Medieval Warbow vs Windlass Crossbow - Speed, Accuracy 

All the dislikes are from the French cavalry.

Game devs: the crossbow is a silent weapon Crossbows: HEY KID WANT TO HEAR MY MUSKET IMPRESSION

"he can shoot an impressive 200 lbs" Me: *solemnly puts away 32 lb. recurve*

He shoots the bow like in the 13th century paintings.

game developers:Archers are fragile and weak in close combat. Joe Gibbs: Hold my longbow.

man this channel has been pure gold in the past months

I love how the art of the time depicts archers leaning forward in the same way as Joe shoots

One thing you have to remember about crossbow mercenaries is how they fought. They sallied out into the field in plate armor, set up their shields in a defensive ring and fired from there. They were like a mobile fortress that were able to withstand charges and other attempts to dislodge them. The ability to fire effectively in heavy armor, that as your channel demonstrated, that can deflect longbow arrows made them very very durable. That combined with the tacit understanding that engaging in melee was likely made them very useful and expensive. This is in contrast to the longbow man's gabison and mail, which again you've demonstrated, can be pierced at range. While they were certainly capable fighting in melee, their kit was not designed for it and using them in such a role would not be an ideal use of their skill set.

It's so refreshing and inspiring to see accurate testing and reporting on medieval weaponry. The internet and the media at large have been plagued by flawed tests, repeated myths and misconceptions, and outright biased videos for too long, even in supposedly well made documentaries.

11:51 "There's nothing in a gym that represents a bow." *Bowflex sobs quietly in the corner*

Just me who notices how good Joe's posture is sitting there? Back muscles acting like a steel back brace lol

Joe's technique and obvious complete upper body strength is incredible. Imagine 2000 medieval archers all loosing at the same time!

I used to pull an 80lb longbow. The guys who could pull 150+ all looked like Hagrid.

Meanwhile at Hollywood: Draw, Aim, pause for 2 minuites as the protagonist and antagonist shout at each other across the battlefield. Okay now fire!

"Why the heck does it take an entire turn action to load my crossbow in D&D?!?" oh...... Great vid thanks! :D

Ok, I sat for 20 minutes watching two blokes chatting on some steps, while nodding from time to time as if I was a part of the conversation. Am I just weird that way, or somebody else felt it too? P.S. edit to acknowledge the skill and knowledge of the participants, Mr Tod, and Mr. Gibbs.

The crossbow is a weapon, the longbow is a lifestyle.

The thing I noticed most about this is that the archer had to loose the arrow right away but the crossbow was able to slow down and aim I wonder how long the crossbow could be left cocked and loaded before damage would be done to the crossbow itself

Imagine reloading crossbow for 6 mins just so u could miss the shot. 😂

A very informative video. No fluff or weird graphics with cheesy music, just two guys talking about their craft. High quality stuff. Subscribed.

Content-wise, you're knocking it out of the park, Tod!

Thank you so much Tod for these amazing tests.

Fitness instructor here, if you want to use a heavy bow as physical training, be sure to do it left handed aswell. All the muscles around the scapula and the glenhumeral joint are being heavily strained , especially the transversal and lower part of the Traps , the Lats, aswell as the posterior delt. All of them are very important for posture , so i would image you wouldnt want any heavy imbalances between the right and left side.

Skeletons found here in Britain of Medieval Longbowmen found deformed or Damaged Bone Structure in the Arm and Shoulder.

"I'm pushing it for six, six and a half inches." - Tod 2019 Sorry, Tod. Had to be done.

love how your channel grew by half in a month. You really deserve it, especially with this latest series. You are awesome!

The chinese used teams of three, with three xbows, two spanning and one shooter constantly trading off fired for loaded. Very aggressive and was devastating to the enemy.

180 pound draw weight? Good god! I had a 45lb recurve as a teenager and thought that was hard to pull back. So that destroys the movie myth with the scenes of the archers drawing back their bows and waiting for the order to fire. It’s almost all one motion : drawback as you raise the bow get on target and release.

