The Invention of the Crossbow

The crossbow is a weapon that was primarily used during medieval times. It has been said that the crossbow was the successor of the longbow although many people disagree. This is because of the difference in both their structure and function. The Invention of the Crossbow             The crossbow first saw its use as siege weapons during the medieval ages. The earliest crossbows were made in large sizes and would hurl gigantic arrows toward the enemy structures. This variant of the crossbow is known as the ballista. The creation of the ballista resulted to the creation of catapults which rendered the ballista useless. During this time, the longbow was the weapon of choice for long range combat. The problem with using the longbow is that the people cannot ride horses because they would make it very hard to aim, fire, and reload the longbow. Because of this, the ballista was engineered to be small enough for individual troop use. This resulted to the basic form of the crossbow. The crossbow changed warfare because it allowed long ranged units to mount horses. The crossbow also rendered the metal-clad knights vulnerable because of the piercing power of the bolts. Evolution of the Crossbow             The first crossbows were made using wood. The stock was made using hard wood such as oak and the bow was made using flexible wood. This combination proved to be efficient for some time but the nature of the materials used made the bow very fragile. People then tried using metal and other materials but these proved to be very heavy for the user. Further development of the crossbow resulted to the modern crossbows that we have today. The modern crossbows are made using composite materials for durability and for its light weight. The strings are made from nylon or other synthetic polymers that would not break easily even when stretched. The addition of other accessories such as mounted scopes and quivers made the use of the crossbow much easier. All of these advancements can be seen in modern crossbows such as the Parker crossbows. Click here to see the details of Parker crossbows.