"It was no lack of prowess that defeated the French and allied knights. They fought as valiantly as the English, for knights were much the same in all countries. England‘s advantage lay in combining the use of those excluded from chivalry—the Welsh knifemen, the pikemen, and, above all, the trained yeomen who pulled the longbow—with the action of the armored knight." longbowsssss #longbows
annamatopoetry I'll elaborate. Knights - heavy cavalry - were basically the tanks of the army. Heavily armed and armored knights atop armored horses the only thing that could really stop their charge was other knights. A foot soldier can take down an individual knights with some luck and skill, but a whole force of them? Nothing. Until longbows. And a knight takes a generation to replace. 5y
annamatopoetry A knight's horse alone ate as much grain as several peasants. Knights were super pricey to maintain but kept because the feudal system needed them to be Those Who Fight. Longbows? You can train a peasant to be useful in a few weeks. Really skilled in a year. But France resisted to let bowmen lead for the longest time BECAUSE it went egainst their entire worldview. And it fucked them over so bad. Once that became clear, feudalism couldnt continue thriving. 5y
Tamra Really interesting! 5y
annamatopoetry @Tamra it's literally on my top three of things to go on long rants about! A little simplified here of course but it gets the gist of it. 5y
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