Got to love actual history…
"…[the longbow] was six feet long and three inches in circumference, made of yew, and required a force of one hundred pounds to draw it. (When the body of an archer was recovered from the dredged-up Mary Rose, lost in 1545, the bone of the left arm was noticeably thicker than that of the right, and his shoulder and spinal bones were noticeably deformed) …"
Think about that. Longbowmen had thick, muscular left arms - I think we can assume that they were all shooting right-handed, since it would be difficult to arrange lefties and righties together in formation - so much so, you could probably tell by looking at them. Longbowmen probably stood crooked, left shoulder high, spine twisted up between the scapulae.
If they shot enough that their arm bones thickened on the left side, can you imagine what their right hands looked like from pulling back the string? Probably, something like this guy’s hand:
Imagine shooting a longbow for hours during a battle. Could anyone do that, pull back a draw of a hundred pounds, over and over again, throughout a battle?
This from By the Sword, by Richard Cohen, who was selected to fence for the UK in the Olympics in 72, 76, 80, and 84. He would have been hit by the boycott in 80, I suppose. By the Sword is a fun read, and a fascinating history. Highly recommended.
