Crossbows
    Information on the crossbow throughout history and into the modern day

While not always considered an instrument of archery, the Crossbow functions nearly the same as a bow. There are a few slight differences, however:

1.) The Bow (called a prod) is mounted horizontally on a piece of wooden stock called the Tiller. This avoids such things as the "Archer's Paradox" and "Tiller Rotation," allowing a less skilled archer a straigher shot.

2.) Because the Crossbow is loosed using a mechanical release, more energy can be stored in the bow as it need not be held. A smaller prod can store more energy than a longbow over a fraction of the distance. Traditionally, military crossbows had better range than other bows (until modern times when lighter, stronger materials have made the hand bow a more powerful device), using, often, metal prods.

3.) As the crossbows became stronger, the Draw on them became so enormous that one single person could not span it himself. Several devices were implemented: levers, winches, etc., but these made spanning the crossbow too slow to be actually useful on an open battle field (but ideal for defending against sieges.)

   The crossbow, although known in Roman times, was not widely used in Europe until the Middle Ages. In China, however, where it developed at the same time, the crossbow revolutionized warfare. A crossbow is a bow set on a stock. It fires missiles propelled by mechanical energy and released by a trigger. It could be more powerful than the ordinary bow and could fire arrows, darts, or stones. It was, however, slower to fire than the longbow and almost as difficult to wield; even the arbalest, a later crossbow, was clumsy and slow. By the end of the 13th cent. use of the crossbow had declined. At the battle of Crécy (1346) English longbowmen, firing from fixed positions, proved far more efficient than Genoese crossbowmen fighting for the French.

   The Chinese later developed the repeating crossbow, an ingenious weapon that proved ineffective against repeating rifles in the First Sino-Japanese War. There are some references to gravity powered semi-automatic Chinese Crossbows as early as 400 B.C.

Sketch design of siege crossbow
by Leonardo da Vinci
while he was employed as a siege engineer
in the court of Francis I of France

• Swiss folkhero, William Tell, was an excellent shot with a crossbow