Crossbows in the Royal Netherlands Army Museum book - a bit disappointed

I purchased this book a few weeks ago and while it's a great book packed with great photos and lots of information, I'm a bit disappointed. Namely, I'm disappointed that the bulk of the bows in the book are 18th century or newer. I think there are only 3 bows maybe that are 17th century or older. I find the other bows interesting and I also find it interesting that the general design of the crossbow and its trigger mechanisms remained virtually unchanged from the 11th or 12 century to the late 19th century. Anyway, my primary interest is in Medieval and Renaissance crossbows. Since this book is lacking in information on those bows, do any of you know of books (preferably still in print) that might be similar in scope but would show many more earlier bows? If the books are not in print, I might still be able to get them through an inter-library loan. My wife works for a university library so she can possibly locate and maybe get some of the out of print books for me. I could then use our scanner to make digital copies of the information/photos/etc that interests me the most. Anyway, any suggestions?

Try searching google images under "crossbows in museums", you should find a number of interesrintg pics.

Todd

Best seen in the flesh. I was there last year. Superb museum. They had to throw me out at closing time!

Todd the archer wrote:Try searching google images under "crossbows in museums", you should find a number of interesrintg pics.

Todd

Todd,

I've saved numerous pics from the 'net on my computer but what they lack is detail. If the photo is small in size and low in resolution it can't be enlarged without losing lots of detail. Having a good book with high quality photos is going to be better than the internet almost any day.

Shameless bump - Hoping Geezer will chime in with some book suggestions showing similar quality pics and info regarding 1000-1600 period crossbows.

Geezer here: answering your call. You've gotta realize there are a lot more surviving crossbows from 16th century on in museums... particularly crossbows in good condition, than older ones. The oldest extant bows I know of date from early 14th century. After that, you have to rely on drawings and bits from archaeological finds.
Fortunately, there is hope: I just got Holger Richter's book "Die Hornbogenarmbrust" pub. 2006, by Verlag Angelika Hornig, ISBN 10: 3-938921-02-01
This one's a goldmine for horn-sinew bows, dated from 14th and 15th centuries. I found it online... with shipping, it cost me a bit under $90 (US) and I consider it well worth the price for the information therein. Yes, it's mostly in German, but the illustrations alone are worth the trouble. You can find some of the illustrations from this source online, but there's lots more that isn't. All the cool kids are getting this book. If you don't you'll just look square. Geezer

Geezer,

That's kind of what I had deduced. I've been regularly searching via Google for "medieval crossbow" and all variations on that theme imaginable. Most of what I've found to date have been museum pictures of the elaborate, heavily decorated bows from, as ylou mentioned late 16th century and onwards. A few photos have shown earlier bows with a composite prod but very few of those. It's probably a case very similar to that of bows (bow and arrow bows) in museums. Most don't survive because once you broke it, it became firewood. I would suspect that earlier less highly decorated bows with composite prods were discarded in favor of newer bows with steel prods that showed a much higher level of decoration. The earlier bows were probably used until something broke and then had any useful metal parts scavenged and then the wood bits were simply burned in the forge to help heat up some metal for forging a new steel prod. So, about $90 for that Richter book huh? I think I'll have to wait a while for that one.

kiltedcelt wrote:Geezer,

So, about $90 for that Richter book huh? I think I'll have to wait a while for that one.

HA! Found it for much cheaper! I'll probably get it on payday this week.

kiltedcelt wrote:

kiltedcelt wrote:Geezer,

So, about $90 for that Richter book huh? I think I'll have to wait a while for that one.

HA! Found it for much cheaper! I'll probably get it on payday this week.

Where did you did it the book for cheaper, and for how much? I know that I currently cannot afford $90

Thx,
Silly Person