For those of you that like to make your own bows and arrows, be careful you're not breaking any laws.

Laws passed on ...

7th March 1371 ... by order of the Alderman and Mayor of London, "Bowyers shall be forbidden to work at night since this led to inferior workmanship, offenders will pay a fine of half a mark to the Chamber of the city for each offense".

25th October 1386 ... The ordinance of the Fletchers Company, " For the benefit of all the commonality that no man shall work as a Fletcher and a Bowyer and that the trades will be kept separate and that no man engaged in one trade shall meddle in the other. Any man so doing will pay a fine of 40 shillings to the City chamber for the first offense and 4 pounds for the second".

16th June 1403 ... "No one will sell in the city of London any arrows or quarrels made by foreigners or those who live outside the city whose work is of dissatisfaction and found not to be made of good dry wood and shall pay a fine to the Alderman".

8th May 1483 ... "By petition of the Wardens of ordinance of the Fletchers is that no fletcher shall open their shops on a Sunday or any day of a festival and no fletcher is to work on the Feast of the Decollation of St. John the Baptist upon a fine of six shillings and eight pence".

29th May 1487 ..."Arrows shall be sold of two types, "bearing" arrows to be shot for long distances and "merke" arrows for shooting at the butts. Arrows shall be of good crossed nocked and varnished and peeled. Arrows shall not be sold at markets or fayres within 30 miles of London with a transgression shall be fined 8 shillings to the city Alderman.

.. so look out all you bowyers and fletchers ... the trad police are after you.

Phil? I remembered the deal about no bows made at night but wasn't there one wood in England that was reserved ONLY for bows or arrows? For some reason the word "ASH" comes to mind? Mercy BOW-COUP! Batman

Phil... AWESOME. I love it. I'm gonna print that, laminated it, and hang it in the shop. I'm guilty of working bows at night on many, many occasions.

Whittle on...

YOU BETCHA :) JF

I'm sorry Jeff but it's my civic duty to inform the Alderman and the Wardens of the Ordinance of your transgression.

31st January 1503 ... "No fletcher shall set more than two sheaves of arrows in his shop window. He will receive for 100 best bearing shafts 14 pennies and for merke shafts 20 pennies. Fines will be levied for any fletcher or bowyer who tries to induce entice or procure an apprentice or servant of the craft to leave his masters service

I'm shutting my shop till further notice, gotta meet with my lawyer...

Thanks Phil. Really enjoyed your post. Have just started trying my hand at making self bows and I have been known to make some arrows nope and then. Guess it's decision time! Hard to do either task while looking over your shoulder.

I'm not breaking the law...I'm beating it!! LOL Thanks for the post.

Then ye duly call on such Aldermen and Wardens my old friend. This is as it should be. My panes are darkened with sheaves as they stand resolute, and with no deeper angst toward any shall I meet with them and the sun at the grove with a lively gate and silent, feathered embrace. As a fully enamored bowyer and fletcher at heart I cannot, will not, attempt to squelch my lust for flexing her limbs after dusk, and couldn't apologize for such natural longing in good conscience.

Thanks for the history.

I believe archers have a traditional response to such laws.

Uh, Oh, London's calling to the faraway towns. Now war is declared,and battle come down. London's calling to the underworld, come out of the cupboard,you bowyers and girls.

And I guess the the use of methyl ethyl ketone glue after midnight is REALLY a farthing and schilling offense....

Like that old perfume commercial from the 1970s: THEN LET ME BE GUILTY!

Those kooky Brits! Funny, I used to live in an apartment numbered 1386.

As Inky McKrimp, esteemed member of the fourth estate, publisher and editor-in-chief of Apache, Arizona's "Weekly War Whoop" often would say, "the guilty man is known, and iffen he don't give hisself up, he will be prosecuted." bvd

For a good portion of us the Butt Whoopin of 1776 made those laws void. ;-)

Perhaps more important is the following from Pope Innocent III:

"We prohibit under anathema that murderous art of crossbowmen and archers, which is hateful to God"

So, I guess that if you shoot a crossbow you will be excommunicated not only by the PBS and Compton but by the Catholic Church as well.

New pope I bet would pardon x bows just look all he's pardoned already what's one more thing as long as it don't hurt anyone.LOL

Not under law any more just so you know.

yeah Phill I should be ok You Brits sent all your convicts to the Australian colonies. Yeah I am here now so I will break the law anyway.I am serving my time in this penal colony so I may as well break the law.This will justify my being here.Besides that my mothers maiden name was Outlaw and she was born in the UK . So I am in the right place. I read some where that during 1 kings reign that arrow smiths could work after dark as there was a shortage of arrow heads in a time of war.I just get fascinated by the shear numbers of arrow orders and finished arrows held in store in various armouries and the Tower.What was the geese population in medieval England.?Is there any records of numbers of fletchers,arrow smiths and bowyers at any of those times. OSR

Osr144 ...

Richard .. there's a couple of really good books on the subject,

the first is "Arrowstorm" written by a mate of mine Richard Wadge. Richard is a bonafide historian and that reflects in historical detail and research that's gone into the book. It's an absolute must read.

The second is a little harder to get hold of "The Fletchers and Longbowstring makers of London by James Oxley. This book is essentially a history of the London Worshipful Guild of Fletchers and datails their history from their own records and accounts. It's full of fascinating details about the individuals who were making arrows and strings during the medieval period.

Thanks for the interesting history.

Ooppps, I'm in trouble.

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here