Análisis de las inversiones en desarrollo económico 2004-2007

Crossbows

The fifteenth century had a much smaller pool of surviving steel crossbows than it did composite crossbows. In total, this data set included only six fifteenth-century crossbows, with a further seven transitional crossbows. However, there have been some problems with the dating of some of these crossbows. Oneof the fifteenth-century crossbows and five of the transition crossbows were very similar in design and were of a type that is very difficult to date. These crossbows will be discussed separately in another section. That leaves this study with five fifteenth-century steel crossbows and two

371 _{Appendix I, pp. 260-1, 265.} 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 G ra m s

43: Fifteenth-Century Composite Crossbow

Weights

157 transition crossbows. Furthermore, one of the fifteenth-century crossbows, crossbow B111 from Grandson Castle, could have had a replacement lathe, possibly sixteenth or even early seventeenth century in origin, which limited how useful it could be to the analysis.372 _{Despite these problems, these data can still provide useful insights, and there}

is much to discuss about the crossbows that are not excluded from this sample.373

All of the fifteenth-century steel crossbows lathes have had their string lengths measured. While in theory it is possible to calculate the total length of these lathes based on the other dimensions of the lathes, those calculations are of sufficient complexity to be beyond the scope of this

thesis.374 _{The shortest steel lathe}

had a string length of 596 mm, while the longest had a string length of 800 mm. There were actually two crossbows with lengths of 596 mm, but one of them was the crossbow with the probable replacement lathe, Grandson B111, mentioned above. Graph 44 shows all of

the lengths of the steel crossbow lathes, including B111.375 _{The steel crossbows break}

down into approximately three groups; those around 600 mm in length, those around 700 mm in length, and those around 800 mm in length. The gap in the graph is to distinguish between the fifteenth-century lathes (1-5) and the transition lathes (7-8). While the data set was small, the difference between the fifteenth-century and the transition crossbows did not seem significant. The transition crossbows fitted in between the minimum and maximum lengths of the fifteenth-century lathes.

What was most interesting about this data set is how similar it was to the

composite lathe lengths. While at first glance the steel lathes might seem a little shorter than the composite lathes, it is important to remember that these were string lengths while many of the composite lengths discussed earlier were lathe lengths. When compared to just string lengths, which can be seen in Graph 40, the steel lathe lengths 372 _{Appendix I, p. 270} 373 _{Appendix I, pp. 270-6.} 374 _{See Chapter 1.} 375 _{Appendix I, pp. 270-6.} 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Milli m etres

44: Fifteenth-Century Steel Lathe

Lengths

Comparison of fifteenth-century steel lathe lengths. Number 6 represents the break between fifteenth- century lathes and transitional lathes. Data from Appendix I.

158 fitted in closely with the composite lathe lengths. This could be indicative of a shared design philosophy between the two weapons. In the fifteenth century, the steel crossbow was still relatively new, so it is not impossible that some of the design concepts of the composite lathe would have also been applied to steel lathes.376 _{Alternatively, this could}

reflect the types of crossbows that were in demand in the fifteenth century. The outliers in both sets of data could possibly represent different types of crossbows for different purposes, but that is merely speculation without more data.

Most of the fifteenth-century steel crossbows only had one measurement for their length, and that measurement was usually the total length. Two crossbows – B111 from Grandson and MWP 57 from the Polish Military Museum – had measurements for both lengths, while one crossbow – from the Armoria Alava – had only a tiller length

measurement.377 _{This mix of measurements makes analysing the relative lengths}

complicated. Normally, it would be a small matter to drop the Armoria Alava crossbow, since it is the only one without a total length, but it also represents one-seventh of the total data set, so dropping it entirely would significantly diminish an already limited data pool. Graph 45 attempts to address this problem by showing both measurements for crossbow length. Once again, the gap at number six marks the separation between transition crossbows and the rest of the data. The shortest crossbow had a total length of 720 mm, while the longest had a total length of 1340 mm, nearly twice the length of the former. Two of the tillers in this data set are significantly longer than a metre. In contrast, the much larger sample of composite tillers contained only one tiller that was over a metre long, and it was only just barely over that line. Two crossbows out of seven that are over 1100 mm long is much more significant than one out of 22 crossbows being just barely over 1000 mm. That said, seven crossbows is a much smaller sample size and so there is a greater chance of these two crossbows being flukes. Still, the existence of these tillers does suggest that at least some differences in design were present in how steel crossbows were made compared to composite crossbows. This is particularly interesting since there was not anything inherent in the tiller technology to necessitate this

difference. A steel lathe could be mounted to the same kind of tiller as a composite crossbow. Some modifications to how the lathe attached would have been necessary, but

