The crossbow (from the Latin arcuballista) is a throwing weapon, consisting of a bow mounted on a barrel and launching projectiles called "bolts".
General and mechanical principles
In principle, the crossbow is nothing more than a bow for which the maintenance of the tension of the string is no longer ensured by the physical strength of the shooter, but by a rigid part called arbier (or arbrier), organized to support the arrow, retain the string and release it at the time of the shot by means of a simple mechanism.
This improvement brings several advantages. Once the string is taut, the shooter no longer has to exert physical effort while aiming. Adjusting the shot is easier. The tension regularity of the string is almost absolute since it is determined by the anchor point on the arbier, and therefore independent of the gesture of the archer. Thus the effectiveness of the shot is less conditioned by the natural skill and the level of training of the shooter. With a crossbow, it is also possible to shoot effectively while lying down.
The power of the crossbow can be increased without inconvenience up to powers compatible with, for example, the piercing of armor or the slaughter of a horse. In addition, the length of the projectiles no longer has to be defined according to the morphology of each shooter.
Traces of the crossbow can be found since antiquity, with a peak in China since antiquity1, and in the Middle Ages in the West. The crossbow can be a simple object with a one-piece wooden bow and a simple notch in the arbier to hold the string (example the pre-medieval crossbow called Charavine found in the lake of Paladru in Isère, or even the pygmy models still in use in Central Africa). But most of the contemporary models of the Hundred Years' War are of an improved design, with a nut trigger system, composite then metallic bows, and rope arming accessories, which make them weapons of elaborate technology, and therefore quite expensive2.
If for hunting, the use of the crossbow was very popular in its time, its military use caused famous setbacks on the battlefield. The slow implementation in the face of troops armed with the traditional large straight bow is often put forward as an explanation (see the chronicles of the battles of Crécy and Agincourt). But it is probably above all the option of wanting to replace the archers with crossbowmen that was a mistake. By shooting 5 arrows per minute in close ranks, archery troops can be used as means of suppressive fire, while the crossbow is rather a precision weapon in the context of the time.
The tile
The principle of the crossbow bolt is essentially that of an arrow, with some minor but significant differences in ballistic behavior. Much shorter than bow arrows, crossbow arrows are little affected by the bending stresses imposed on their shaft (spine) during shooting, which disturb the regularity of archery3. It is thus possible to manufacture without too many technical difficulties in large series, batches of inexpensive projectiles of acceptable quality
Far East
The first crossbows appear in China, during the Warring States Period which covers the 5th century BC. J.-C. and until -221 before our era. Since the weapon does not yet have a mechanical system, the rope must be stretched by the fighter in a lying position, pulling on it with his arms and pushing with his feet on the half-arcs. The trigger develops during the period5 from the Qin dynasty to the Han. They are bronze pieces.
Greece
In the West, the gastrophete is the ancestor of the crossbow, but it is a siege weapon. Its high weight makes it doubtful that it will be used on a battlefield outside of a siege context. It was replaced by the oxybeles (en) and then by the ballista.
Unlike the gastrophete, the crossbow has a system with a trigger.
Rome
In Roman Antiquity, the manubalist (literally hand ballista) is inherited from the model of the Greek oxybeles, it is therefore a torsion crossbow. This model would have survived until the 10th century. The principle is based on two springs of horsehair or tendons on each side of the barrel of the weapon, which stretch when the two branches are brought back.
Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, the crossbow was used both as a hunting weapon and for war. Scorned by chivalry, it is seen as an unfair weapon because, killing from a distance, it does not allow the adversary to defend themselves. Thus, considering that the crossbow, which does not require much training, allows unskilled soldiers to kill from afar a knight in armor who has devoted his existence to the profession of war, the clergy considers that it is a immoral weapon for the little courage and training it requires of the one who wields it. “The French regarded it as the weapon of cowards and refused to use it. With this treacherous weapon, they said, a coward can safely kill the bravest man. »
The Mamluks used it at least for hunting in the 12th century.
