viously to the engagement there fell a heavy rain, which
is said to have much damaged the bows of the French, or rather the strings
of them. Now, the long-bow, when unstrung, may be conveniently covered, so
as to prevent the rain injuring it; nor is there scarcely any addition to
the weight from a case; whereas the arbalest is of a most inconvenient
form to be sheltered from the weather. It is also stated[4] that, at Crecy,
"the Genoese archers, fatigued by their heavy cross-bows, in a sultry and
tempestuous march, rushed forward with loud cries to attack the English
bowmen, who were the strength of Edward's army. These last stood still;
even on the second charge they stirred not one foot! When they got within
shot of their foes, they let fly their arrows so quickly that they came
like snow. The Genoese fled, and some of the heavy-armed troops were
involved in their confusion." At Crecy the English ascribed their victory
to their archers. The battle of Poictiers, fought in 1356, was gained by
the same means. In 1417, Henry V. attributed his splendid victory at
Agincourt to the archers, and directed the sheriffs of many counties to
pluck from every goose six wing-feathers for the purpose of improving
arrows, which were to be paid for by the King. In 1421, though the French
had been defeated at Crecy, Poictiers, and Agincourt, by the English
archers, yet they still continued the use of the cross-bow; for which
reason Henry V., as Duke of Normandy, confirms the charters and privileges
of the _balistarii_, who had been long established as a fraternity in his
city of Rouen.

We now meet with several enactments by Edward IV. for the appointment of
bowmen with the long-bow; but we pass over these and other records to the
19th year of the reign of Henry VII., who forbade the use of the cross-bow,
because "the long-bow had been much used in this realme, whereby honour
and victory had been gotten against outward enemies, the realm greatly
defended, and much more the dread of all Christian princes by reason of
the same." Statutes for the promotion of archery with the long-bow are now
very frequent; but the cross-bow is proscribed in the same proportion: and,
in the time of Henry VIII. a penalty of ten pounds was inflicted on every
one who kept a cross-bow in his house.

Though archery continued to be encouraged by the king and legislature for
more than two centuries after the first knowledge of the effects of
gunpowder, yet by the