Fun fact. The leader of King John's crossbow men was Falkes de Breauté (Falkes being the Norman French for 'scythe', a weapon he used to kill a knight with in his youth). He brought a property in London that became known as Fox Hall, which became the name of the Borough of Vauxhall. The logo of Vauxhall cars is a gryphon holding a flag, which was the personal banner of Falkes.

The muscle around Joe's right shoulder blade is the only thing that scares Chuck Norris.

At around 07:30, the Slo-Mo shot of Joe releasing a bullseye bound arrow was superb, wonderful how one small bird flew over him and one flew from the target area just as the arrow arrived, that would have been impossible to predict!

I like Joe, he's always so calm and friendly.

Moast underrated youtuber Thanks Tod for making these amazing video !

So for field use, Longbow is clearly better. For sieges, crossbow comes into it's own. Also for field armies, once the arrows are expended you have an awful lot of very very strong guys who can pick up a war hammer and join the melee.

Really nice to have shed new light on what was no doubt common knowledge in medieval times about the practical applications unique to the crossbow and longbow. I like the idea that a crossbowman can lie in wait with his crossbow at the ready for prolonged periods without physically exhausting himself which would make for a quick and easy transition to the sword while still being relatively fresh. Also the value in being able to be used in confined spaces such as on ships, etc. I never honestly thought of that before. Thanks for making this series!

So nice to see two gentlemen talking and not trying to one up each other. Well done.

Bruh this archers right bicep is the size of my tensed ass cheek

There is currently a nice little crossbow exhibition at the German History Museum in Berlin (Deutsches Historisches Museum) under the header: The Crossbow - Terror and Beauty (Die Armbrust - Schrecken und Schönheit). It's less about its use in war but for hunting, as a status symbol and it's long term importance for the self-conception for the (urban) citizenry in Germany (even after it had become obsolete as a weapon of war). The highlights are two crossbows related to emperor Maximilian I (who seems to have been an excellent shot and took quite an interest on crossbows down to the technical details).

You guys pulled off this video very well. The demonstration and conversation and teaching are all very good.

11:52 So true! I thought doing heavy weighted rows would help me with the draw weight of my bow. Both actions feel COMPLETELY different and it doesn't transfer over into archery whatsoever! Lesson learned the hard way.

Remember the books on medieval warfare I used to read in my youth. They usually said things like "knights needed a big crane to get on a horse" and " crossbows where for shooting through armour". 🙄 Love these experiments.

As a french young man, I sadly heard about longbows in Agincourt.... I am deeply thankful for the video though. It was awesome quality content !!

You were quite fast at reloading that crossbow, quicker than most others I've seen doing it here on youtube

I had taken many amateur classes and found my own style. It wasn't till I started watching experts and historians that I understood how important form and execution is over base strength. It's so important to keep learning and I appreciate these kind of videos for reminding me

"A serious weight" Dude can pull my own weight in a second..... That guy is absolutely massive.

Years ago I read a fascinating article comparing longbows to crossbows written by a physicist who also did historical reenactment. He did a bunch of calculations based on draw length, draw weight, length of the bow limbs, weight of the projectiles, and the materials used in the construction, basically as many variables as he could consider to calculate the efficiency of each. When he ran all the numbers he found that to match a 150 pound longbow with a 30 inch draw you need to have a crossbow that drew over a 1000 pounds at 6 inches. If I can find the article again I'll post a link to it for anyone who is interested.

"You should be able to shoot a 100 pounds no problem" And here I am, sweating after using my 40lb

Richard the lion heart, an elite Knight was killed by a pot boy with a cross bow.

"You cant step out drawn" Gods, I remember when I used to think this was possible, and then I made my first bow. It wasnt even that powerful and I could barely draw and aim it. Learnt a lot of things that day.

Crossbows are better weapons when you need to minimize your exposure to the enemy. Ambushing, taking cover behind walls/shields, etc.

I love the calmness of these videos, combined with the sound of all the birds.

