English war longbows, from the late Middle Ages to the Tudor period, were heavier to draw than people imagine today

2 studies

Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

The most solid figure is an estimate, and it comes from a 1997 study that models ancient bows and checks its calculations on replicas. According to the calculations it reports, the 60-gram war arrow used at Agincourt in 1415 could have been shot from bows of over 450 newtons, about a hundred pounds, against the 350, just under eighty, that present-day archers' experience considered plausible. The yew bows recovered from the Mary Rose, the ship that sank in 1545 with 139 longbows on board, point the same way, but only through the model: the originals can still be strung and drawn, yet the degraded wood no longer gives their original draw weight, so a replica was built to their measurements: the replica's draw weight measured on the scales and the one calculated by the model differ by less than 1%, and the 465 newtons the study gives in its table are the replica's. The model holds up, but the draw weight of the originals remains an estimate. And the literature is not in line: a 2018 study reports from secondary sources an average of 30 kilos for the English longbow, about 66 pounds, well below the estimate.

Also phrased as: "medieval longbow draw weight"; "bows from the Mary Rose"; "how many pounds was the English longbow"; "archers at Agincourt"; "war longbow"

In practice

All sorts of figures circulate about the draw weights of medieval English archers, often with no source, and you sometimes hear that today's bows are heavy compared with those of the past.

Evidence

1997
For Model Published later

A mathematical model of ancient bows checked on replicas: according to the calculations it reports, the 60-gram war arrow used at Agincourt could have been shot from bows of over 450 newtons, against the roughly 350 that present-day archers considered plausible; the figure is confirmed by applying the model to the 139 yew longbows recovered from the Mary Rose, which sank in 1545. The originals can be strung and drawn to 30 inches, but are too degraded to measure their draw weight; on a replica built to their measurements calculation and measurement differ by less than 1%, and the study's table gives 465 newtons for that replica.

An approach to the study of ancient archery using mathematical modelling · B. W. Kooi, C. A. Bergman
1997
Context Model Published later

In the same study, the table of bows described in the literature: the replica Mary Rose bow 465 newtons, 0.794 kilos, 1.874 metres; the Turkish flight bow 690 newtons with just 0.35 kilos and 1.14 metres, the most highly stressed of all; a modern bow 126 newtons, 0.29 kilos, 1.703 metres. By comparison, today's draw weights sit well below those of historical war and flight bows.

An approach to the study of ancient archery using mathematical modelling · B. W. Kooi, C. A. Bergman
2018
Context Equipment tests Published later

A virtual reality system with force feedback for trying traditional bows: the replicas used draw 13.6 kilos (longbow, 177.8 centimetres), 12.5 (flatbow) and 18.1 (horse bow), and the authors put them at about a third of the originals. For the originals they report from secondary sources an average of 30 kilos for the English longbow, with a 70-centimetre draw, and 40 to 70 for horse bows: for the longbow this figure is well below the 1997 estimate.

An Interactive Haptic System for Experiencing Traditional Archery · Silviu Butnariu, Mihai Duguleană, Raffaello Brondi, Florin Gîrbacia, Cristian Postelnicu, Marcello Carrozzino

Status history

1997 Transferred The first estimate arrives: a study that models ancient bows and checks its calculations on replicas reports that the 60-gram Agincourt war arrow could have been shot from bows of over 450 newtons, about a hundred pounds, against the roughly 350 that present-day experience considered plausible, and that the model applied to the Mary Rose bows confirms that figure, with 465 newtons in its table for the replica of those bows. The originals are too degraded to measure their draw weight: with a calculation and a replica the claim is transferred.
2018 Transferred A study of a virtual reality system for trying traditional bows uses replicas of 12.5 to 18.1 kilos, which the authors put at about a third of the originals, and reports from secondary sources an average of 30 kilos for the English longbow, about 66 pounds, well below the 1997 estimate. It is a second-hand figure, with no new measurements on historical bows: the status stays transferred, but the literature is not in line.

Research lines

Cite

APA

Campagna, M. (2026). English war longbows, from the late Middle Ages to the Tudor period, were heavier to draw than people imagine today (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/medieval-longbow-draw-weight

BibTeX

@misc{campagna2026_archiguerralibbraggialti,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {English war longbows, from the late Middle Ages to the Tudor period, were heavier to draw than people imagine today},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/medieval-longbow-draw-weight},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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