[Brandon Cotter]

Hello,

Recently I’ve found myself increasingly interested in medieval Scottish warfare and I have been wondering about the use of the longbow in Scotland, specifically in the highlands in the medieval and early renaissance periods.

I know that Scots used the longbow, but to what extent was it used? Was it comparable to England, or on a smaller scale? Were there any meaningful differences between English and Scottish bows of the period? Would it have seen more use as a lowland or a highland weapon? And how would it have been employed in battle?

Thanks.


Are there any good sources you can recommend on warfare in the Highlands, or in Scotland generally, in the Middle Ages?

[Dan Howard]

The European longbow has remained essentially unchanged since the Mesolithic period. The only difference between the English longbow and the ones used by everyone else (including the Scots) is how it was deployed on the battlefield.

[Lin Robinson]

The Scots had plenty of competent archers but were slow in learning how to deploy them effectively. Archers were common in the Highlands until c. mid-17th c. Why the Scots did not learn from the English and apply the knowledge to their battlefield tactics is a mystery. They did much the same thing with artillery, re: Flodden.

[Pedro Paulo Gaião]

[Graham Shearlaw]

The war power longbow needed major legal force in England to keep its practice in forced.
If the highlands have as they do in 1500 to 1800's a lack of armour then there no need for stronger bows, or do they not have a force able to shoot at closer ranges as the more armoured English can?


Here's a brief video on long bows in the highlands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKQWGQFEwks

[Dan Howard]

[Anthony Clipsom]

[Brandon Cotter]

So, from what I’m hearing it sounds like the chief difference between English and Scottish medieval archery was that the Scots lacked the deliberate military innovation that allowed the English to make longbowmen into the effective force that they did.

It seems like, that while the English recognized the potential of longbowmen relatively early, and revamped their military systems accordingly, the Scots were either to militarily conservative, lacked the strong central authority to implement the changes necessary or simply didn’t realize the potential for archers en masse to do so themselves. That last one seems somewhat unlikely to me as the Scots were trounced by English archery more than once in the 14th century and it seems like the success of English armies in the period would have made it very difficult to deny the power of longbowmen.

Also, am I correct in assuming the Scots, while in Scotland, never had anything comparable to English mounted archers (I.e. professional retinue archers who were mounted for speed on the march) as it seems the bow was generally always considered to be a peasants (or already a militia) weapon? I do recall reading that the French Scottish guard archers were mounted the way English archers were, and presumably any Scottish archers with an English forces would be outfitted comparably to the english, but did that sort of professionallism only exist in Scottish mercenary forces or did it spread back to Scotland itself.

[Anthony Clipsom]

[Henrik Zoltan Toth]

Found this:

http://ceathairne.blogspot.com/2012/01/gaelic-archery.html