In Christian Europe, the crossbow was anathema and its use was banned in 1139 by the Second Lateran Council and confirmed a few years later, in 1143, by Pope Innocent II, who threatened the crossbowmen, the manufacturers of this weapon and those who traded in it excommunication and anathema. This prohibition, otherwise valid only for fights between Christians, will remain poorly observed by the princes of the West, despite the efforts of Pope Innocent III to reaffirm, in 1205, the prohibitions of the Second Lateran Council. In the 13th century, despite the ban, Richard Coeur de Lion and Philippe Auguste developed specific units of crossbowmen, well trained and equipped.
The effectiveness of these weapons made those who wielded them elite soldiers, very popular, and very well paid, which allowed them to buy quality equipment. Indications of the time refer to crossbowmen as the best paid troops in Western armies, and sometimes even better equipped than certain classes of knights.
This weapon was also used by Eastern peoples during the Crusades, in a form similar to the Western model, but with some subtleties of form. There was also a model, perhaps experimental, of a portable grenade launcher crossbow.
During the wars of the late Middle Ages, France often called on foreign mercenary crossbowmen (notably Italian, and in particular Genoese), whose fire could pierce armor up to a distance of 90 to 100 meters.
One of the most famous victims was Richard Coeur de Lion who died of a wound inflicted by a crossbow bolt in 1199.
Progress in the iron and steel industry simultaneously increased the robustness of armor and the power of the crossbow with the creation of the steel bow, at the beginning of the 14th century, which gradually replaced wooden bows and composite bows (laminated- glued:wood + tendons + horn, all glued). We also invent a complex and expensive mechanism, with increasingly long reloading times of 2 to 3 minutes (up to 30 minutes for the most powerful models) such as the jack or the winch (also called the "muffle") to draw the crossbow. The Italians distinguished themselves in the manufacture of particularly effective crossbows:a line could reach up to 350 km/h! However, at the rate of two rounds per hour, it was little used on the battlefields.
The cranequin (from the Middle Dutch cranekijn “kind of crossbow”7) was a crossbow on foot but the term ended up also designating the particular mechanism intended to stretch it. To remove this ambiguity, the crossbow itself has been improperly renamed crossbow jack, a term unfortunately used nowadays when it seems to designate only part of the weapon. Cranequiniers were the users (on foot or on horseback) of this type of crossbow.
Crossbows, like bows, practically disappeared when firearms, easier to use, requiring less training, and also much less expensive, became the basic equipment of the infantryman. However, marginal uses remain attested until very recent times.
A historical testimony
The weapon described by the Byzantine historian Anna Comnenus (1083-1148)
“The tsangra (crossbow in Greek) is a barbarian (foreign) bow, absolutely unknown to the Greeks (Byzantines). It cannot be stretched (the bow), […] whoever stretches this particularly powerful instrument of war must stand, so to speak, upside down and press both feet firmly on the semi-circles of the bow, while with both hands he pulls the rope with great effort. In its middle is a semi-cylindrical groove which touches the string itself, it is about the size of a long line and goes from the string to the middle of the bow (crossbow) :this is where darts of all kinds are launched
Moreover, the lines that are placed there are very short, but very thick and equipped at the end with a formidable iron frame. Because of the projection, made violent by the cord and by all the force deployed, the arrows do not bounce back from the place where they came to strike […] but pass through a shield, pierce a breastplate of thick iron, and continue their flight on the other side.
This is how violent and irresistible the force of such darts is.
This dart has already pierced a bronze statue:coming to strike the rampart of a great city, or else it disappeared embedded in the thickness of the wall.
Such is the action of the tsangra, a truly diabolical action; whoever is hit by one of these blows is very unfortunate, because he dies suddenly without even feeling the blow, so violent is it
According to Thomas Louis and Tommy Ito, the crossbow appeared in Japan in the 7th century, equipping, essentially, the infantry. During the 16th century, it would have been the exclusive weapon of certain archery units.
It was used on the battlefields both in its portable form and as a crossbow. seat throwing stones (oyumi). The latter disappeared at the beginning of the 12th century9.
The ninjas (shinobi) used crossbows by taking advantage of their agility to choose unusual firing positions (for example, from the roofs).