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Portrayal of the common person during the Wars of the Roses
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Weapons

  
     
  Click on the small photographs to see a larger picture.    
 

Bills and Glaives

These are the two most common melee weapons of the period. We have had a reproduction of a bill found in Dadlington, close to Bosworth and held by Leicestershire County Council's Museum Service. The weapons used for fighting are blunted to make them safer to use.

Bill: click to see larger image  
             
 

Bows

This is the main missile weapon of the period. What we now call a longbow but simply a bow to the people of the time. It was made famous by such battles as Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt, but was in decline by our period. One of the reasons for this is the increase in price of the bows themselves.

 
             
 

We use two different types of arrow. When shooting at opponents during a battle, we use arrows tipped with a rubber blunt. These arrows are also fletched with large feathers to slow their speed. We also use replica 15thC arrows, with a hand-forged bodkin head for archery demonstrations and target shooting.

The poundage of the bows used at the time is estimated to be around 120lb. Our bows are made to have a much lower poundage, 40 - 60lb, as we are no where near as proficient at the use of these weapons as the men who would have started their training at about six years of age.

    
       
  Yew was the most common wood for bows but for every Yew bow a bowyer was expected to make a bow of a 'lesser' wood. Our bows are made from Ash, one of the 'lesser' woods and much cheaper now as was the situation then.  
         
  Arrows: click to see larger image

The photograph shows a sheaf of 24 arrows. 		  There are three main parts to an arrow, the head, the shaft and the fletching. The arrows are parallel sided with goose feather flechings glued and whipped on to the shaft. The nock, where the sting of the bow sits, is cut directly into the shaft, rather than a separate piece as on modern arrows. At times, a horn sliver would have been inset into the arrow at right angles to the position of the string; this would have helped stop the arrow from splitting at the moment of release. The head is only pinned onto the shaft to allow it to be removed and reused if the arrow breaks.  
       
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  Swords: click to see larger image  

Swords

The sword was never a primary weapon but a secondary. This did not stop very nearly every soldier whether, commoner, gentry or noble carrying one. Obviously, the style and quality would vary depending on the class of the soldier.

Photographs of two types of sword (both blunted for re-enactment use). The shorter one is a 'hanger' and is a more common sword than the larger 'arming' sword.

 
     
     
 

Daggers

The military dagger is designed for one task and one only, killing. The blade irrespective of the hilt is of little use for cutting or chopping anything other than a person.

The bollock style, with a single edged blade is the most common with at least an 8" blade length and the scabbard stitched or glued at the back.

Photograph of a sharp bollock dagger.

Dagger: click to see larger image  
     
     
             
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