The late medieval version of a crossbow which was called an arbalest completely pushed the longbow out of the battles. Arbalests were much larger than original crossbows and had greater strength and force. These weapons could easily penetrate most knights’ armor. Arbalests were sometimes considered inhumane or unfair weapons, since an inexperienced crossbowman could use one to kill a knight who had a lifetime of training.

In 1139 Pope Innocent II even put a ban on arbalest, but medieval crossbowmen still existed, and continued to kill knights. Mercenary troops of crossbowmen were in high demand those days because of their skills - they could shoot two bolts per minute easily. And the commanding officer of the crossbowmen corps was one of the highest and privileged person in any army.

Later development of a crossbow allowed to use it in the cavalry. But the times of gunpowder weapons already began. Musketeers replaced crossbowmen and proved to be deadly against cavalry of heavy armored knights. Muskets could neutralize even the most heavily armored cavalry forces. Their widespread use put an end to the rule of a crossbow and completely changed the face of warfare.

It seems that somehow, Chinese crossbows found their way to Greece. This might have happened even before the establishment of the empire of Alexander the Great. Anyways, some type of crossbows called gastraphetes were widely used in 397 BC by ancient Carthaginians in Sicily. And during siege of Tyre in 332 BC by Alexander the Great, reliable sources describe the use of these weapons by the Greek besiegers.

Romans borrowed Greek crossbows and utilized it in their military campaigns to a certain degree. After the fall of Roman empire when the Dark Ages came, there is not much evidence related to crossbows. Obviously, they were used by medieval soldiers, because we have extensive evidence on fights with crossbows during the battle of Hastings.

Crossbow soldier had numerous advantages in comparison to longbow archer. It was one of the reasons why European armies used crossbows extensively till sixteen century. It was extremely easy to train anybody to use a crossbow within a week or so, while it took years of practice and for an archer to master shooting from a longbow.

Read more …

When we think of the crossbow we imagine all those great medieval battles and sieges of castles. But, in fact, crossbow was invented at least a thousand years before the arrival of Middle Ages. The mystery of its origins still remains, but most historians believe that crossbow first appeared in China or cultures neighboring it. Earliest Chinese manuscripts describe the giant crossbow catapult used in military campaigns around sixth century BC. Other manuscripts state that crossbow was not just used as a military weapon but also as a toy and for setting up traps for hunting purposes.

A century later Chinese manuscripts already describe a crossbow as a hand held military weapon used for ambush. And in the third century BC, Chinese crossbow was already well developed and used quite widely all over the empire. Archaeologists unearthed the remains of multiple crossbows during the discovery of the famous Terracotta Army in the tomb of Chinese emperor who ruled in the third century BC.

Read more …

There are even more mysteries that surround the origin of the Silk Road network. Nobody could clearly explain one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century - so called Tarim mummies. The number of mummies were found deep in China, they date from 1800 BC to AD 200. And all found corpses exhibit Caucasoid physical type. Many of discovered mummies were found in amazingly great condition. They have their hair physically intact, ranging in color from blond to red to deep brown, and generally long, curly and braided. And what is even more amazing - their costumes indicate a common origin with Indo-European neolithic clothing techniques.

Another mystery that supports the theories of early human contacts between East and West were several discoveries of Chinese silk remnants. These remnants have been found in Ancient Egypt from 1070 BC and later.

I mentioned in the previous entry ancient Scythians. It seems that they brought from the West and introduced in China the most valuable metal of all - gold. This probably happened around eight century BC. It seems that the impact was deep because Chinese jade carvers began to use gold to make imitation Scythian designs of the steppes. They easily adopted the Scythian style animal art like descriptions of animals locked in combat. Scientists also found in China imitations of Scythian rectangular belt plaques made of gold and bronze with alternate versions in jade and steatite.