The Company of 1415
We are the company of 1415.
We are a band of individuals with a common interest in demonstrating both the Medieval Longbow and all forms of Middle Ages martial arts.
We
regularly field 30-40 men (and women), not only archers but men-at-arms,
Knights in full plate armour and lately a pair of early medieval cannon just to
start the show with a bang. We perform at several venues in the south east
throughout the summer months. Including Living History demonstrations at
The show lasts for anything up to an hour or so. We start with a triple volley of whistlers at the French host 100yds up the field (and lately with a stiff charge of black powder in the cannon…just to get the car alarms going). This is followed by accuracy demonstrations switching between the closer range targets and speed shoots to demonstrate the rate of fire of the medieval archer. I think our best result was seventeen aimed shots in a minute. We show comparisons between the longbow, a hand spanned crossbow, a windlass crossbow and an early hackbut handgonne, spoof shooting a apple off the head of a volunteer and trick shooting 6 shafts at a time from a longbow.
The most popular part of our show, however, must be the horses and horseback archery and the containments, wherein we shoot blunted arrows directly at approaching men-at-arms (armoured, helmed and shielded or course). This last exhibition is one of the most graphic demonstrations of the power, and vulnerability, of the medieval archer that I have ever witnessed or taken part in, it shows the sheer quantity of shafts that would be loosed in a battle, and to those taking part it drives home the difficulty of accurately estimating the range of a slow but constantly moving target.
