The Medieval Crossbow

One weapon of the medieval period there doesn’t seem to be many books on is the crossbow. Well all that has changed with the recent publication of this book by Dr Stuart Ellis-Gorman – You can follow his blog here.

A crossbow is one weapon I am looking to add to our displays and talks but for now I have to make do with a book.

When you look at the contents and see only two parts you wonder if the book is going to be detailed enough. Don’t worry it is…

The first section looks at the origins of the crossbow and a detailed technical study of what they are, what types of crossbow were made and also how they are depicted in art.

The second section, which is more interesting to me anyways, covers the crossbow in the context of the period. The high medieval period, how it was deployed in medieval battles, then moves on to the crossbow used in sporting activity.

Finally the book concludes with the legacy of the crossbow. There are a lot of resources in here as well as historical sources which could need further investigation.

The colour plate section has some amazing examples of museum held crossbows and crossbows depicted in Art during the period.

There are also some colour black and white references. I especially like the setup in one of the sport crossbow target shooting facilities images. That would be cool to build somewhere.

I feel this book is to Crossbows as Mike Loades’ Warbows is to well, Warbows 🙂 It is a very very good detailed book

If you have any interested in Archery or crossbows during the Medieval period, you need this book on your bookshelf.

You can buy the book here from Pen and Sword books.

Please note I was not paid to write this review but was sent a review copy of the book. All comments are my own, and the publishers have not amended the review in any way.

< BACK