Saxon viking axe  
Saxon viking axe  		 Anglo Saxon History


Search Pages 		seaxe right


Battle of Hastings 1066AD Observations - Bows and Crossbows at the Battle of Hastings

Norman Archers from the Bayeux Tapestry
Norman Archers from the Bayeux Tapestry

 
Evidence ▲

There are no illustrations of crossbows or crossbowmen in the Bayeux Tapestry, so we have to use the information found in the contemporary chronicles.

From the Carmen:
Apulia, Calabria, Sicily! Whose flying darts swarm!

He sent archers before the infantry to start the battle
And placed the crossbowmen in the centre.
He commences battle with arrows to confound the English infantry

The first of the infantry attack the opposing archers
At a spears throw away and pierce the bodies with javelins
And crossbow bolts like a hailstorm dissolve shields

From Orderic Vitalis:
The Normans made the first attack with ardour and gallantry, their infantry rushing forward to provoke the English, and spreading wounds and death through their ranks by showers of arrows and bolts.

From Henry of Huntingdon:
Is it not shameful, then, that a people accustomed to be conquered, a people ignorant of the art of war, a people not even in possession of arrows, should make a show of being arrayed in order of battle against you, most valiant ?

Then the ranks met; a cloud of arrows carried death among them; the clang of sword-strokes followed; helmets gleamed, and weapons clashed.

Duke William also commanded his bowmen not to aim their arrows directly at the enemy, but to shoot them in the air, that their cloud might spread darkness over the enemy's ranks; this occasioned great loss to the English.

Meanwhile, a shower of arrows fell round King Harold, and he himself was pierced in the eye.

From Master Wace:
The archers came forth, and touched land the foremost; each with his bow bent, and his quiver full of arrows slung at his side. All were shaven and shorn, and all clad in short garments, ready to attack, to shoot, to wheel about and skirmish

They are all well armed, and come on horseback, and will trample our people under foot ; they have many lances and shields, hauberks and helmets ; glaives and swords, bows and barbed arrows that are swift, and fly fleeter than the swallow.

The Norman archers with their bows shot thickly upon the English ; but they covered themselves with their shields, so that the arrows could not reach their bodies, nor do any mischief, how true soever was their aim, or however well they shot.

Then the Normans determined to shoot their arrows upwards into the air, so that they might fall on their enemies' heads, and strike their faces. The archers adopted this scheme, and shot up into the air towards the English ; and the arrows in falling struck their heads and faces, and put out the eyes of many ; and all feared to open their eyes, or leave their faces unguarded.

The arrows now flew thicker than rain before the wind ; fast sped the shafts that the English call 'wibetes' Then it was that an arrow, that had been thus shot upwards, struck Harold above his right eye, and put it out. In his agony he drew the arrow and threw it away, breaking it with his hands : and the pain to his head was so great, that he lean ed upon his shield. So the English were wont to say, and still say to the French, that the arrow was well shot which was so sent up against their king; and that the archer won them great glory, who thus put out Harold's eye.

There Harold had remained, defending himself to the utmost ; but he was sorely wounded in his eye by the arrow, and suffered grievous pain from the blow.

From The Bayeux Tapestry:
There seem to be many Norman archers shown throughout the Tapestry, but only one Saxon Archer shown in the right hand image below.

From the above we learn that the Saxons had some archers in front of the 'Shield Wall' and a javelin attack destroyed them.

There were a large number of Norman archers as the descriptions describe showers of arrows.

And that the archers originally fire at the 'Shield Wall' and then start firing overhead to cause the most head damage

We also find that Harold was injured by an arrow but not killed by one.

The crossbows appear to come from the South of Italy and Sicily(See later section on Byzantium) and were powerful enough to penetrate the Saxon shields and ring mail Armour of the Housecarls.

More Norman Archers from the Bayeux Tapestry
More Norman Archers from the Bayeux Tapestry
 
Characteristics of early bows ▲

The early crossbow was known as a footbow, named for the technique of bracing it with the feet to draw the string back, and is also referred to in medieval texts by the Latin term arcuballista. It is distinct from the handbow, which was drawn by arm strength alone.

The crossbow appears in Western European military records from the mid-tenth century, notably at the sieges of Senlis in 947AD and Verdun in 984AD, before making a significant impact at Hastings in 1066. It should be noted that Byzantine and Eastern use predates these Western records considerably, which is relevant to understanding how the weapon reached Norman hands via southern Italy.

The mechanical difference between the two weapons produced very different performance characteristics. A handbow of this period had a draw weight of around 60-80lb, while a footbow could reach 170lb — roughly twice as powerful. The crossbow bolt weighed approximately 60 grams against the handbow arrow's 40 grams, and the combination of greater weight and higher initial velocity gave the crossbow far greater kinetic energy at close range, enough to penetrate both shields and ring mail. Over distance however the heavier bolt lost energy more quickly, which is why the crossbow's effective range of around 120 metres was shorter than the handbow's 180 metres. The crossbow's rate of fire was also slower at approximately two shots per minute, against the handbow's six to eight.

Each handbow archer carried one or two quivers of approximately 24 arrows, while crossbow quivers held around 20 bolts — slightly fewer, reflecting the greater weight of each projectile.

An interesting site relating to early Russian crossbows is The arrival of the Medieval Crossbow in Rus'.

