bow staves of yew (Fig. 947). They were recovered in 1836 from the wreck of the "Mary Rose," which was sunk in action with the French near Spithead, July 18th, 1545. These two bows, despite their two hundred and ninety years' immersion in the sea, are still in good condition. Their dimensions are as follows: length 6 feet 4-3/4 inches, circumference in the centre 4-1/2 inches. They taper to either end, where, however, there are no notches or horn hips to receive the strings. They are of fine grained wood, with knots or pins at intervals of five inches.
Stores of such untrimmed bow staves would be carried on warships; the Tower specimens perhaps came from the Baltic or from the East, from both of which parts King Henry VIII imported many thousands. This monarch was a fine shot with the long bow. Taylor's "Diary" mentions in 1513 that "the King, who was practising archery in a garden with the archers of his guard, cleft the mark in the middle, and surpassed them all, as he surpasses them in stature and personal graces." This was when the King was at Calais. With the crossbow, as with the long bow, Henry VIII was a skilful marksman. There is the record in 1532 of his killing two stags at Hunsdon with such a weapon.
In 1508 the King prohibited by statute the use of the crossbow, with a reservation in favour of the nobility. "No man," enacted the statute, "shall shoot with a crossbow without the King's licence, except he be a Lord, or have two hundred marks of land." This edict was formulated in order that the national weapon, the long bow, might not go out of fashion among the yeomen. As the XVIth century progresses we still find it held in the same high estimation; for in a military treatise of the time of Elizabeth it is recorded: "None other weapon can compare with this noble weapon." Even as late as 1627-8 English bowmen were in the pay of Richelieu at the siege of La Rochelle; while King Charles I twice granted special commissions under the great seal for enforcing the use of the long bow.