376 _{Josef Alm, European Crossbows, pp. 34-5.}

Erhard Franken-Stellamans, “A Mathematical Method for Determination of the Appropriate Draw Length for a Given Steel Bow”, Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries 47 (2004). pp. 92-4.

159 there would have been no

reason to change the length of the tiller. These differences are suggestive of many possibilities but unfortunately without further research they do not prove anything on their own. The rest of the tiller data did not present a clear pattern. The remaining five tillers were all between 700 and 900 mm long, and with such a small sample size

it is impossible to know if steel crossbows in this century were usually of such a wide range of lengths, or if there was a typical length, and if there was, whether that typical length was closer to 700 mm or 900 mm.

Comparing the steel lathes to their attached tillers compounds the problems already presented above. Grandson B111 and Armoria Alava 0479 both have to be dropped from this analysis as a result of problems with either their lathe or their tiller. This means that the already

small pool of crossbows has been further reduced to a total of only five crossbows.

378 _{For this study, string}

lengths were compared to total lengths, the results of which can be seen in Graph 46. No lathe was longer than its attached tiller. The

smallest difference between lathe and tiller was 120 mm,

while the greatest difference was a staggering 744 mm. This was a much larger variance than was seen in contemporary composite crossbows. The data in the previous

paragraphs suggested that steel crossbows most likely had longer tillers, which would 378 _{Appendix I, pp. 270-6.} 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Milli m etres

45: Fifteenth-Century Steel

Crossbow Tiller Lengths

Tiller Length Total Length

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1 2 3 4 5 6 Milli m etres

46: Fifteenth-Century Steel Crossbow

Total/String Length Comparison

Total Length String Length

Comparison of tiller and total lengths for steel crossbows. Number six marks the break between fifteenth-century crossbows and the transitional crossbows. Data from Appendix I.

Comparison of total and string lengths for steel

crossbows. Number 4 marks the break between fifteenth- century crossbows and transitional crossbows. Data from Appendix I.

160 explain the difference. However, with a sample of only five crossbows, these data could very easily be non-representative of the steel crossbow in the fifteenth century more generally. What was perhaps the most interesting result of this analysis was the fact that the shortest lathe was attached to the longest tiller. It certainly suggests that, at least in some cases, the length of a lathe probably had no impact on the length of the tiller it was attached to. It seems likely that this crossbow was an outlier. Even if it was an outlier, though, its existence does at the very least raise some questions about how these weapons were designed and made.

Only three of the fifteenth-century crossbows have been weighed, so the sample size for discussion of steel crossbow weight in this century was tiny. This discussion becomes yet more problematic as the three crossbows that have been weighed were all very different. They weigh, from lightest to heaviest, 3140 g, 4400 g, and 6110 g.379 _With

this wide range of weights – none of them were even within a kilogram of each other – it was impossible to determine what would have been the norm for steel crossbows in this century. There was no clear connection between the lengths of the crossbows and their weights. Grandson B111 and Wallace Collection A1032 had nearly identical dimensions, including lathes that were the exact same length, but they weighed 3140 g and 4400 g respectively. MWP 57, which weighed 6110 g, was significantly larger than the other two crossbows. It also had an attached windlass, which likely had increased its overall weight by at least a kilogram. What is clear from this data is that steel crossbows were much heavier than their composite counterparts. No composite crossbow from this century weighed over 4000 g, and most of them weighed less than 3000 g.380 _Whether

this was the result of heavier lathe materials or if it was simply representative of general design differences, is impossible to know with the data available.