Yet more Norman Archers from the Bayeux Tapestry
Yet more Norman Archers from the Bayeux Tapestry
 
Advantages and Disadvantages of early bows ▲

The crossbow had several significant advantages over the handbow in battle. Its much greater draw weight — around 170lb against the handbow's 60-80lb — gave it far superior armour penetration at close range, and because the bolt was heavier it carried enough kinetic energy to punch through both shield and ring mail in a way that a handbow arrow generally could not. It also required far less training. An archer needed years of practice to be effective, whereas a crossbowman needed only to learn the loading process and basic aiming — making crossbowmen much faster to recruit and field. For sustained fighting the crossbow also had an advantage in that once loaded it required no muscular effort to hold ready, whereas a handbow archer tires quickly from repeatedly drawing a heavy string.

The crossbow's disadvantages were equally significant. Its rate of fire was roughly two bolts per minute against the handbow's six to eight arrows, making it far slower to deploy. Its effective range was shorter — around 120 metres against the handbow's 180 metres — meaning crossbowmen had to get closer to the enemy to be effective, and in doing so entered the range of handbow fire first. It was also permanently strung, making it vulnerable to wet weather, whereas a handbow archer could unstring and protect the string in damp conditions. And once the bolts were spent there was no way to recover them — unlike handbow arrows which could be picked up and returned by the enemy, crossbow quarrels buried too deep to be reused, meaning once exhausted the crossbowmen were effectively unarmed light troops with only knives.


Byzantine Empire in pre-Norman times ▲
 
Byzantium about 867AD
This is a map from Wikipedia showing the Byzantine Empire about 867AD
 
Byzantium and Crossbows ▲

Byzantium itself is not believed to have used crossbows as a standard military weapon. However the territories of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily were Byzantine states until the Normans displaced them, and it is from these regions that the Carmen specifically names the crossbowmen present at Hastings — "Apulia, Calabria, Sicily! Whose flying darts swarm!" The presence of crossbowmen drawn exclusively from former Byzantine territories strongly implies that crossbow use had developed within those regions under Byzantine influence before the Norman conquest of southern Italy.

This also has a chronological implication. The Normans must have controlled these three territories for a significant period before 1066 — long enough to identify, subjugate, recruit and transport specialist crossbow troops to Normandy in preparation for the invasion. This was not an improvised addition to William's force but a planned deployment of a weapon his opponents were unlikely to have encountered or prepared for. The crossbow was in effect a technological surprise, imported from the edge of the Byzantine world and deployed against an English army that had no equivalent and no ready counter to it — until the wattle fence and ditch made the crossbowmen advance into range before they could be effective.


A Late Roman Arcuballista ▲
 
An Arcuballista from Tod
This is a reconstruction of a Late Roman Arcuballista from Tod's Workshop which is probably very similar to those used at the Battle of Hastings in 1066AD.
 
Conclusion ▲

The Norman bowmen and javelin-armed infantry destroyed the Saxon archers very early in the battle, and the tactical reason for this becomes clear when you consider the weapons involved. The handbow had a longer effective range than the crossbow — around 180 metres against 120 metres — which meant that if Saxon archers had survived, they could have killed the Norman crossbowmen before those crossbowmen came within effective range of the Saxon shield wall. Eliminating the Saxon archers first was not incidental but necessary before the crossbows could be safely deployed.

Once the Saxon archers were gone, the crossbows could be brought forward to do the work a handbow could not — punching quarrels through shields and ring mail at close range, killing or wounding the men behind. For the Fyrd standing behind the wattle fence this would have been deeply damaging to morale as well as to bodies. For the armoured Huscarls it removed the one advantage their ring mail gave them against conventional archery.

The crossbow was a one-use weapon in the context of this battle. Once the bolts were spent there was no way to replenish them on the field, and the crossbowmen themselves became liabilities — lightly equipped troops with no effective weapon. That William deployed them early and aggressively suggests he understood both their power and their limitation. They were a shock weapon, intended to break the defensive line quickly, not a sustained threat. That the shield wall held for seven hours despite them is a measure of how effective the Saxon defensive works actually were.

It is worth considering why William went to the considerable effort of recruiting specialist crossbowmen from southern Italy, shipping them to Normandy and integrating them into his invasion force before a single soldier had landed in England. The answer is most likely the Huscarls. William had access to detailed intelligence about the Saxon army through the Fécamp Abbey network embedded in Hastings for nearly fifty years, and would have known that Harold's professional household troops were armoured in ring mail and fighting with weapons capable of cutting through horses. Conventional cavalry and infantry could not reliably kill a Huscarl behind a defensive position. The crossbow could. The destruction of the Saxon archers early in the battle was necessary to protect the crossbowmen as they advanced to close range — and at close range their quarrels were designed to do one thing above all else: kill the men in ring mail standing between William's army and the Fyrd behind them.




Copyright saxonhistory.co.uk 2013 - 2026
Contact Simon
Author Simon M - Last updated - 2026-03-05 10:39:01
All pages on our site (Sitemap)
 
Local Interest
Just click an image
Battle and District Historical Society
Hastings Rock the place to listen to
Sigi
Roman, Saxon and Norman History of the South East
Old Hastings Preservation Society
Bexhill Museum
World War 2 Vehicle database
Mayfield Local History Society
Hawkhurst Local History Society
Ninfield History Group
Hastings Museum and Art Gallery
Hastings Area Archaeological Research Group