Illustration from a fourteenth century manuscript depicting Mongolian mounted archers.

Source: wikipedia.org
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Mongol warriors battling on horseback while attacking with the short bow.
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Title:  The Crossbow: Medieval and Modern Military and Sporting.

Date:  1840-1845.

Source:  Costumes of Mediaeval Christendom.

Information:  The kneeling and seated figures in this diagram illustrate how a crossbow is first drawn and then loaded. This is contrasted by the standing figure, who shows how much more rapidly a conventional bow can be fired.

Source: uh.edu
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"The Upland king was all the night
Speeding the arrows' deadly flight.
All in the dark his bow-string's twang
Was answered; for some white shield rang,
Or yelling shriek gave certain note
The shaft had pierced some ring-mail coat,
The foemen's shields and bulwarks bore
A Lapland arrow-scat or more".

(A medieval poem from the Nordic sagas collection Heimskringla
about the Viking King Harold Hardrade at the battle of Nissa in 1063).

Source
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In this section of the Bayeux Tapestry, the archer is clearly shown as being shorter than the
English Infantrymen he is fighting alongside at the Battle of Hastings. This is probably done
to illustrate that he has a lower social status than his fellow combatants, a fact also illustrated
by his lack of armour. 

amherst.edu
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