How accurate were medieval archers? 

I imagine that the medieval longbowmen could basically perform magic with the sheer level of training they had. what these guys are doing is amazing but I imagine if you had been training every day since you were a child and it became your life and culture I expect they could perform feats of wonder

Can see why you were chosen as the Warwick castle bowman, great shooting, backed up with great storytelling Kevin 🤘🏹

This level of accuracy is insane but imagine if these guys actually did it for their entire job like they did historically, must’ve been next level

I always thought they’d go into battle with a 'spray and pray' approach rather than purposeful shooting. It’s incredible how accurate people can get with such a simple weapon.

And the thing is, these guys are hobbyists/performers, who while Damn impressive probably don't hold a candle to the actual combat training professional military archers did. A real archer from the period would be terrifying.

What really amaze me is how good video quality was in the medieval times.

Wow, hitting such a small target at 90 yards is incredible

I read somewhere that welsh people had archery practice every Sunday after church from a young age to adulthood. Imagine how accurate they would have been. Cool vid

Its astounding that you don't have a few hundred thousand subs, your channel is so educational, and extremely well presented! I'm praying for success for you, please don't stop posting!

Wow this channel is blowing up.! Discovered you the other day and I already watched all your videos! Very informative and terrific presentation!

Excellent shooting! Incredible to think how the culture of mass training in this weapon came through the generations, with boys just beginning their training practicing at the butts with men of much greater experience. I've always thought that one of the great advantages of the English Army at the time of the Hundred Years War was that the leadership recognised that they already had two effective weapons in the hands of those who could use them well - the yeomen. The bow was used for hunting, and the bill hook for hedging, so you didn't need to train people in how to use them, merely in how to use them as an effective unit rather than individually, to orders, then keep them in practice. I do longbow demos at Alnwick castle each year, and I have always found it rather ironic to be talking about the accuracy and range of the bow in the castle of Henry Percy, a man who was shot in the face and killed by an arrow at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403...and that another Henry, Prince Hal, survived a similar wound at the very same battle! (the extraction of the arrowhead is in another of your excellent videos, Kevin)

A true English bowman. Well done Kevin!!

Kevin is bloody amazing with his longbow. I've just started shooting mine after a few years lay off. Still doing everything I used to do but arrows not going as accurately as they used to.....so I'm back to basics with my 40lb Bickerstaffe and build back up. A little frustrating but still great fun! Dave.

Love the sound they make.

As a longbowman,I must say what great skill you show there, very well done 👏 when I eventually find my arrows ,I'll keep practicing 🤣

This is pretty high quality video considering these are real medieval archers

Hello from the USA! I have loved your videos for years as a huge fan of the Medieval period, Olde England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, and the Archer in particular. Is there any possible way you could do a video about the full kit and weapons that a Archer and a man at arms would have had during the Hundred Years’ War? I think it would make a awesome episode. Anything you make is awesome Kevin! Thanks for your time!

Aah some nice accuracy there.Been an Archer myself for about three years and I am amazed how archery radically changes your mind,body and soul as if it becomes part of your body.

Fantastic Kevin. Just discovered your channel, very enjoyable watch and listening, thank you 😀

Great stuff 👍

That's WAY better than I can do, Kevin, many thanks for sharing this! Not only are you an amazing archer, you've demonstrated what those medieval fellows must have been capable of. Many thanks, Sir!

As always enjoyable and enlightening content

Takes a lot of work to be that good great work mate!

Awesome video thank you!

Absolutely loving the videos! Just finished watching the Crecy video series and this video gives me a better idea of how the British Bowmen were so effective on the battlefield in comparison to their enemies.

Well done, Archer! Cheers!

Wow this brings back fantastic memories of seeing you at Warwick Castle! I wish I had spoke to you at the time sir! wishing you all the best.

This channel is one of the best around subscribed

Serious accuracy!

