French Archers?

Joe(thebow)M · French Archers?

In Charles Chenevix Trench's book, 'A History of Marksmanship' he touches on French Archers. On page 14 between two pictures (drawings) of frenchmen shooting bows, he states; The French were not great archers. Obviously there is something to this since the French had to hire mercenary crossbowmen for the battle of Crecy.

What I'm wondering is what kind of history of the bow did the French actually have? Surely they must of had some who mastered the bow, though I find it doubtful they could or would ever achieve the mastery of the English bowman of the time of Crecy.

Did the French finally achieve a level of mastery in the later centuries after Crecy? Just wondering?

ferret

In an article archery history by Micheal Van Biesbruck.
He states that in 1356 after poitiers, the French organized their own longbow corps, and became so expert that they were disbanded by the military.

They must have been victims of their own success

segolden

Indeed they were, ferret! The English promoted middle class success as both a source of mercantile wealth and self-trained soldiery, which is where the archery contingents usually came from in Britain, whereas the French elites were scared to death at the prospect of such weaponry in the hands of the people. Understandable, since it was a "peasant army" of Welsh and English archers that bloodied their nobility on a consistent basis for so long. Nevertheless, they eventually achieved success in countering English dominance in archery, then disbanded the units once the threat had eased. The same thing occurred in medieval Japan, where the nobility distrusted firearms. When one lord finally achieved total victory over his rivals through using special gun-units as an elite force, he promptly outlawed both guns and troops trained in them.