Hi my name is Kevin Hicks welcome to my YouTube Channel The History Squad. Now
what we're going to cover today in our video is armed combat, the bowmen of England and Wales
how did they fight hand-to-hand, personal combat once the arrows have been shot. It's a question
I've been asked more than once you know, did they just put their bows and arrows down and pile in as
a mob or did they simply go to the rear well I'm going to answer that question for you because it's
been raised asked many times, so let's see what I've discovered. So how did the bowmen survive
the battlefield once their arrows were shot? And it takes a little bit of answering because you've
got to get under the skin of the bowmen of the age and it's interesting because the English they,
they formed slightly different to the Welsh and you imagine so me I was raised in Staffordshire in
Lichfield and my first arrows were actually shot on the green just adjacent to the cathedral there,
so that is continuing a history of the bowmen of the city of Litchfield. You'd go on through the
Medieval Times to the Wars of the Roses and the bowmen of Beverly. The town was so proud of its
bowmen, they issued them with padded jacks and had on their shoulder “From Beverly” embroidered
by the ladies of the town, so within the shires, within the towns of England there was a pride.
So if you were a young lad and you're shooting at the butts at the back of Warwick Church,
Saint Mary's there and you're shooting away every Sunday morning and it's always your mates,
it's the same guys you're coming up, you're coming up, you're coming up/. Then there's a levy that's
got to be filled. When you turn up for that levy because you're of age, they're your friends,
you already know them but it isn't just the case of your proficiency to be able to shoot the bow,
it's what other weapons could you use what other weapons did you bring. Now I've shown
some of these weapons before this a hatchet perfect for chopping people,
this oh it's just an agricultural bill hook isn't it. Now some of the bowmen put these on sticks
so they could gut out the horses, this is horrible stuff, but I've got a couple of
new weapons that I've added for this and I found this in a in a bit of a junk market the other day.
Thor's hammer. Yes it's the original, I don't think so. This is a rock hammer,
but if you hit somebody at the back of a helmet with one of these they're going to go down, this
I think this one's a three pounder so wow what a hit, tuck into the back of your belt. But my
favorite and it's something I've been asked about for years what was an archer’s maul people used
to say. A maul. A maul can be a heavy club with spikes on it, a maul can be a great big enormous
lump of wood with nails in the end. In fact they use them in the First World War, but traditionally
though the maul was what you knocked your stakes in when you were getting ready for a battle. You
would knock your stakes into the ground with a heavy maul, you would then sharpen them
and the maul would then be put to one side, but if you've got a guy in the battle right,
in your company who is six foot one, six foot two, because there were big people in those days, he'll
be the guy who will carry the maul into battle. I've got one here I've made one specially for you
here you go, for knocking in the wooden stakes or for bashing the brains out of an enemy man at arms
or for breaking the knee of a man at arms because you want to take him prisoner. You work in your
companies. So there you go, you're shooting your bow and arrows, your arrow supply is dwindling,
the message comes we're almost out of arrows, you shoot your last arrow. The first thing you do is
you look at your Vintenar or your Centinar, your officer, they'll have a pennant, all your guys
will have the same colored coats or a mark when they advance. You don't all just run as a mob,
you advance together and then when you hit the enemy you hit them as a cohesive force. Lightly
armored, lightly dressed you're quite nimble. You imagine being a man at arms, you're armored up,
you are a fit killer but all of a sudden there's 12 of me, but I'm the oldest all the rest are a
lot younger than me, knives, hammers, daggers. How about an old piece from a previous battle
it's not a full poleaxe, it's what's left of a poleaxe. This is nice and light, quite handy
for a bowman. He can use it as a hammer, as an axe and as a spike, these men were quite something but
what I love about the bowmen both of England and Wales is their companies. I love the way
they fought together, they lived together and of course they died together. But I heard a saying
many years ago which kind of relates to these men. Have faith. Keep Faith. First with the man
next to you and then with God. I like that. Well I hope you enjoyed that video, if you did like,
share and subscribe and don't forget to turn on the all notification button so you know
what's coming on down the line but before I go mention a few of my PATREON members Mark Wright,
Michael Anderwald and Lexi some great names here isn't it. Thanks a bunch guys, bye for now.