Huzzah for the Kings Archer! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 some fine shots indeed, the pear was one of my favorites! Great vid Kevin thanks as always.👍

Greetings once again from nova Scotia, I think we get the point......I will see myself out. Seriously that was awesome. Thank you. Best regards Arthur

thumbs up kevin. all the compliments i see written below i'll second. pretty sharp. take care gare

Amazing!

Great videos Kevin, earned yourself another sub! I'm also from the UK and emigrated to the Midwest in the US! I'm loving your content.

Can’t beat practice……….. Great stuff. Thanks for posting.

Utterly insane accuracy….that pear?!! Well done sir!👌🏻👍🏻

Outstanding.

I have just found this Channel and subded at an instant

archery looks so funn

And I struggle to get a 6 inches group at 20 yards...

im still trying to get a consistent release, my grouping at 30 paces(im counting steps) is about the size of a torso, which is terrible, but my closest grouping was about the size of a small child's head, which is a scary thing to picture, but i'd say its not bad with a home made bow and arrows

Outstanding!!!! 👍👍

Wow!!! Very impressive!!!

I would hate to be in your crosshairs!! That was some Amazing shots

Practice Practice Practice, much dedication, thank you again. God bless

Cool stuff, I think I'm gonna need a bit more practice.

I feel like this video should have 1 million views already.

Would love to have a go,though obviously harder than it looks✊

0:08 that arrow was about to hit him in the head and then decided "no that would be rude" and skipped away.

kevin so much for compliments and respect which we have in abundance i'd like to talk shooting also. i noticed how you moved your feet in one movie to adjust your shot and got right on. lately one of my tricks is to carefully put my eye down on the back of the arrow and hold the tip on with the left. my secret is to then relax the rh fingers until the arrow aligns to the spot from the back to the front. my point is aim from the back not from the tip. hope i'm not rude as you don't need counseling but it is good to converse with and archer rather than a novice. the use of the wand as you pointed out was a standard it seems. perhaps i should have used it more. these days my bow is 40 and i can control my hands but my technique may be hard to do on heavier bows. i don't know the last time i pulled my 73 lb longbow i couldn't. honesty is the best policy. enough for now. good shooting under the big sky. take care gare

WOW i thought it was all about a sustained volume of arrows in the air falling on to an advancing army & not selecting a individual, that shooting is very impressive & to me very surprising.

Hi there I just found the channel and I'm enjoying it, I know my comment isn't related to this specific video. But is it possible if you could talk or tell a tale about the great stink of London?

A must subscribe ❤️ I would love to know more about the peasant’s revolt and how the Archbishop of Canterbury was sacrificed.

Fascinating marksmanship

good skills :-)

I would be interested in a video on how archers prepared their positions as they seemed to be vulnerable against cavalry attack when unprepared.

Man it's great to see your traditional archery Kevin. Do you still practice?

I want to know if modern archers can do that. Modern-day arrows (sports), even if they're not made for hunting, I wanna know what differences there are when using medieval bows and arrows and our current ones (no crossbows)!

Ol' boy is deadly! Dead eye.

An instant subscribe from Beijing. Love it.

The answer? Extremely accurate!

Wish you still worked at Warwick Castle, took my American girlfriend there a few months back and would’ve been great to blow her away with such perfect English archery

I'm sure that a man who can master all the stringed weapons would've been an absolute menace in the field, even better if he can do it from horse back.

Wouldn't want any of those guys mad at me!

0:08 😂😂 the kid starts crying a second later as if that arrow you threw hit him lol. That’s some laser guided accuracy with the longbow btw! Out of curiosity what’s the furthest you’ve ever shot? About 80 yards for me, I’ve also always wanted to try the Korean archery ranges, they’re ridiculously far (but they have 2 metre targets, I guess that helps a bit).

No sir, don't want to be anywhere downrange of that. Any part of you not behind cover is likely to sprout an arrow!

These Guys trained everyday like going to a job before a battle. And every Sunday by law from the age of 8

WOW

As a new guy coming into the archery specially long bow have you any advice

I once heard the long bow was the machine gun of it's time . Well this proves they don't spray and pray .

