It is a weapon that is has been used in every continent on Earth, except Australasia. In Europe it is probably most deeply ingrained into English culture. From our legends of Robin Hood, to our literature. Archery plays a part in tails by Chaucer (Canterbury Tales) there is Conan Doyle's White Company and of course Shakespeare’s Henry V.
The bow has even shaped our language, sayings such as "Highly strung" "Keep it under your hat" "Shot his bolt" and even "Fast and Loose" are all originally archery terms.
It has shaped our laws, with proclamations and statutes being passed by many of our monarchs to preserve the use of this historically important weapon. Taxes of yew staves being levied on imported wine and other goods, and maximum prices being set for bows and arrows.
And of course it has shaped our history, from the tale of King Harold being shot in the eye at Hastings in 1066, to the great victories of the Hundred Years War at Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt. Still further to the Wars of the Roses and the battles of Bosworth and Towton, and on through Tudor times with the bow being a favoured weapon in England long after the rest of the continent had retired it. Henry VIII’s flagship The Mary Rose has taught us much about the bows that were used by the English at war.
Even with the bow’s replacement with the musket, the love affair that our nation had with the weapon was far from over. King Charles tried to raise a body of archers to fight for him against Parliament in the English Civil War. A book was published as late as 1798 “Pro Aris et Focis”, urging the British military to train it’s men in the use of the Longbow. The bow however had fallen permanently from military favour.
The last recorded victory of an English Longbowman in battle was in May 1940 when Captain Jack Churchill using his bow and hunting arrows shot and killed a German infantryman!