I've heard that medieval archers (in particular English longbowmen) sometimes used earth mounds encircled in a small ditch or "dry moat" from which the dirt was taken as archery targets. I've looked around and had trouble finding examples of such targets or hints about their construction. I'm wondering if anybody here knows anything about medieval archery targets that were used for war practice in Western Europe? I'm guessing different kinds were used and I'm wondering if different targets were used for crossbows?

Thanks
-Alain

I've seen a few pictures of that style target. Check out The Medieval archer by Jim Bradbury. Pretty sure the're in there. As for construction, its a mound of dirt :D

Yesterday I read a paper on just this. According to this the mound is plausible but a more plausible target and stopper for arrows is a simple wall or mound of turf. It´s a little bit more stable and resistent to the weather. It can also present a vertical surface to the archers.

Looks like decent information here: http://www.modaruniversity.org/Archery8.doc

Thanks, Christopher, this will make the day of some archers I know :lol:

I believe this may have been used by some Swiss crossbowmen : :)

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Charles the Bold

Haha ;)

Thanks for the posts guys, that's great information. That article is excellent, Christopher, thank you.

-Alain

Shooting at the butts seems to have been the common practice for military archery.

A butt was originally the mound of earth that built up at the end of a plough furrow, each time the plough was turned. As such they were one furlong (220) yards apart.

This distance seems to have been stipulated as a legal requirement in the 16th century.

Interestingly, 240 yards is a measure known as 'bowshot'; presumably implying that was the typical maximum distance for general shooting (that is, not flight shooting).

You guys are most welcome... it was just my google-fu that found it... the real thanks should go to the gentleman who spent the time and effort researching and writing it.