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‘Martyrdom of St. Sebastian’, a mid-14th-century panel painting by Giovanni del Biondo. (Museo deU'Opera del Duomo, Florence; photograph Niccoló Orsi Battaglini)

THE CROSSBOW

lic* crossbow was not a new invention of the Middle Ages. It had been used both in ancient China (where it remained a vital infantry weapon) and in pre-Roman Greece. However, itsurvived in Enrope only as a complex frame-monnted siege machinę or as a smali hunting weapon. Chinese influences via Central Asia may have stimulated a revival in the nse of handheld crossbows in lOth-century Arab-Persian armies. However, it is nnclear whether there was any connection between this Islamie re-introduction and the use of liandheld crossbows in lltli-cenuiry Spain, Southern France and Alpine Italy, while mention of crossbows in lOth-century Scandinavia could reflect the Vikings’ close commercial links with Islamie Iran. The significance of a surviving late-Roman hunting crossbow is also a matter of debate. It has little in common with earlier Greek weapons but appears similar to medieval Middle Eastern crossbows. Other references to crossbows in lOth-century northern France may be descriptions of frame-mounted siege weapons.

The late-12th century saw important technical improvements, notably the ability to make accurate revolving nuts from horn or bonę using a pole-lathe. This technological advance, along with a considerable inerease in siege warfare in the 1 lth—12th centuries, led to the crossbow becoming a truły revolutionary and decisire weapon on land as well as at sea.

Added impetus came from the widespreacl replacement of one-piece wooden bows with morę powerful composite constructions. This was not an entirely new approach to bow-making. Oriental crossbow-makers had used composite construction in handbows for sonie time. Until recently it was thought that, although the Europeans copied the basie idea of composite construction, the finer details of this method of bow-making were neglected. Further evidence of this could be found in subtle differences in the way Oriental handbows and European crossbows were put together. However, a recent discovery of medieval Islamie composite crossbows in Syria has shown that Muslim craftsmen themsehes used different techniques to make crossbows and handbows.

The first specific references to crossbows in Italy are to be found in Pisa in 1162 and Genoa in 1181: both of these cities were naval powers trading with the east. By the mid-13th century crossbows had been widely adopted as a naval and infantry weapon across northern Italy. A new style of warfare employing large numbers of crossbow-armed infantry suited the smali but wealthy Italian cities. Disciplined, spear-armed infantry militias from northern Italy had already broken the German Empire’s bid to dominate the country. The crossbow, which required little strength and

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