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Wark Medieval Castle: Archery
The 14th and 15th centuries were the great age of English archery, as evidenced by the English successes at Agincourt
and Crecy. Archers were an important part of the army. The defeat at Bannockburn was in part due to the fact that the
English cavalry came between the archers and part of Bruce's army; the cavalry were unable to break the Scottish
formations of pike and shield and the archers were unable to help for fear of hitting their own forces.
The archer shown here is wearing equipment of the 14th century. During this time the main defensive wear was a heavily
padded garment known as a gambeson. This was a quilted coat normally made of a very strong cotton and linen fabric,
knee length and quilted with vertical stitching. Such a garment could be worn alone or with mail. Head protection
was usually provided by a metal, open-faced helmet known as a bascinet, this sometimes had a chain mail neck
and chin guard. The archer's bow was normally made from yew and was about 6 feet long.
Return to Wark Castle in the 14th and 15th centuries, find out about Wark Castle
in the 16th century, watch a video clip of an archer or return to
the home page.
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