I would like to see how his strongest crossbow fares against a breastplate. Wasn't there one with well over 1,000 lbs of tension? And I remember Joe saying in a previous video, that he could shoot a 200 lb bow--just not for very long. I'd like to see how the highest tension bows and crossbows would fare against real armor. This would really give us a sense of the limits of either the armor or the ranged weapons. As always, wonderful videos Tod! Thanks for taking the time to create such incredible content, I hope there is much more to come!

Comments: WHY DIDN'T YOU SHOOT THE BREASTPLATE Tod and his crew: because that's the next video, silly.

For a serious bowman, you essentially build the bow into your body. Very interesting.

love it! just 2 guys having fun with their hobby! thank you guys!

thank you for showing this reload action. you have provided us great evidence to debate how long it takes to actually do this. most archery videos cut out this "boring" part. i really appreciate you showing and focusing on it.

From a hunters perspective the biggest advantage of a crossbow is the ability to wait at full draw for the target to come into range. In the quiet of a wood Bows are loud when you draw them.

Oh hell yes! This is so awesome!

Mr. Gibbs is as humble as he is skilled.

I’m really happy I found this channel. Thank you for your work gentlemen.

If the crossbow was the sniper rifle, the longbow was the machine gun. Both having their situational uses and both excellent machines of war. Great video, you guys!

This channel has quickly became my favourite lately😁

Great video. Thank you. I’ve wondered about this for decades.

Came for cool medieval facts, stayed for the chill vibes exuded by these two lovely people.

The crank to the crossbow did not exactly come across as optimized.

Are there many archery clubs around the UK that supply and teach with traditional longbows...? To me, that'd be way more interesting than using modern archery equipment

Most boys started shooting a bow around eight. Heavy bow training started around 14 or 15. Every village with more than 100 residents had to be able to muster a certain number of archers should the lord of the land call them up for duty. Professional war archers were more specialized. And had years of training and practice. Bow were cheep and easy to mass produce. War bows took a bit longer to make but were still fairly easy to make. Another secret that is little known was that a professional war archer carried 2 bows. One heavy war bow and one lighter draw weight combat bow. Both with the same draw length but different draw weights. As they practiced constantly they could transition very quickly for the situation. Mind you a professional war archer was not your everyday archer. They had different training techniques and skill sets including close quarters combat skills. With and with out a bow.

“Everyone should be able to pull 100 lb” Me: struggles with my 40lb recurve: “I am weak”.

I'm not saying the warbowman was holding back, he seemed to be taking his time thru the entire process

I imagine an english bowman would sound exactly like him.

The thing you're missing is that a crossbow can be used from a kneeling position and doesnt require a wide range of upper body motion to load and aim. This allows the crossbowman to wear armor and get closer to the target. (Its why they had to be paid more, greater danger) It's a front line weapon, while archers were generally near the back during battle. Longbowmen have to stop attacking the enemy's front ranks as the armies close and settle for lobbing arrows into the back ranks. Crossbowmen are with the front ranks taking shots from only a few feet away into the enemies face (literally). Also when Archers from 100 yards start raining arrows down on infantry , they have to raise their shields ... that's when they get a bolt through the leg from a crossbowmen only 15 feet away. I see the life of a crossbowmen as. Span, Advance to the front. Shoot almost point blank into any body part not behind a shield. Step back. Span.

Another excellent video, thanks so much Tod!

As they mention, a MAJOR advantage of the crossbow was in sieges. It is much easier to aim a crossbow into a murderhole or over a wall while keeping yourself safe. The crossbow also excelled at sniping, again an important fact for sieges. For instance, if you are watching over an area, and an enemy soldier darts out of cover and runs to another piece of cover. You can't keep a war bow drawn for hours on end of course, so you'd have to 1) Spot the enemy, 2) Draw the bow, 3) Aim, 4) Shoot. Whereas you can keep a crossbow loaded for hours, and even hold it into an aiming position for quite a while, especially if you can rest it on something, like a sniper would with a rifle. In the same situation it means you'd only need to 1) Spot the enemy, 2) Aim, 3) Shoot. Or if you know where they'll pop out from, you can reduce it to just 1) Spot, 2) Shoot. This would be a huge advantage for skirmishes and for stuff like guard shifts.

