Jaro,
Different length arrows in the arrow bags:
I have been guilty of saying this very thing. I suppose I'm the one you're talking about on the English War Bow page. The reason why I said this is because the original leather disks that were in the arrow bag still contained the remains of arrows in an assortment of lengths. If you can point me to definitive, published proof that this is not true, I would cheerfully withdraw my comment. But your 'shoulder injury' theory doesn't change the fact that the arrow bag disks contained a variety of arrow lengths.
J. D. Duff
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I am so impressed by your very accurate replica MR warbow not caving in to Victorian ideas of what a longbow should be. Like yourself, I try as nearly as possible to re-create the old time objects rather than trying to re-invent the wheel. I have been perplexed about the arriow lengths.
I realize that there was a wide assortment of arrow lengths on the MR. The only arrows made to a standardized measurement seem to have been Edward IV's 3/4 of the standard and the two cubit clothyard while others were in variable fist lenghths. I have thought that the individual sheaves however had only two lenghths of arrows, the long ones for a draw to the ear, and the shorter ones, which were in the proportion cited by Smythe for flight arrows. Unfortunately I have had great difficulty getting information from the MR trust. Also there seem to be two different reports on the shapes and thicknesses of the MR arrows. Can you help me clarify these questions ?
