In medieval England, archery wasn’t just a weekend hobby—it was the law. Kings like Henry I and Edward III made sure that men between 15 and 60 practiced their longbow skills, even going so far as to ban other popular games like football and cockfighting to keep the focus on hitting those targets. Sundays were officially for archery practice, and if you lived in the king’s forests, you had to shoot blunt arrows to protect his precious game. It was all about keeping England battle-ready, and these archery laws stayed on the books, in one form or another, all the way into the 20th century.
Fun Fact Friday: The Longbow Legacy from Prehistory to the Kings of England
In medieval England, archery wasn’t just a weekend hobby—it was the law. Kings like Henry I and Edward III made sure that men between 15 and 60 practiced their longbow skills, even going so far as to ban other popular games like football and cockfighting to keep the focus on hitting those targets. Sundays were…
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