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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Derren" data-source="post: 6293149" data-attributes="member: 2518">1. And most soldiers during the middle ages were peasants.2. Archers can shoot arrows in rapid succession by only utilizing a fraction of the bows potential draw strength, but when fully drawing a longbow the rate of fire dropped and also tired out the archers rather fast. Thats why most archers in battle did not even fire at their maximum ability unless absolutely necessary. Also, aiming was harder has the archer could only hold the draw for a few seconds before his arm started to fatigue. Not a problem for volley fire, but aiming on a chaotic battlefield was only possible at a short window.4. Also a common misconception. The romans already used crossbows and they never fell out of use by the European powers either, both on the battlefield and for hunting. Already in the High Middle Age in the 13th century armies tended to field more crossbows than bows.</blockquote>