2. You Wanted to be an Archer
Medieval armies were more than just men wearing hundreds of pounds of armor riding in on horses. Sure there were cavalrymen, most of whom had to bring their armor and horses. There were also foot soldiers and a line of archers. The sequence of archers was what people had to watch out for because they could shoot deadly arrows long distances and begin to kill soldiers on the other side long before the foot soldiers and the cavalry had made their way down to the battlefield. Archers were also frequently positioned along the castle walls and could pick off invaders.
Short bows were probably the weakest of an archer’s weapons, and they could shoot with accuracy as far as 100 yards. They were frequently used in the earlier Medieval Ages, such as in defending against Viking raids up through the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Later on, longbows could shoot arrows over 300 yards. The crossbow, though, was the most dreaded of all: it could send an arrow a quarter of a mile with incredible accuracy. Arrows shot with a crossbow could easily pierce through metal armor, but the real danger was when the tips were on fire.