Just a question; what is your opinion of the Central Asian composite bow and how does it compare with the longbow?

Accuracy is one thing, but look at the speed! Obviously longbows are heavy to draw and movies keep getting this wrong by having archers stand with their bows full drawn back for minutes at a time, but look at these guys; they don't even hold the string back at all, it's one fluid movement and they take aim while pulling the string back and they just release when they reach the right amount of draw. This does change my view on archery a bit; an archer could really just sit there with an arrow on the bow and when he saw something to shoot at it really would be 'pull-twoink-dead' in less than a second.

Hello again Kevin, I just had a question about an archery problem I wanted to get to the bottom of before I go there again next week. I’ve recently moved to having a really long draw, an “overdraw” anchoring at the ear (like historical English Longbow shooters). It makes me tired quicker and I know I need to work on accuracy, but it helps me hit the longer targets a bit easier, since the site picture is similar to when I anchored at the eye. The problem is whenever I release it keeps hitting me in the face on the way past, I just kind of ignored it, but realised later on it grazed it. When I do the same with the thumb draw it’s not as bad since the string curves around away from me in the opposite direction. The thumb ring punches me in the face a bit, but that’s nowhere near as bad as the string doing it and it’s not the sort of thing I’d want happening long term. Have you ever had any similar problem before? I was also thinking of doing everything the same except turning my palm outwards, a technique you seldom see, but I’ve seen some videos of archers who do that. There’s videos of people shooting the longbows using the long draw who don’t seem to have this problem, including some who wear glasses while shooting that way (I’m not sure I’d risk that).

Very impressive! Do you hold any Guiness World Record? :)

Were you still at Warwick Castle in 2001 or 2002. My wife and I were there twice while living in Frome and Tewkesbury before moving back to the U.S.A. ?

I'd say accurate enough. Especially if a whole unit shoots at you.

Wow.. Can only imagine how good they were in the middel ages.

Ohh well it looks like i binge watched all your videos

How accurate? Too accurate for the Opponents!

Wow

Looks pretty accurate to me

they need a wooden horse with soldier on it moving as a target that would be cool to see.

Really impressive accuracy but can they tricks hot a Frenchman?

wow

What was the poundage of the bow?

every time 'Agincourt' comes up in a new TV documentary a different set of experts gets to have their say as to A will arrows penetrate plate armour or not B did the archers kill the horses to dismount the knights and let carnage reign C was it all down to a mix of good but desperate planning and a HUGE helping of luck personally I think it was probably a mix of all 3, But a question I've always wanted to see answered is based on watching Jack Hargreaves back in the 70s he suspended a Nazi steel helmet on a post fired a moden crossbow bolt at it, of course it bounced of, then he said watch this little trick and squashed a ball of clay over the broadhead this time it punctured fletching deep was this known back then ???

Kevin you need to get together with legendary American archer Byron Ferguson. I think even he would be amazed by your skills.

All of them must have been above the average hobby archer knowadays. But certainly it is not only training but also talent. Else everyone would be a great football or soccer player when adequately trained. But the chance to have more talented and well trained archers was much much bigger in England at these times. I think your average rabbit would not stand still all the time as our 3d foam targets do 😁

One can certainly see how an archer could put one into the face of a knight without full helmet, or with part of a helmet open. But why bother if taking down the horse will essentially achieve the desired result?

So basically super accurate

Hollywood, go home :) Brilliant.

What I'd give to own and shoot one of those bad boys. Let me know if Warwick castle needs a new archer!

brit love of the longbow is what lead to the love of guns in America.

👌

You have done that before 😂 am lucky to hit a side of a barn.

why are the archers holding their bows at an angle and not straight up? is it just personal preference or is there a reason to it?

What sort of range are we talking here?

👍🏻

When you see just how amazing the archers were back then, suddenly it's easy to understand why the gun didn't just instantly replace the bow. Sure, your average peasant could be taught to use a matchlocks in a fraction of the time, but nobody's gonna be nailing pear-sized targets with that.

Simple answer: accurate enough to get the job done.