Which was better, the longbow or the crossbow?
Neither was simply better, as armies traded speed against ease. The longbow shot far faster, perhaps six to twelve arrows a minute, but took years of training to master. The crossbow hit hard and needed far less training, but it was slow to reload. At Crécy in 1346, English longbowmen outshot the Genoese crossbowmen.
Two weapons dominated the missile war of the Middle Ages, and armies chose between them on a simple trade: speed against ease. The longbow and the crossbow could both punch through armor, but they demanded completely different things from the men who used them.
| The Longbow | The Crossbow | |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Wales and England, famed from the 13th century1 | Ancient China and Europe, widespread in the Middle Ages |
| Draw weight | About 65 to 185 lbf (30 to 84 kgf). The Mary Rose Trust puts the 172 bows from the wreck at 65 to 175 lb, peaking at 110 lb; Robert Hardy's team estimated 100 to 185 lb; Britannica gives 70 to 80 kg for the best bows2 | Far higher: with steel bows spanned by windlass or cranequin, draw forces well over 1,000 lb (about 450 kg) became common, especially in large siege crossbows; Payne-Gallwey measured 1,200 lb (544 kg) on an old Genoese steel bow3 |
| Effective range | About 140 to 300 m (150 to 330 yd) according to Britannica; about 229 m (250 yd) according to the Royal Armouries4 | Bolts could fly similar distances, up to about 229 m (250 yd), but the effective range was shorter5 |
| Maximum range | Disputed: perhaps 500 yd (about 460 m) with light flight arrows according to Britannica; Payne-Gallwey doubted a war arrow ever flew 390 yd (357 m)6 | Up to about 300 m (330 yd) according to Britannica; Payne-Gallwey reached 460 yd (420 m) with a heavy steel crossbow7 |
| Rate of fire | 6 aimed shots a minute (Britannica) to 10 to 12 (Royal Armouries); World History Encyclopedia gives up to 158 | 2 or 3 bolts a minute (Royal Armouries); in Payne-Gallwey's trials about 1 a minute with a windlass and 2 every 3 minutes with a cranequin9 |
| Training | Began in childhood and lasted a working life; after Crécy and Poitiers, Edward III required men aged 15 to 60 to own and practice with a bow10 | Far less than for the longbow, although accurate shooting still took practice11 |
| Cost and supply | Rested on a large pool of men trained since youth12 | Described by the Royal Armouries as simpler, cheaper and less demanding, so suited to conscripts and mercenary companies13 |
| Armor | Mail alone failed against arrows from bows of moderate strength in modern tests; against good plate only a small share of hits probably got through, mostly at thin points14 | Heavy steel bows were built to defeat plate, at the cost of slow winding15 |
| Famous use | Crécy (1346) and Agincourt (1415) | Widespread in medieval Europe; in 1139 the Church condemned its use, and the bow's, against fellow Christians |
Key points
- The longbow shot far faster, perhaps six to twelve arrows a minute, but took years of training to master.16
- The crossbow hit hard and needed far less training, but it was slow to reload, managing two or three bolts a minute.17
- At Crécy in 1346 English longbowmen decisively outshot the Genoese crossbowmen fighting for France.18
- In the end both were made obsolete by gunpowder firearms.
The longbow: speed at a price
The English and Welsh war bow was a tall stave, often of yew, drawing well over a hundred pounds. In trained hands it was astonishingly fast, loosing perhaps six to twelve arrows a minute, and it could reach a long way. The catch was the archer: drawing such a bow took years of practice and reshaped the body, and after Crécy and Poitiers England passed laws requiring men to own a bow and practice with it.19
The crossbow: power anyone could use
The crossbow solved the training problem. It held the draw for you with a mechanical catch, so a recruit needed far less training than an archer, although accurate shooting still took practice. Heavier crossbows stored a great deal of energy and hit very hard, and the strongest had to be spanned with a mechanical device. The price was rate of fire: reloading was slow, two or three bolts a minute at most, and about one a minute for a heavy crossbow wound with a windlass.20
Which had the longer range, the longbow or the crossbow?
