Today, archery is practised only by a few, and even then, it is considered to be a sport. Very few people nowadays would consider a bow and arrow to be their primary weapon-of-choice.But did you know that archery practice used to be law? or at least statutory. (The law was revived in 1543 in case the French invaded.) You had to practice after church on Sundays. Not sure how I would reconcile that with 'thou shalt not kill'... Every man between the ages of 16 and 60 had to own his own bow, and it had to be as tall as he was.
A note here: so that men were not distracted from archery practice, certain sports were declared 'unlawful'. The main one being football. Honest.
© 2015 Ros Haywood. All Rights Reserved
Hi Ros - yes Archery has an interesting history ...as too football - it was outlawed. I'd quite like to try Archery ... good luck with the A- Z - I'll be enjoying these .. cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteTry archery! Once you get the hang of it, it makes you feel so powerful. And thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteFascinating! Thank you for the bit of history!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it - and thanks for stopping by!
DeleteWe have a famous archer bloke whose aim was flawless in our country, it was back in 1307, can you guess who it was?
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog, you were early though. My A-Z post will be up shortly.
Was it William Tell? I was fascinated to read your blog post about tie-dyeing eggs, and will revisit later on today (I am out all afternoon) to read your A-Z post.
DeleteIt is so funny that they had to practice it after church:) Then again, in the States many state they are God Fearing folk only to have AK 47's and a whole bunch of other guns. I remember taking archery in phys-ed and liking it.
ReplyDeleteI took archery at school, too, as I was never very good at the sort of sports which required you to run insanely after a ball or thwack with a racquet. But I loved archery.
DeleteArchery was one of my favorite sports in Girls PE long time ago. A few years ago, the Husband, friends, and I spent a couple hours at an indoor archery range. It still was enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the archery - it seems like the post has stirred up some fond memories (so I'm glad, too). Thanks for stopping by!
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