h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...silly entry...I mean....who on earth would have had time to spell check all that!!!!

As most of the terminology is olde worlde the majority wouldn't need spell checking, as many words would have several spellings. Even William Shakespear spelt his name a number of different ways.

It took quite a bit of spell checking


Trust me

Well blow me! I knew a bit about crossbows, but this lot is great. Cheers for the book references too. I'll follow them up. I have a friend who is really into crossbows in the Knights of Longshank re-enactment group. Already forwarded the link onto him.

And Larbelestier - I know someone with that surname! I wonder if they have a clue as to where it comes from...

very intersting entry in one movie sylvaster stallon with a cross bow shoots a bomb directly hitting a russian plane it s a skill that has to be learnt by warriors for survival

Longshanks? Yeah I've encountered them. I re-enact myself (which may be obvious from the above).

As far as I can tell the best source book for medieval crossbows is an out of print German book called 'Die Armbrust' (I think) which I cannot find, so if anyone reading this has better luck than me, please drop by my personal space and let me know. It has, apparently, XRays of actual medieval crossbows to show how the trigger mechanism works (some people have a problem with the design that Ralph P-G suggests, although I have found it to work perfectly OK).

"And Larbelestier - I know someone with that surname! I wonder if they have a clue as to where it comes from..."
To know, merely from ones surname, that an ancestor of theirs 600 years ago was in some way involved as a crossbowman!

What re-enactment group are you with? What area do you guys cover? If you end up at the same place as Longshanks again you'll have to come over and say hi. I'll introduce you to the guys. Jason in particular a.k.a. 'Crossbow' (a.k.a. the spitting image of Gladiator 'Wolf') would love to chat about this old German book and stuff.

Dion.

we're the William Stanleys, the british ones. Apparently there's also a William Stanleys over on the continent somewhere. We do 15th Century, Wars of the Roses. Can't remember where I have bumped into the Langshanks. maybe Tewksbury or somewhere?

William Stanleys eh? 15th Century?

I think Tewksbury is a probably a good guess. We wouldn't normally encounter anyone from that period at the usual gigs.

I'm at Cosmeston with the gang this weekend. I'll mention you and see what they reckon.

D.

Ah, we do cosmeston as well, although not this weekend since it is out of period for us. They won't know me, I'm an occasional since work usually gets in the way and haven't managed any this year.
But if I spot ya I'll come say hi!