Crossbow as a crewserved weapon?? By that I mean 2 loaders per shooter? Crossbow would seem better suited to picking off opportunity targets.

I love these videos because there's no fluff it's just honest experimentation and humble conversation also I fixed my caps lock key

Tod! You have become so professional! I remember when your channel was much smaller, I am happy for your success!

Another advantage of the crossbow is the firing positions you can shoot from, and they kinda mention that. If you're waiting in ambush, then you can have a few crossbowmen laying in bushes and firing from them, whereas bowmen need to pop out of cover to engage. I really like the comparison here, and it's a fair comparison.

would like to see joe Gibbs shooting an Instant legolas warbow and his reaction

great comparison. Thanks for posting such a good interview

So awesome. Great video guys.

There's really no way to make this not sound weird, but I'm kinda hoping to see a video where they measure the size of Joe's muscles and X-ray his bones.

As Paul Harrell would say, “three shots is not a group”

AWESOME COMPETITION GUYS ! KEEP ENTERTAINING US WITH GREAT HISTORICAL ANSWERS !

My new goal is to buy one of your windlass crossbows. Take me a bit to save up for it, but I'm going to do it. Your work is excellent.

I would like to see some of Joe shooting long range and separately moving (transverse and charging) targets!

great vid, very enjoyable, i've started shooting a 35lb traditional bow with wooden arrows, thinking about 160lb+ is making my arms hurt already.

I came here for the historical military discussion, but stayed for Joe's forearms

fascinating videos guys - thanks for that - informative and intriguing discussion

Creativity is an intrinsic part of strategy in combat.How bowmen and crossbow men were used in combination with each other is important. If for example 20 crossbowmen are split into five groups of four continuous fire can be maintained for long periods of time yet the timing and the number per volley will be discernible after a few minutes. So as to keep the enemy guessing . e.g. 20 crossbowman focused on one particular point successively for short periods can have great psychological advantages especially if fired from a handful of pre-determined stakes in the ground upon which the crossbow is rested whereby pinpoint accuracy is more easily attainable. Meanwhile archers having greater mobility of deployment can add a heightened level of unpredictability (circumstances and conditions permitting) as to the precise origin (as regards counter volley) of assault. This is probably why the Mongols were so feared. Picture 50 archers on horseback zigzagging their way towards pitched archers and cavalry then peeling off single file to pick off the members of the front two or three rows of the enemy before disengaging and then leaving them to face a follow-up of 500 lightly armoured fast moving horseback warriors primed for the first hand to hand engagement. In their day the Mongols were decidedly more creative under Chengis Kahn/Temujin et al than their enemies with the use of the bow to make no mention of other tools of war. Please feel free to hack away at my opinion.🙃

I just love watching Joe shoot that bow xD He is a damn machine

Awesome guy! Awesome video!

I've seen Gibbs around the internet, good making vids with him!

well ive been considering learning how to shoot a bow for a little while now. and you boys just made up my mind. thanks now i just need some money lol

The rate of fire and the amount of training required to become proficient only a couple of the factors to be considered. Range, penetration, terrain, ETC would all be factors to consider. From a fixed defensive position, I.E. castle, the crossbow make more sense. Being able to reload from cover...as Richard I learned the hard way.

This was awesome! Thanks

What a great comparison!

Pretty much the same thing with guns in WW1 to WW2. Rate of fire pretty much a deal breaker & change the combat, strategy, & war in general. Also, it would be lovely to hear about your perspectives on repeating crossbow & the recent discussion on Joergsprave's invention of Instant Legolas/Genghis/Joerg, basically a tool that provide an archer to equip bow with basically arrow magazine & arrow guiding for more accurate archery.

One of my ancestors was a professional war archer. And he kept journals of his training and experiences. Some of the techniques he wrote were surprising and have proven to be very effective. I am no archer but I have read his journals. Some of the things he wrote about have since been proven and revealed by historians to be true and accurate.

Man the sound that long bow makes is SO satisfying.

What a humble and nice personality Joe have.