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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SableWyvern" data-source="post: 235840" data-attributes="member: 1008">Re: Martial vs. SimpleI disagree slightly. The time required to become skilled with the longbow was a factor in its limited use - but it wasn't so much that training longbowmen was expensive; rather it was an extension of the fact that training took a long time.The problem was, that knights weren't going to become missile troops. Thus, in order to have longbow troops, you had to allow everyone else to own one, so that they could train. An armed and trained peasantry? Not too many rulers were comfortable with that idea.Since only England allowed widespread use of longbows (and in fact ordered that all men should be skilled with them), there were insufficient trained longbowmen to form units when professional soldiers (ie, mainly mercenaries) started to hit the scene. Thus, you have places like Genoa, that pumped out crossbowmen, but few units of professional longbows outside of the British Isles.</blockquote>