On paper the two were close. Britannica gives the longbow an effective range of about 140 to 300 meters, and the Royal Armouries says crossbows could send bolts over similar distances, up to about 229 meters (250 yards), though their effective range was shorter. Extreme distances are disputed and depended on the bow and the arrow.21
Britannica suggests an archer could perhaps reach 500 yards with a few light arrows kept for the purpose, while Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, who tested bows and crossbows himself, doubted that any English archer had ever shot a war arrow 390 yards, unless helped by a strong wind or shooting from a height. With an old Genoese steel crossbow drawing 1,200 lb he reached 460 yards, but he believed the Genoese at Crécy carried weaker bows that probably could not send a bolt much beyond 200 yards.22
Could a longbow arrow pierce plate armor?
Sometimes, but not reliably. The Royal Armouries judges that good armor protected most men-at-arms and that only a small share of arrows probably got through, usually at thin points such as the sides of a helmet. What made the longbow deadly was the sheer number of arrows falling on men and horses.23
Mail was a different matter. In tests published in 2020, David Jones found that mail on its own did not stop arrows from bows of moderate strength, with almost every shot reaching a potentially lethal depth, while a padded linen garment under the mail greatly reduced the danger without removing it. Crossbow makers took the opposite route: Britannica notes that the steel bows needed to defeat plate were too strong to span with a belt hook, which is why windlasses and cranequins spread in the 14th century. Popular claims that a longbow could punch through any plate at long range go beyond what this evidence supports.24
Why did the English use the longbow while others relied on the crossbow?
Because England had built up a supply of archers. The Royal Armouries notes that English archery training began in childhood and that, after Crécy and Poitiers, Edward III required men aged 15 to 60 to own and practice with a bow. Elsewhere the crossbow suited conscripts and hired companies, who could not spend years at the butts.25
The same source calls the crossbow simpler, cheaper and less demanding than the longbow, and Genoese crossbowmen were among the best-known mercenaries of the age. Britannica sums up the trade: the longbow needed extensive training but gave better range, accuracy and rate of fire, while the crossbow kept its place as the leading hand-held missile weapon in most of Europe. Henry V's army at Agincourt in 1415 still depended on that English pool of archers; see our profile of Henry V.26
What happened to the Genoese crossbowmen at Crécy?
They opened the French attack and were broken by English arrows. Froissart, the best-known chronicler of the battle, puts them at about 15,000, says they were weary after a march of six leagues, and describes a heavy rainstorm just before they advanced. When they fell back, the French men-at-arms rode them down.27
Froissart adds that after the storm the sun shone into the French faces, and that the Genoese cut their strings and retreated once the arrows began to strike. The story that the rain slackened their bowstrings was traced by Payne-Gallwey to the continuator of the chronicle of William of Nangis; he thought it possible but not decisive, since in his view the Genoese were outshot before they came within effective range.28
World History Encyclopedia reckons that a crossbowman shot about one bolt for every five longbow arrows. Crossbowmen normally reloaded behind large shields called pavises; the often-repeated claim that the Genoese pavises had been left with the baggage does not appear in Froissart's account as translated by Lord Berners, so treat it with caution.29
Ten arrows to a bolt or two: rate of fire decided as many battles as raw power.
The verdict on the field
On balance, in English hands during the 14th and early 15th centuries the longbow was the more effective battlefield weapon: it shot several times faster than a crossbow over similar ranges. Three caveats apply. The advantage rested on archers trained from childhood; heavy steel crossbows hit harder and suited conscripts and hired companies; and at Crécy and Agincourt the English defensive position, and at Agincourt the mud, also played a large part.30
The clash is written into two famous battles. At Crécy in 1346, English longbowmen simply outshot the Genoese crossbowmen hired by France, loosing far faster and driving them from the field. At Agincourt in 1415, massed longbows again broke French attacks floundering in the mud. Yet the crossbow endured across Europe precisely because it needed no lifetime of training, and both eventually gave way to gunpowder. Explore them among the greatest medieval battles, or brush up on the terms in our military history glossary.31
Set Crécy and Agincourt beside the other great fights of the age in the greatest medieval battles, then test yourself with the medieval battles quiz or play today's Battle of the Day.
