ariel

Roland,

French armored knights at Cressy and Agincourt would glumly disagree with your opinion.....:-)

From what I understand based on modern research the casualties that were a direct result of the longbow in both these battles have been highly exaggerated and somewhat of a myth. The French cavalry could not perform proper charges in these battles, mostly having to do with poor terrain and poor discipline/execution. However, it sounds a lot more heroic and romantic to credit the English longbowmen for the victory, as opposed to ascribe it to a muddy field.

The battle of Hattin and some of the Mongol campaigns provide better examples of battles where the bow and arrow played a more significant role, however in those instances the arrows were being shot at mail and not plate armor. Even lamellar armor, assuming it was made of steel/iron plates, has been proven to effectively stop composite bow arrows at short range, let alone long range.